Predoctoral Trainee in Economics

Interdisciplinary Fellow

Alex’s research interests are in the broad fields of economic growth and development, political economy, culture, and population. He uses theoretical models and data analysis to better understand the roots of underdevelopment, variation in political institutions, and sources of cultural differences across the globe. One of his projects explores how infectious diseases, such as Ebola and Covid-19, change the salience of ethnic identities and shape inter-group attitudes. Another project analyzes the spillovers of political attitudes across borders along ancestral/ethnic lines. A third project is a mix of economics and anthropology: it explores the process of long-run cultural drift and selection in the Bantu-speaking populations in SSA. 

Scholarly Interests

Economic growth and development, political economy, culture, population economics