Governance and Non-Democratic Regimes

The research group studies the consequences of poor governance, particularly under non-democratic regimes. The group's research focuses on three areas — information, conflict, and gendered economic outcomes — each shedding light on how such regimes sustain power and how their effects extend beyond their own borders. 

One line of work asks how regimes control and manipulate information, both domestically, through fraud, repression, and internet censorship, and abroad, through disinformation. A second line examines conflict as both a social and an economic force: it reshapes citizens' trust and prosocial behavior, while also redirecting resources within the country, such as through military recruitment payments. A third line examines how policy change and economic shocks affect women and men differently, shaping mobility, labor market access, and household bargaining power. The research group adopts an empirical approach, combining survey experiments, geospatial and administrative data, and large-scale text analysis across a range of countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.