Areas of Expertise

Political economy of development; democratic accountability; African politics; clientelism and vote buying; ethnic politics; distributive politics

Professor Kramon received his PhD in political science from UCLA and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. His research focuses on clientelism, ethnic politics, electoral accountability, and judicial politics in new democracies, with a regional focus on Africa. Professor Kramon’s book on clientelism during elections, Money for Votes (Cambridge University Press), was awarded the African Politics Conference Group’s award for the best book published in 2018. His work has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the International Growth Centre, and the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) Metaketa initiative, and has been published in outlets such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, World Politics, Comparative Political Studies, the British Journal of Political Science, the Quarterly Journal of Political Science, and Science Advances.

Education

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2013

CV (PDF)

Publications

2019. “Does Public Support for Judicial Power Depend on who is in Political Power? Testing a Theory of Partisan Alignment in Africa,” American Political Science Review, Online Early View, with Brandon L. Bartels.

2019. “The Moderating Effect of Debates on Political Attitudes,” American Journal of Political Science, Online Early View, with Sarah Brierley and George Ofosu.

2019. “When Does Information Influence Voters: The Joint Importance of Salience and Coordination,” Comparative Political Studies, Online Early View, with Claire Adida, Jessica Gottlieb, and Gwyneth McClendon.

2018. Money for Votes: The Causes and Consequences of Electoral Clientelism in Africa, New York: Cambridge University Press.

2018. “Segregation, Ethnic Favoritism, and the Strategic Targeting of Local Public Goods,” Comparative Political Studies 51(9): 1111-43, with Simon Ejdemyr and Amanda Robinson.

2017. “Reducing or Reinforcing In-group Preferences? An Experiment on Information and Ethnic Voting,” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 12 (4): 437-477, with Claire Adida, Jessica Gottlieb, and Gwyneth McClendon.

2016. “Electoral Handouts as Information: Explaining Unmonitored Vote Buying,” World Politics 68(3): 454-98.

2016. “Ethnic Favoritism in Education in Kenya,” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 11(1): 1-58, with Daniel N. Posner.

2013. “Who Benefits from Distributive Politics? How the Outcomes One Studies Affect the Answer One Gets,” Perspectives on Politics 11(2): 461-74, with Daniel N. Posner.

Classes Taught

PSC 2381 - Comparative Politics of Middle and Southern Africa

PSC 3192W/6379 - Government and Politics of Africa

PSC 8108 - Craft of Political Inquiry

PSC 8128 - Surveys and Experiments