My research aims to develop and test effective but pragmatic solutions to the pressing problems of our time. I use rigorous and relevant social science to find sustainable solutions to the problem of energy access in emerging economies.

Books

Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap: When and How Governments Power the Lives of the Poor. 2018. MIT Press. [With Michaël Aklin, Patrick Bayer, and S.P. Harish]

Renewables: The Politics of a Global Energy Transition. 2018. MIT Press. [With Michaël Aklin]

Activism and the Fossil Fuel Industry. 2018. Routledge. [With Andrew Cheon]

Organizing Democracy: How International Organizations Assist New Democracies. 2018. Chicago University Press. [With Paul Poast]

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Economic Reform: When and How International Institutions Help. 2014. Oxford University Press. [With Leonardo Baccini]

Article Highlights

The Broad Impact of a Narrow Conflict: How Natural Resource Windfalls Shape Policy and Politics. 2018. Journal of Politics 80 (2): 630-646. [With Jasper Cooper and Sung Eun Kim]

Does Basic Energy Access Generate Socio-Economic Benefits? A Field Experiment with Off-Grid Solar Power in India. 2017. Science Advances 3: e1602153. [With Michaël Aklin, Patrick Bayer, and S.P. Harish]

Factors Affecting Household Satisfaction with Electricity Supply in Rural India. 2016.
Nature Energy 1: 16048. [With Michaël Aklin, Chao-yo Cheng, Karthik Ganesan, and Abhishek Jain]

It’s All About Political Incentives: Democracy and the Renewable Feed-In Tariff. 2016.
Journal of Politics 78 (2): 603-619. [With Patrick Bayer]

Instruments of Political Control: National Oil Companies, Oil Prices, and Petroleum Subsidies. 2015. Comparative Political Studies 48 (3): 370-402. [With Andrew Cheon and Maureen Lackner]

International Bureaucrats and the Formation of Intergovernmental Organizations: Institutional Design Discretion Sweetens the Pot. 2014. International Organization 68 (1): 177-209. [With Tana Johnson]

Political Competition, Path Dependence, and the Strategy of Sustainable Energy Transitions. 2013. American Journal of Political Science: 57 (3): 643-658. [With Michaël Aklin]

A Strategic Theory of Regime Integration and Separation. 2012. International Organization 66 (4): 645-677. [With Tana Johnson]