Research

Publications

  1. Adam Roberts. 2021. “Populism and Evangelicalism: A Cross-Country Analysis of Chile and the United States.”
    Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies 38, no. 1 (May)

Working Papers

  1. “Who’s Afraid of the PRD? Learning about New Parties in Hegemonic Party Systems ”
    Abstract

    How do voters in single-party systems learn about opposition parties? Electing opposition parties is risky when governance quality is uncertain, but voters can decrease this uncertainty by observing and learning from neighboring sub-national governments' experience with opposition leadership. I examine the effect of exposure to opposition governance in nearby municipalities on support for opposition candidates in municipal elections in 1990s Mexico. Using a close elections regression discontinuity design, I find that municipalities with exogenous exposure to PRD-governed neighbors supported the PRD by 16 percentage points more than those without. This effect is specific to the PRD and does not extend to the PAN, an older opposition party with established presence in state and large city governments. These findings provide important insight into electoral behavior and information transmission under single-party systems by demonstrating how voters acquire political information through geographic proximity.

  2. “Geographic Representation and Bureaucratic Capacity in the European Commission ”
    Abstract

    International organizations (IOs) must decide between prioritizing qualifications or geographic representation of member states when recruiting staff. Past research implies a trade-off between expertise and representation, where the former increases capacity and the latter increases legitimacy. However, this paper provides evidence that geographic representation can enhance bureaucratic capacity because of the ``national expertise" bureaucrats have for their own states' economies. I study this in the context of the European Commission, using economic forecast accuracy as a proxy for the commission's information capacity. I demonstrate that increasing national expertise increases information capacity. The effect of national expertise varies depending on the wealth and size of the member state's economy. The increase in capacity is important, as the information from the forecasts have significant impacts on government bond markets. These findings underscore the ability of geographic representation to enhance bureaucratic capacity in IOs.

Works in Progress

  1. “Outcome Bias and Female Candidates” with Dot Sawler

  2. “Transparency or Political Theater? An Analysis of AMLO’s Interactions with Journalists” with Kirill Kazantcez