Laure Athias Visiting Scholar Contact Email Laure Athias Visit Professional Website Professional Website About Laure Athias is an Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Laure Athias' research explores the roots and consequences of state capacity in public services delivery, regulation, and public infrastructure investment in both "developed" and "developing" countries. One stream of her research focuses on the importance of culture in building state capacity. In particular, she has studied how historical shocks can impact the (contemporaneous) demand and supply sides of public services, through factors such as cultural norms, and beliefs in the State. Her current research draws on philosophical perspectives to investigate the normative dimension of states—their symbolic meaning in the social imaginary, how it varies across societies, the influence of religion, its interplay with state capacity and formal institutions, and its impact on societal values and inclusivity. Another stream of her research examines state capacity in a given contemporary context. In particular, she has investigated the effects of for-profit provision of public services on public procurement, regulation and contractual design. As an Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne, Laure Athias serves as the Vice-Head of the Swiss School of Public Policy. Her work has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and many other government grants. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Pearson Institute. She earned her PhD in economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon–Sorbonne, with part of her doctoral studies conducted as an invited Visiting PhD Student at Yale University's Department of Economics.