Political Economy Seminars

Find seminars on political economy that are open to Stanford GSB faculty and PhD students, or request permission to attend.

Political economy seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m., unless otherwise indicated. Stanford GSB faculty may also schedule a session to meet the speaker individually.

Political Economy Theory Lunch

A forum for those interested in political economy theory to discuss ideas and to present new work. We have presentations most Fridays. The lunch is open to faculty and PhD students from the GSB, the departments of economics and political science, and across the university.

On Fridays without a talk, we will gather for an informal lunch in E259. All are welcome.

Winter 2026

Date & Time Speaker Title
Jan 7
11:45 am-1:00 pm
M109
Juan Dodyk
Washington University in St. Louis
Inefficient Policies in the Green Transition
Jan 12
11:45 am-1:00 pm
E104
Lucia Motolinia
Washington University
Gendered Candidate Selection and
District Competitiveness: Evidence from Horizontal Parity Laws in Mexico
joint paper with Gustavo Guajardo
Jan 16
11:45 am-1:00 pm
E102
Aakaash Rao
Harvard University
The Business of the Culture War
joint paper with Shakked Noy
Jan 21
12:00-1:15 pm
M109
Vincent Pons
Harvard University
The Effects of U.S. Protests on Public Opinion and Policymaking joint paper with Amory Gethin
Jan 28
12:00-1:15 pm
M109
Clemence Tricaud
University of California, Los Angeles

joint paper with Romain Wacziarg
Jan 30
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Spencer Pantoja
Stanford, Department of Economics 
 
Feb 4
12:00-1:15 pm
M109
Christopher Berry
The University of Chicago
Political Geography and Distributive Politics in the 21st Century
Feb 11
12:00-1:15 pm
B400
Ruben Enikolopov
Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona
Platform Power of News Aggregators
joint paper with Ruben Durante, Daniil Mikhailov, and Andrei Simonov
Feb 13
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
PETL Seminar
Paul Lendway
Stanford University, Department of Political Science, Post Doc
 
Feb 27
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
PETL Seminar
Martin Castillo Quintana
Harris School, University of Chicago, Hoover Institution National Fellow 
 
Mar 4
12:00-1:15 pm
M109
Ian Turner
Yale University
 
Mar 6
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
PETL Seminar
Jessica Sun
Emory University, Hoover Institution National Fellow
 
Mar 11
12:00-1:15 pm
M109
Martin Castillo Quintana
The University of Chicago
 

Spring 2026

Date & Time Speaker Title
Apr 1
12:00-1:15
TBA
Michael Callen
The London School of Economics and Political Science
 
Apr 3
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Steven Callander
Stanford University, Graduate School of Business
 
Apr 15
12:00-1:15
TBA
Dimitri Landa
New York University
 
Apr 17
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Bård Harstad
Stanford University, Graduate School of Business
 
May 1
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Avidit Acharya
Stanford University, Department of Political Science
 
 
May 6
12:00-1:15
TBA
Elizabeth Maggie Penn
Emory University
 
May 8
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Elizabeth Maggie Penn
Emory University
 
May 13
12:00-1:15
TBA
Sean Gailmard
University of California, Berkeley
 
May 22
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Tom Clark
Stanford University, Department of Political Science
 
May 29
12:00-1:15
TBA
PETL Seminar
Anqi Li
University of Waterloo
 
Jun 3
12:00-1:15
TBA
James Druckman
University of Rochester
joint paper with Devorah Manekin, Lior Sheffer, Jennifer Oser, Tamar Mitts, Jae Yeon Kim, Elizabeth McKenna

Fall 2025

Date & Time Speaker Title
Sep 24
12:00-1:15 pm
P107
Scott Gehlbach
The University of Chicago 
Relational Contracts with Contestable Control Rights: Theory and an Application to Autocracies
Sep 26
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Avi Acharya
Stanford, Department of Political Science
 
Oct 10
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Liam Bethlendy
Stanford, Department of Political Science
 
Oct 15
12:00-1:15 pm
P107
Gerard Padro
Yale University
Ambiguous Attribution: Theory and Evidence from Public Service Provision 
Oct 17
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Spencer Pantoja
Stanford University, Department of Economics 
 
Oct 22
12:00-1:15 pm
P107
Giovanna Invernizzi
Bocconi University 

joint paper with Federica Izzo
Oct 29
12:00-1:15 pm
P107
Joyee Deb
New York University 
joint paper with Deepal Basak and Aditya Kuvalekar
Nov 7
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Sam Asher
Stanford GSB 
 
Nov 21
12:00-1:00 pm
E259
Jason Hoag
Stanford GSB 
 
Dec 2
11:45 am-1:00 pm
E103
Giorgio Farace
University of Chicago
Repression By Collective Responsibility
Dec 3
12:00-1:15
C106
Jorg Spenkuch
Kellogg School of Management at  Northwestern University  
joint paper with Luca Bellodi, Massimo Morelli, Edoardo Teso, Matia Vannoni and Guo Xu

Seminar Organizers

Assistant Professor of Political Economy
The Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management and Professor of Political Economy