Research

My research broadly examines (1) how courts, contracts, and private financial actors shape the terms on which sovereign states borrow, default, and return to markets, and (2) how governments use debt and financial instruments to manage domestic political constraints, distributional pressures, credibility, and political legitimacy.

Book Project

My book manuscript, Domesticating the International, argues that US federal courts—the Southern District of New York above all—became the de facto regulators of international sovereign debt markets, an outcome no one designed. It traces this enforcement regime from its origins in the Tate Letter and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, through its operation in the courtroom, to its recent unraveling, drawing on three original datasets spanning sovereign litigation from 1811 to 2022. Read more about the book →

Publications

Democracy, Debt, and the Bench: Political Ideology in Sovereign Immunity Cases - Forthcoming at International Organization

When Firms Lead States: Financial Intermediaries and the Politics of Sovereign Green Bond Issuance - Conditionally Accepted at International Organization

Working Papers

Information Clearinghouse: Market Implications of US Judicial Decisions

Default Dynamics: The Influence of Regime Type on Default Choice

Borrowed Credibility: Fiscal Stress, Democracy, and Signaling in Sovereign Green Bond Markets

In Progress

Banking on Belief: Regime Legitimation and the Uneven Rise of Islamic Finance

Politics of the Green Label: Partisan Polarization and Municipal Climate Finance

Negotiating Sovereign Debt: The Choice for Incomplete Contracts

Civil Unrest and Financial Crises: Distributive Politics in Lebanon

Policy Briefs

“Skewed Recovery: Minority Assistance Programs to Iraq in Historical Perspective”, Luskin Center for History and Policy, with Philip Hoffman and Lily Hindy