Second Annual Historical Political Economy Conference

Organized by Jeff Jenkins and Allison Hartnett (University of Southern California)

October 24-25, 2025

Sponsored by the Center for International Studies (CIS) and the Political Institutions and Political Economy (PIPE) Collaborative

Additional support provided by the Price School of Public Policy, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Department of Economics, and Dornsife Dean’s Office.

HPE is a rapidly growing field, and this conference provides an interdisciplinary space where scholars can workshop cutting-edge papers on topics including but not limited to economic development, historical legacies, state-building, state capacity, colonialism, nationalism, and globalism. 

Friday, October 24, 2025:

8:30 am: Opening Comments (RGL 100)

8:45 – 10:15 am: Parallel Faculty Panels 1

Panel 1a (RGL 308)
Melissa Rogers (CGU), Elite Competition and Fiscal Development in the U.S. States
Noel Maurer (GW School of Business), The Electoral Impact of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in the United States
Discussant: Megan Mullin (UCLA Luskin)

Panel 1b (RGL 100)
Dmitrii Kofanov (Pittsburgh), Religious Persecution and Identity Choice: Chelm Land Catholics, Orthodox, and Uniates in the Russian Empire
Anil Menon (UC-Merced), The Externalities of Missionary Activity: Tracing the Pre-independence Origins of Kerala’s Comparative Literacy Advantage
Discussant: Jared Rubin (Chapman)

10:15 – 10:30 am: Break

10:30 – noon: Parallel Faculty Panels 2

Panel 2a (RGL 308)
Joel Sievert (Texas Tech), Congress, Railroads, and Regulatory Policy
Carlo Medici (UCLA Luskin), Political Appointments, Careers, and Performance in the Civil Service: Evidence from U.S. Federal Judges
Discussant: Nolan McCarty (Princeton)

Panel 2b (RGL 100)
Henry Thomson (Arizona State), Effects of Historical Land Redistribution: Evidence from Land Lotteries in New Zealand
Discussant: Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra (USC POIR)

Natalia Vasilenok (Stanford), Establishing a Parliament: The Political Economy of Elections in Late Imperial Russia 
Discussant: Lotem Halevy (Konstanz)

12:00 – 1:15 pm: Lunch

1:15 – 2:45 pm: Parallel PhD Panels

Panel A (RGL 308)
Xingchen Lan (NYU), Making Revolution Work: Wartime Elections, Redistribution, and Mobilization in the Chinese Communist Revolution
Discussant: Melissa Rogers (CGU)

Hayley Manges (Harvard), New Evidence on Policy-Related Voting and the New Deal Realignment
Discussant: Walker Hanlon (Northwestern)

 Panel B (RGL 100)
Johanna Reyes (UC-Berkeley), The Gender Politics of Revolution: Anti-Colonial Struggles and Women’s Citizenship
Discussant: Casey Petroff (Rochester)

Hani Abdel-Warith (Princeton), Fellahin into Frenchmen: Civic Licensing and Social Stratification in the Postcolonial Maghreb
Discussant: Allison Hartnett (University of Southern California)

2:45 – 3:00 pm: Break

3:00 – 4:30 pm: Parallel Faculty Panels 3

Panel 3a (RGL 308)
David Bateman (Cornell), Black Politics during the “Nadir”: Political Organizing and Legislative Change from 1877 to 1930
Susie Schwarz (Swarthmore), Understanding Carceral Responses to Minority Enfranchisement: Evidence from Reconstruction
Discussant: Trevon D. Logan (Ohio State)

Panel 3b (RGL 100)
Casey Petroff (Rochester), The Incentives of Scientific Experts: Evidence from the History of Public Health
Caterina Chiopris (Columbia), The Diffusion of Ideas
Discussant: Michael-David Mangini (USC POIR)

4:30 – 4:45 pm: Break

4:45 pm: Keynote Presentation (RGL 100)

Saumitra Jha (Stanford GSB), Swords into Bank Shares: Financial Approaches to Mitigating Conflict and Polarization

6:15 pm: Group photo at Hahn Plaza

6:20 pm: Dinner Reception at Moreton Fig Patio

Saturday, October 25, 2025:

8:30 – 10:00 am: Parallel Faculty Panels 4

Panel 4a (RGL 308)
Volha Charnysh (MIT), The Legacy of the Black Sea Slave Trade in Eastern Europe 
Gabriel Leon-Ablan (King’s College London), Geopolitics and Social Change: The Napoleonic Wars and the Abolition of the British Slave Trade
Discussant: Steve Pfaff (Chapman)

Panel 4b (RGL 100)
Desiree Desierto (George Mason), Rents and Reformation
Marco Tabellini (Harvard Business School), Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution
Discussant: Adi Dasgupta (UC-Merced)

10:00 – 10:15 am: Break

10:15 – 11:45 am: Parallel Faculty Panels 5

Panel 5a (RGL 308)
Horacio Larreguy (ITAM), Social Dissent, Coercive Capacity, and Redistribution
Lotem Halevy (Konstanz), Enfranchisement as Electoral Manipulation in Diverse Societies: Theory and Evidence from the Kingdom of Hungary
Discussant: Emily Sellars (Yale)

Panel 5b (RGL 100)
Walker Hanlon (Northwestern), Constituent-Representative Interaction Outside of Elections: Theory and Evidence from the Early U.K. Women’s Rights Movement
Gemma Dipoppa (Columbia), The Logic of State Surveillance: Evidence from a Century of Political Dissent
Discussant: Anna Grzymala-Busse (Stanford)

11:45 am – 1:00 pm: Lunch and Business Meeting (RGL 100)

Guidelines for Participants

In all public programs, CIS and PIPE subscribe to USC’s Integrity and Accountability Code, including the commitment to respecting the rights and dignity of all persons. Adherence to these guidelines and principles not only ensures that participants act with integrity; it also guarantees that our affiliated scholars produce high-quality research with the support of an academic community.

All participants of this conference are asked to abide by the norms and standards of collegial behavior. We support rigorous scholarship with feedback that is challenging, constructive, and respectful.