SULTAN MEHMOOD
Why does judicial independence arise in some societies and not others?
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Introduction. I am an Assistant Professor of Economics (tenure-track) at the New Economic School in Moscow, where I joined in January 2021. I received my Ph.D. in Economics from France in October 2019. Previously, I studied in the Netherlands, Italy, and Pakistan. Before academia, I was a policy advisor at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
I use natural and field experiments to explore how law, politics, and institutions shape economic development.
My work has been published in leading scientific and economics journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, The Economic Journal, and Nature Human Behavior, among others.
Research Fields: Development Economics, Political Economy, Law and Economics.
Post-PhD Research Output: 7 Published Papers, 3 R&Rs, and 4 Papers Under Review.
Contact Details:
Email: smehmood@nes.ru
Curriculum Vitae: Download (PDF)
Webpage: http://www.sultanmehmood.info/
Publications:
Gethin, A., Mehmood, S., and Piketty, T., 2021. Social Inequality and the Dynamics of Political and Ethnolinguistic Divides in Pakistan, 1970–2018. Harvard University Press.
Mehmood, S. 2022. "The impact of Presidential appointment of judges: Montesquieu or the Federalists?" American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14(4): 411–445.
Mehmood, S. and Seror, A. 2023. "Religious Leaders and Rule of Law". Journal of Development Economics, 160(1): 1–18.
Mehmood, S, Seror, A., and Chen, D., 2023. "Ramadan Fasting Increases Leniency in Judges from Pakistan and India" Nature Human Behavior: 1-7; Cover Article; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01547-3
Mehmood, S. and Ali, B., 2024. Judicial Capture. The Economic Journal, 134(659), pp.1287-1301.
Mehmood, S, Naseer, S., and Chen, D., 2024. "Altruism in Governance: Insights from Randomized Training for Pakistan's Junior Ministers." Journal of Development Economics, 170 (1).
Mehmood, S, Naseer, S., and Chen, D., 2024. "Teacher vaccinations enhance student achievement in Pakistan: The role of role models and theory of mind." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS. 121 (48). https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2406034121.
Mehmood, Sultan, Shaheen Naseer, and Daniel L. Chen. 2025. "Transmitting Rights: Effective Cooperation, Inter-gender Contact, and Student Achievement." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 17 (3): 107–30. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20230620&from=f
Revise and Resubmit Requests:
Reform Multiplier and Elite Entrenchment (with B. Ali) - Revise and Resubmit at American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
AI Education as State Capacity: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan (with S. Naseer and D. Chen) - Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Development Economics.
Contract Enforcement in a Stateless Economy (with S. Khalid, M. Kudaeva, D. Chen, and G. Marinichev) - [Download (PDF)] - Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Development Economics.
Submitted:
Beneath the Ban of Abortion: Evidence from the USSR (with Y. Prokhorskoy and H. Zoabi) - [Download (PDF)] - Submitted.
Ink and Ire: The Revolutionary Impact of Russian Literature (with V. Avetian) - [Download (PDF)] - Submitted.
The Policy Preferences of Deputy Ministers (with S. Naseer, S. Kariv, and R. Fisman) - [Download (PDF)] - Submitted.
Saving the Separation of Powers: Evidence from the Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan (with D. Chen) - [Download (PDF)] - Submitted.
Work-in-Progress (Drafts Available on Request):
1. Courts of Tomorrow? The Promise and Limits of Generative AI in Pakistani Courts (with E. Ash)
2. Climate Shocks and Political Revolutions: The 1970 Bhola Cyclone and the Birth of Bangladesh (with M. Mobarak)
3. Secularization Backlash: A Tale of Two Coups (with R. Mirza and K. Zhuravskaya).
4. When Justice Speeds Up: Task Optimization and System-Wide Effects of Digital Justice in Indonesia
5. Specializing Justice and Public Safety: Evidence from Model Criminal Courts in Pakistan (with M. Felix and A. Kash)
6. Addiction and Illegal Markets (with A. Seror, and S. Ishiguro)
Honors and Awards:
IOEA Best Paper Award: The impact of Presidential appointment of judges: Montesquieu or the Federalists?
AEA Best Paper Award: Ink and Ire: Revolutionary Impact of Russian Literature (with V. Avetian)
EARLY-STAGE RESEARCH PROJECTS
EARLY-STAGE RESEARCH PROJECTS
1. LAW AND DEVELOPMENT
ARE JUDGES A JURY OF ONE? EVIDENCE FROM THE ABOLITION OF JURIES IN INDIA (with N. Kala)
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN THE SHADOW OF TERRORISM: EVIDENCE FROM PAKISTAN'S ANTI-TERRORISM COURTS
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM: WHEN JUDGES REWRITE THE CONSTITUTION (with J. Goto)
2. GENERAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT
GIFT DIPLOMACY (with Y. Prokhorskoy)
MENTAL HEALTH, TEACHER STRESS, AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT- Preregistered Trial at AEA RCT Registry
MISINFORMATION AMONG ELITE POLICYMAKERS (D. Rand and B. Nyhan) - Preregistered Trial at AEA RCT Registry and OSF RCT Registry
THE STRIKE OF THE RIGHTEOUS: THE IMPACT OF HATE LITERATURE ON RADICALIZATION (with S. Asad) - Preregistered Trial at AEA RCT Registry - Download (PDF)
Coauthors:
Ray Fisman (BU), Shingo Ishiguro (Osaka), Daniel Chen (Toulouse), Elliot Ash (Zurich), Bakhtawar Ali (AMSE), Shaheen Naseer (Oxford), Shachar Kariv (Berkeley), Thomas Fujiwara (Princeton), Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (PSE), Avner Seror (AMSE), Resuf Ahmed (Lausanne).
Pre-Doctoral Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Pre-Doctoral Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Terrorism and the Macroeconomy: Evidence from Pakistan (Pre-Doctoral Research: Bachelor's Thesis)
Pakistan with highest number of terrorism related deaths of any country over the past decade, the number exceeding the total terrorism related deaths for both the European and North American continents, offers an important setting to study impact of terrorism on the macroeconomy. Our estimates from a sample that covers over 4500 terrorist incidents and consequent 10, 200 deaths [from 1973 to 2010] imply that bouts of terrorist attacks led to both a short-run as well as medium-term adverse impact on key macroeconomic variables. It is estimated that cumulatively terrorism has cost Pakistan around 33.02 % of its real national income over the entire sample period and that terrorism costs Pakistan around 1 % of real GDP per capita growth every year. We find evidence consistent with the models that show that terrorism impacts the economy through a reallocation of resources from relatively more productive public spending to less productive defense spending.
Mehmood, S., 2014. Terrorism and the macroeconomy: Evidence from Pakistan. Defence and Peace Economics, 25(5), pp. 509-534.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Spring 2019: Statistical Reasoning and Causal Inference at Sciences Po (Masters Level)
Spring 2021: Empirical Political Economics at the New Economic School (Masters Level)
Spring 2022: Introduction to Law and Economics (Bachelor Level)
Spring 2022: Empirical Political Economics at the New Economic School (Masters Level)
Fall 2023: Data Science for Judges at the Federal Judicial Academy (Course Introduction)
*See resume for full teaching experience.
PUBLIC TALKS
PUBLIC TALKS
Lawyers' Movement and Support for Dictatorship in Pakistan 2023 (15 minutes) - Lahore, Pakistan
Judicial Independence and Reforms in Pakistan 2022 (15 minutes) - Karachi, Pakistan
CEPR Political Economy and Development 2021 (30 mins Talk) - London, UK
Economics of Religion Workshop 2021 (15 minutes Talk) - Los Angeles, US
NBER Fall Meeting 2021 (6 Minutes Talk) - Boston, US
Why does Judicial Independence matter? (1 minute) - Oxford, UK
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