6: Political Economy

Tarek Masoud, Harvard University, tarek_masoud@harvard.edu

The Political Economy Section invites paper and panel proposals that explore the intersections between politics and economics. We seek papers that are methodologically rigorous, offer fresh theoretical insights, develop new data sources, or use existing data in new and creative ways. Panel proposals that are substantively cohesive and yet span divides between international and comparative political economy; between empirical and theoretical studies; among different epistemological approaches; between studies of developed and less developed countries; and between democracies and autocracies, are particularly welcome. Given this year’s theme, we encourage proposals to examine the political economy of representation. This might include investigations of how economic factors shape representative political institutions (elections and legislatures), and how those institutions in turn shape economic outcomes and the welfare of citizens; the microfoundations of legislator behavior; the strategic logics of voters, candidates, and parties in elections; or the economic determinants of popular demand for political representation in non-democracies, among other topics.