RESEARCH

PUBLICATIONS

“Understanding Intimate Partner Violence” (with Lisa Blaydes and James D. Fearon). American Review of Political Science 28:351-374.

Violence against women occurs at high rates in societies across the world. The most common form is intimate partner violence, abuse perpetrated against a spouse or intimate relationship partner. We present a household bargaining model that seeks to clarify causal mechanisms and to identify key pathways by which economic, political, legal, and cultural factors external to households influence domestic abuse rates, gender equity within relationships, and rates of relationship dissolution. We relate key parameters to factors that differ across societies and over time, including economic opportunities for women, laws that criminalize domestic abuse, and social norms associated with gender equality. We review research associated with these topics to establish what we know and do not know about the production of violence against women in households. While much of this literature is outside of the field of political science, we highlight opportunities for political scientists to contribute to our understanding of how and why domestic violence persists in the world today.

WORKING PAPERS

"No Place Like Home? Rethinking the Drivers of Refugee Return." Available upon request.

Under what conditions do refugees return to their countries of origin? Existing research suggests that repatriation follows the end of conflict at home. I argue instead that peace in the origin country is neither necessary nor sufficient for large-scale return. Two key “push” factors in the asylum country - the outbreak of war and the implementation of forced return policies - often drive repatriation, even when conflict persists in the origin state. Drawing on a novel global dataset of refugee stocks and returns (1980–2024), compiled from UN, U.S. State Department, and NGO sources, I pair descriptive analysis with two-way fixed effects models to identify the predictors of return. The results show that refugees frequently remain in host countries after peace accords and often return during ongoing conflict when coerced to leave. These findings reframe debates on durable solutions by highlighting the primacy of host-country dynamics over origin-country peace, and make a major data contribution by providing corrected annual figures on refugee stocks and both forced and voluntary returns.

“Examining the Link between Aid and Support for Refugees: USAID Cuts and Kakuma Camp, Kenya.” Available upon request.

How do refugee aid cuts affect host citizens and their support for refugees, their government, and international actors? This study exploits a natural experiment - the 2025 U.S. foreign assistance cuts in Kenya, which reduced cash assistance and food rations - to study this question. Using a panel survey of 600 respondents at two-month intervals, I implement a differences-in-differences design comparing a treated town adjacent to the camp (Kakuma) to a control town (Isiolo), and a secondary within-treatment differences-in-differences comparing more- versus less-exposed residents in Kakuma, to estimate economic, security, attitudinal, and political effects. I also conduct in-depth interviews with refugee leaders. Preliminary findings from two survey waves show that hosts nearest the camp are beginning to experience worsening food security and higher exposure to crime as the refugee economy contracts. Attitudes toward refugees are shifting modestly nationwide, with declining support for refugee hosting, while those most exposed become more supportive of camp closure. Yet respondents overwhelmingly blame the U.S. administration rather than Kenyan authorities, and empathy for refugees remains high. These results suggest that the developmental and pacifying benefits of refugee hosting may be conditional on foreign aid, and that political accountability for aid cuts is directed internationally rather than domestically.

“Support for Refugee Integration in a Major Refugee-Hosting Country: Evidence from Kenya” (with Adam Lichtenheld). Under review. Preprint.

What drives public support or opposition to refugee integration in low- and middle-income countries? States have increasingly adopted policies promoting the integration of refugees into local communities and labor markets, even as they simultaneously tighten entry restrictions for asylum-seekers. We examine public attitudes towards an incoming refugee integration policy in Kenya, leveraging a unique window after the policy has been passed but before implementation. Using a nationally representative survey and two embedded experiments, we examine whether support varies by policy dimension and refugee nationality. We find widespread support for refugee integration—including work rights, free movement, and shared services—driven largely by humanitarian concerns and perceived economic benefits such as increased business activity and tax revenues. Citizens who share ethnic kinship with refugees or have close personal contact are especially supportive. Concerns center on economic competition and insecurity, and opposition is strongest toward Somali refugees, often associated with Islamic extremism.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

“Building Business Networks to Strengthen Refugee Economic and Social Integration” (with Annet Adong, Claire Clingain, Jens Hainmueller, Adam Lichtenheld, David Musiime, Alex Wendo, Sigrid Weber, Jessica Wolff, and Andrew Zeitlin). IRC Re:BUiLD project website.

OTHER WRITINGS

“Kenya Embraces Refugee Integration – and Citizens Are on Board” (with Adam Lichtenheld and Tolossa Asrat). The New Humanitarian. Republished in The East African.