I earned my PhD in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh in 2016, and I am currently an Associate Professor in Quantitative Methods at Royal Holloway University of London. Prior to that, I was a post-doctoral researcher at University College London.

I have been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Comparative Political Studies, the British Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, and International Interactions. My research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust/British Academy, the CAF Development Bank of Latin America, the U.K. Department for International Development, and the ESRC. 

My work falls within the nexus between political economy and political behavior, with a focus on migration and taxation in developing economies. While I specialize in Latin America, my research addresses transnational issuues and examines cases in Africa and the Caribbean.  My broad research agenda explores citizen decision-making in low capacity states. In these contexts, governments often try, but fail to provide economic opportunities for their citizens, and this fundamentally changes citizens' expectations. I contend that -- far from feeling protected by or fearful of the state -- everyday citizens view it as an impediment or a nuisance to be circumvented.