The Political Economy Workshop is a forum for theoretical and empirical research at the intersection of economics and political science. The workshop draws presenters from around the world and participants from around the University with a wide range of substantive interests.

The Political Economy Workshop meets on Thursdays from 12:30 p.m.-1:50 p.m. in Room 1022 at Harris Public Policy, Keller Center (1307 East 60th Street). The faculty organizers are Adam Zelizer and Martin Castillo Quintana.

2025 Political Economy Workshops

Spring 2025

  • April  3    | Alexey Makarin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - "Trade Sanctions" co-authored with Konstantin Egorov (University of Antwerp) Vasily Korovkin (UPF) and Dzhamilya Nigmatulina (HEC Lausanne)

  • April 10   | Sandeep Baliga (Northwestern University) "Optimal Compellence"

  • April 17   | Gemma Dipoppa (Columbia University) "The Logic of State Surveillance:  Evidence from a Century of Political Dissent" co-authored with Annalisa Pezone (New York University)

  • April 24   |  Tara Slough (New York University) "Bureaucratic Incentives and Data Production:  Evidence from Social Registries

  • May 1      | Steven Callander (Stanford University) "Experts and Experience"

  • May 8      | Natalia Lamberova (University of Texas at Dallas)   Cancelled

  • May 15    | Matt Lowe (University of British Columbia) "Do Virtue Signals Signal Virtue" by Deivis Angeli and Matt Lowe

  • May 22    | Nageeb Ali (Pennsylvania State University) "The Cherry-Picking Trap"  Work is joint with Maximilian Mihm and Lucas Siga

Workshop Archive

Political Economy Lunches

The Political Economy Lunch meets on the first Friday of every month, and on additional Fridays as needed from 12:00 p.m.-1:20 p.m. in Room 2112 of Harris Public Policy, Keller Center (1307 East 60th Street. The lunch is an informal setting in which graduate students and faculty present and receive feedback on early stage and ongoing research. We welcome empirical or theoretical work linked in any way to politics or political economy. The PE lunch is also an excellent venue for practice job talks. Graduate students and faculty from any part of the University are welcome to attend, please contact Anthony Fowler at agfowler@uchicago.edu or May Woodard-Hickey at mwoodard@uchicago.edu in advance if you haven't been a regular at the PE Lunch.

Please note:  The PE Lunch is primarily for faculty, PhD students, post-docs and visiting researchers.