Published/Working Papers

Group-based Inequality and Political Behavior

1. “Slavery, Reconstruction, and Bureaucratic Capacity in the American South” with Steven White. Forthcoming. American Political Science Review. You can read the paper here. The appendix if available here.

2. “When do the poor vote for the right-wing and why: Hierarchy and vote choice in the Indian states.” 2019. Comparative Political Studies 52(2).  You can read the paper here.

  • Winner of Comparative Political Studies Editorial Board Best Paper 2019.
  • Winner of the “Worth a Thousand Words” contest, Fall 2017, The Political Economist, APSA Political Economy Newsletter.
  • The article was featured in The Print, The Hindu,  and Live Mint.

3. “Ethnic Inequality and the Ethnification of Political Parties: Evidence from India.” with John Huber. 2016. World Politics 68(1). You can read the paper here

4. “Status politics hollows out the state: Evidence from Colonial India.” You can read the draft here

  • Winner of the Mancur Olson Award for the best dissertation in political economy in the previous two years, American Political Science Association 2018

5. “Economic and Ethnic Dimensions of Trade Preferences: Evidence from India” with Nikhar Gaikwad. You can read the draft here.

  • Winner of the Franklin L. Burdette/Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper presented in the previous year’s annual meeting, American Political Science Association 2019.
  • The paper was featured in the New York Times Interpreter column and Live Mint.

6. “Franchise Expansion and Electoral Mobilization: How Caste and Migration Shaped India’s Colonial Politics” with Ashish Aggarwal and Ritam Chaurey.

Bureaucratic Capacity and Voting Behavior

1. “Bureaucratic Capacity and Class Voting: Evidence from Across the World and the United States” with Kimuli Kasara.” Journal of Politics (2020). You can read the draft here.

2. “When do the Rich Vote Less than the Poor and Why?: Explaining Turnout Inequality across the World,” with Kimuli Kasara. American Journal of Political Science 59(3): 613-627. You can read the paper here

  • Winner of  the GESIS Klingemann Prize for best CSES scholarship, 2016.
  • The  article was featured in the Monkey Cage  and the Daily Dish.

Party Organization and POLITICAL BEHAVIOR in the Indian States

1. “Fragmentation and Decline in India’s State Assemblies: A Review 1967 – 2007,” with Francesca Jensenius. 2015. Asian Survey 55(5).

2. “Party Organization and Party Proliferation in India,” with Pradeep Chhibber and Francesca Jensenius. 2014. Party Politics  20(4): 489-505.

3. “Rethinking India and the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World” with Auerbach et al. Forthcoming. Perspectives on Politics. You can read the paper here.

4. “Party System Institutionalization and Economic Voting: Evidence from India” with Francesca Jensenius. Revise and Resubmit. Journal of Politics. You can read the paper here.

5. “Electoral Switching in Indian Elections” with Francesca Jensenius. Revise & Resubmit. Party Politics.

6. “Cross-Cutting Cleavages and Electoral Stability in India” with Francesca Jensenius and Neeraj Prasad.