2018

Sofia B. Vera (University of Pittsburgh)

Selection Committee: John B. Londregan (Princeton University), Carmen Le Foulon (Universidad Católica de Chile), Santiago Olivella (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Luis Maldonado (Universidad Católica de Chile), and Santiago López-Cariboni (Universidad Católica del Uruguay)

Citation:

Sofia's poster presents an interesting argument and evidence on the link between corruption and political accountability. On the basis of a clear theoretical argumentation, she establishes hypotheses that were tested with survey experiments in Peru. The design represents a smart combination of theoretical parsimony, analytical precision, and empirical tractability. The findings indicate, among other things, the existence of interesting forms of heterogeneity among voters. Her work gives support to new research questions that surely encourage future research about critical dimensions of political behavior in Latin America.