The modern state promises rational governance through rules, procedures, and institutions. In practice, it delivers something else entirely: a complex system where formal structures coexist with informal negotiations, where policies exist on paper but not on the ground, where the workaround often is the system.
My research examines this gap between institutional design and actual governance. I study public investment and state capacity to understand why some governments build infrastructure while others with similar resources produce only the appearance of progress. The question isn't simply about fixing dysfunction, but understanding how power actually operates when formal institutions are weak or contested.
I am currently a PhD Candidate in Economics at CUNY Graduate Center. I pursue these questions through varied methodological approaches. Before, I worked at the International Monetary Fund developing public investment assessment tools that showed me how much conventional metrics miss about governance realities. This drives my current research, where I've found that emerging computational methods often reveal patterns that traditional sources obscure, especially in data-scarce environments: the informal networks, the strategic delays, the gap between reported and actual activity.
My current research brings empirical rigor to these observations. For example, using satellite imagery and administrative data, I examine how Egypt's construction freeze triggered adaptations that reveal the underlying structure of state authority. Through contract-level procurement data, I identify how institutional reforms actually change government behavior - or in some cases don't. And in theoretical work on regime stability, I explore how information asymmetries shape political outcomes when formal rules break down.
Understanding governance as it actually exists, and not as we wish it would function, is essential for meaningful reform. In many contexts, what we label as dysfunction represents the actual mechanisms through which things get done. My work aims to make these realities legible to both scholarship and policy.
The Political Economy of Building Regulation
Combining administrative records with satellite imagery analysis, I examine Egypt's nationwide building freeze to understand how sudden regulatory changes affect both formal and informal construction activity. This research reveals adaptation mechanisms in environments with limited state capacity and provides insights into regulatory policy effectiveness
Methods: Administrative data, satellite imagery, causal inference
Institutional Reform and Public Sector Efficiency
Using contract-level procurement data and causal inference techniques, I identify how external assessments like Public Investment Management Assessments influence government capacity to efficiently procure goods and services. By leveraging the staggered implementation of these assessments across countries, I isolate their causal impact on procurement outcomes and efficiency.
Methods: Causal inference, panel data analysis
Global Games and Coups
This theoretical and empirical project applies global games theory to the canonical example of regime overthrow. We bridge the economics and political science literatures by developing an estimable global games model of coups d'état. Our approach distinguishes between the feasibility and desirability of coups.
Methods: Global games, structural estimation, political economy, econometrics
How to Improve Public Investment Management in Low-income Countries
IMF How to Note, 2024
Provides practical guidance for strengthening investment frameworks in resource-constrained environments. Identifies critical institutional bottlenecks across low-income countries and develops a sequenced reform approach accounting for state capacity limitations. Offers concrete implementation strategies for building institutional capabilities essential for effective infrastructure delivery.
Public Investment Management Bottlenecks in Low-income Countries
IMF Working Paper, 2024
Identifies key institutional constraints limiting public investment efficiency using PIMA data and principal component analysis. Quantifies significant efficiency gaps ) and potential gains from targeted governance improvements.
Monitoring the Climate Impact of Fiscal Policy
IMF Working Paper, October 2021
Develops an archetype-based methodology (IMF Green Tracker) to categorize fiscal measures across sectors according to their environmental impact. Proposes green budgeting frameworks while addressing challenges in cross-country comparability and standardization.
Research Assistant • International Lorem Fund
2020-2022
STA 2000 - Business Statistics
Baruch College
ECON 4400 - Advanced Economics and Business Statistics
Brooklyn College