Professorship for Political Economy and Development

Prof. Dr. Katharina Michaelowa

The chair “Political Economy of Developing and Transition Countries” (or shorter: “Political Economy of Development”) was established in September 2006. Our research covers long and short-run development processes in low- and middle-income countries, the interests of various (local, national and international) actors involved in these processes, and the institutional and cultural conditions conducive to poverty reduction, social sector development and growth. Based on this, we examine a variety of specific research topics, notably in the areas of education policy, microfinance, processes of democratization, and development assistance. It also includes the analysis of international climate change policies and politics linked to developing countries.

Our aim is to provide comprehensive empirical evidence on urgent political and economic questions. We emphasize rigorous empirical work, and the general aim to use different strategies to identify causal effects. Most of our work is empirical, based on theoretical hypotheses derived from the literature or formal models. Relating to the diverse range of topics, we use a broad range of data sources, ranging from international panel data at the macro and micro-level, large household and student surveys, or also (field) experiments.”