Teaching

Governing Better: A Political Economy of the State 

(SciencesPo School of Public Affairs Masters' Program) 

This is a course about how to improve the functioning of government by understanding the interplay between politics, policy, and public administration. It explores the deep organizational and institutional challenges that shape how democracies work — or fail to. From how we elect politicians to how we recruit bureaucrats, from the design of federal systems to the execution of public procurement, the course investigates why good policies so often fall short and what can be done about it.  

Drawing on political economy theory and real-world examples, the course helps students develop a practical understanding of how states function — and malfunction — in the face of political constraints, bureaucratic complexity, and fiscal limits. We examine foundational models such as the  median voter theorem and citizen- candidate framework, as well as more applied challenges like digital governance, AI in the public sector, and policy learning. 

The course is interactive and applied. Students engage with key academic concepts and test them against contemporary public sector problems.  They learn to use key methodological tools, such as the Smart Policy Design and Implementation (SPDI) Framework. Guest lectures from policymakers and practitioners offer first-hand perspectives. Through group presentations and a final project simulating stakeholder persuasion, students are encouraged to think like reformers — crafting policy proposals that are both politically feasible and administratively sound. 

Graduate Public Economics (ECON 436)

This course aims at giving a broad overview of some of the most important topics in public finance, with a focus on recent research as well as areas that have been underlooked for a while and could be revived.  We will start with a general overview of the role of government in the economy, and think about modern methods to compare the welfare impacts of different policy interventions. We will then move to think about how governments finance themselves through taxation, covering issues related to how should tax systems be designed, how individuals and firms respond to taxation and who bears the cost of tax changes, and how tax evasion affects the optimal design of taxes and transfers and how can governments fight tax evasion. We will then think about the structure of governments, explore issues of local public finance, analyze why some policies in many countries are carried out by local governments, and how to design and evaluate place-based interventions. In the second half of the course, we will think more about government spending, exploring mostly issues related to the economics of education. We will also think about problems related to the assessment of public goods and public service provision, such as the difficulty of measuring the performance and quality of public goods.    Finally, we will devote time thinking about the personnel economics of the public sector, meaning the role played by the quality of individuals who work as public sector workers and how to attract and retain talent in the public sector. 

Economics of State and Local Governments (ECON 337)

State and local governments play an essential role in citizens day-to-day life, as they decide and deliver key public goods and services, such as education, transportation, health and welfare. This course uses applied tools of microeconomics and simple data analysis to acquaint students with various aspects of the subnational government sector, including expenditure, financing, and policy issues. We start by reviewing under what situation is the government provision desirable. We then study how levels of state goods and services are determined, and what are the main sources of revenues through which these expenditures are financed, including taxes and transfers from higher levels of government. Students will also learn the importance of political considerations and the role of state and local politics in influencing local government decisions. The course will end with policy analysis and applications. The main focus is going to be on the United States but we are also going to explore examples and issues faced by local governments around the world. 

ICPSR 2020 Summer Program on Modern Difference in Differences Designs

This is an intensive summer course, the main instructor was John Poe. The course was offered online. I attended the entire course, taught some of the sessions and provided virtual office hours and live assistance in answering questions. I also prepared some of the teaching materials.  You can find the syllabus of the course here.  

Here you can find the slides and the video of a talk I gave about Recent Advances in DiD methods

Video Lecture

Slides