I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University. My research interests include political institutions and political economy. I am especially interested in the implications of political institutions for economic and political development. Some of my research projects include a paper, with Irfan Nooruddin studying the effects of IMF "austerity programs", a project with Allen Hicken investigating the efficacy of education spending on reducing illiteracy in various institutional environments in the developing world, and a project with Irfan Nooruddin investigating the relationship between economic openness, regime type, and government spending. My dissertation, completed in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, explores how the political environment influences the pace of technological progress in national economies.