Formal theory
A planned PhD-level course paper in formal theory. The topic and mentor have not yet been determined.
PhD-level course paper · Abstract coming soonQuestions, contexts & work
Research
How do institutions build productive capacity and shape how people understand it?
My current work explores two related questions: how institutions develop productive capacity, and how they shape people's interpretations of that capacity. I am especially interested in how people attribute contributions, judge whether a leader or organization is replaceable, and form beliefs about alternatives they cannot directly observe. I am learning to use formal models to make these mechanisms precise, while taking historical settings and the limits of each representation seriously. How institutions reshape people's standards of value remains a longer-term question.
01
Productive capacity
How do institutions combine individual skills and resources into capacities that persist beyond particular people?
02
Interpretive capacity
How do institutions shape what people can observe and how they attribute the results of collective work?
03
Institutional alternatives
How do people judge whether an incumbent is replaceable when they cannot observe the outcome under an alternative arrangement?
In progress
Fall 2026Economic institutions of capitalism
A planned PhD-level course paper on the economic institutions of capitalism. The topic and mentor have not yet been determined.
PhD-level course paper · Abstract coming soonSelected course research
2026The 1991 Neoliberal Shift in Bangladesh
A course research project examining the drivers of Bangladesh’s transition toward market-oriented policy and the role of party-state institutions.
Development & political economyChinese–Spanish Trade in Manila, 1589–1603
An economic-history review of Chinese–Spanish maritime trade in Manila, approaching early-modern exchange in Asia from non-Eurocentric perspectives.
Economic historyThese entries describe course research. Full manuscripts are not included in this edition.