It Took a Village

In my work I have tried to understand how political and political-economic institutions reflect and reinforce power asymmetries and how, therefore, the institutional context in which politics is played out shapes the outcomes that emerge. Over the course of my career, I moved away from the analysis of comparative statics (why different institutions produce different outcomes) to study the way in which institutions themselves evolve and change over time. While my early work centered on the political economy of the rich democracies in Europe, my focus has shifted and now centers on the study of the American political economy in comparative perspective, with an emphasis on corporate power and the role of the courts in the political economy.