Welcome!
I am Senior Lecturer in History and Political Economy at King's College London, where I co-lead the research group in History and Political Economy. I am also the secretary of the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE) and a research director at the Metagoverance Project.
I study democracy and the institutions and norms that sustain it, with a particular focus on the lessons that historical democracies hold for contemporary ones. I am currently working on two main book projects: the first is on collective governance in global history; the second on the impact of information shocks on state capacity in democracies and autocracies. You can learn more about these projects and see my publications here.
A big fan of well-argued academic papers and books, I also find myself (increasingly) drawn to public outlets. You can read more about stuff I have written for a non-academic or broadly academic audience here.
No matter what I teach - which usually has to do with the connection between history, institutions, and development - at the core of my teaching are skills that help students express and communicate complex ideas to smart (but lazy) audiences, with a particular focus on writing.
Recent Updates
April 2026
Honored to be named a Phyle Project Fellow, with sincere thanks to the International Balzan Prize Foundation for supporting the project Governance Archaeology.
January 2026
I am the inaugural visiting faculty with the School of Government and Policy at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
September 2025
With Gabriel Leon, I co-lead the History and Political Economy research group in DPE.
May 2025
My new article Learning like a state: organizational learning and state capacity in ancient Greece was just published in JOIE.
June 2024
Beginning in September, I will be honored to serve as the new secretary of the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE).
September 2023
Check out my new blog post with Giacomo Benati on methods and approaches in Historical Political Economy on Broadstreet.
March 2023
Check out my piece with Cyanne Loyle and Jessica Steinberg on digital technology and state capacity on Noema Magazine.
December 2022
I was honored to be awarded a recognition award from KCL for my work on the development of the History and Political Economy undergraduate program.
June 2022
My application to become a fellow of the Higher Education Academy was successful!
December 2021
An art exhibit related to Governance Archaeology was part of the UN Internet Governance Forum in Katowice, Poland.