Research

Current working papers

Ethnofederalism: Subnational borders and the salience of ethnicity in politics (with R. Bluhm and P. Schaudt).

Mining for peace (with P. Schaudt and A. Vesperoni). Revise & resubmit at the Journal of the European Economic Association.

Regional majorities and comparative development (with R. Bluhm and P. Schaudt). 

Main publications

Web search personalization during the 2020 US election (with U. Matter), American Economic Review: Insights, accepted conditional on replication package approval.

Partisan effects of information campaigns in competitive authoritarian elections: Evidence from Bangladesh (with F. Ahmed and A. Islam), Economic Journal, 2024.

Ethnic geography: Measurement and evidence (with M. Valsecchi and A. Vesperoni), Journal of Public Economics, 2021.

Measuring ethnic stratification and its effect on trust in Africa (with S. Srisuma, A. Vesperoni and N. Zurlinden), Journal of Development Economics, 2020.

Effect of oil spills on infant mortality in Nigeria (with A. Bruederle), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.

African leaders and the geography of China's foreign assistance (with A. Dreher, A. Fuchs, B. Parks, P. Raschky and M. Tierney), Journal of Development Economics, 2019.

Ethnic favoritism: An axiom of politics? (with G. De Luca, P. Raschky and M. Valsecchi), Journal of Development Economics, 2018.

The effects of voting costs on the democratic process and public finances (with S. Luechinger and A. Stutzer), American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2015.

Regional favoritism (with P. Raschky), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2014.

Development (paradigm) failures (with A. Dreher), Journal of Development Economics, 2013.

Inefficient policies and incumbency advantage (with S. Loertscher and D. Rohner), Journal of Public Economics, 2010.

Natural resources, democracy and corruption (with S. Bhattacharyya), European Economic Review, 2010.

Industrial policy in an imperfect world, Journal of Development Economics, 2009.

The curse of natural resources in fractionalized countries, European Economic Review, 2006.

Further journal articles

Ethnic clustering in schools and early career outcomes (with C. Chuard, A. Aerne and B. Eugster), Economics of Education Review, 2025.

Key players in economic development (with A. Amarasinghe, P. Raschky and Y. Zenou), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2024.

Religion and terrorism: Evidence from Ramadan fasting (with P. Raschky and A. Strittmatter), Journal of Peace Research, 2024.

Institutions and the resource curse: New insights from causal machine learning (with M. Lechner and P. Raschky), PLOS One, 2023.

Is favoritism a threat to aid effectiveness? A subnational analysis of Chinese development projects (with A. Dreher, A. Fuchs, B. Parks, P. Raschky and M. Tierney), World Development, 2021.

Expropriations, property confiscations and new offshore entities: Evidence from the Panama Papers (with R. Bayer, P. Raschky and A. Strittmatter), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2020.

Economic effects of genocide: Evidence from Rwanda, Journal of African Economies, 2019.

Wars of conquest and independence (with H. Yektas, M. Hoffmann and F. Hentschel), Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 2019.

The political economics of the Arab Spring, Economic Inquiry, 2018.

Nighttime lights as a proxy for human development at the local level (with A. Bruederle), PLOS One, 2018.

Ethnic politics and the diffusion of mobile technology in Africa (with P. Raschky), Economics Letters, 2017.

Media freedom and democracy in the fight against corruption (with S. Bhattacharyya), European Journal of Political Economy, 2015.

Economic shocks and civil conflict at the regional level (with P. Raschky), Economics Letters, 2014.

Do natural resource revenues hinder financial development? The role of political institutions (with S. Bhattacharyya), World Development, 2014.

Persuasion, binary choice, and the costs of dishonesty (with S. Loertscher and D. Rohner), Economics Letters, 2014.

All-pay war (with H. Yektas), Games and Economic Behavior, 2012.

Electoral terms and terrorism (with D. Rohner), Public Choice, 2012.

Ethnic fractionalisation and aid effectiveness (with D. Knight), Journal of African Economies, 2012.

Elections and the strategic use of budget deficits, Public Choice, 2011.

Institutions, trade, and the political economy of financial development, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 2011.

Natural resources and income inequality: The role of ethnic divisions (with R. Fum), Economics Letters, 2010.

Redistribution and inequality in a heterogeneous society, Economica, 2009.

Leisure and redistribution, European Journal of Political Economy, 2008.

What determines financial development? Culture, institutions or trade (with N. Herger and M. Lobsiger), Review of World Economics, 2008.

Rent seeking and aid effectiveness, International Tax and Public Finance, 2007.

How fiscal decentralization flattens progressive taxes (with K. Schmidheiny), FinanzArchiv, 2006.