Allan Drazen

Allan Drazen is the Neil Moskowitz Endowed Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland's Department of Economics, part of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. His expertise spans Political Economy, Macroeconomics, and International Economics. He holds S.B. (1972) and Ph.D. (1976) degrees from MIT. Drazen's research focuses on political leaders' motivations, electoral economics, and fiscal policy dynamics, supported by a 2015 NSF grant. He teaches graduate courses in Political Economy and Macroeconomics, as well as an undergraduate Honors course on fairness and inequality in economics and politics.

His work examines electoral accountability, campaign finance, and institutional design. Notable projects include studies on political budget cycles in democracies, the impact of fiscal performance on reelection, and experimental analyses of leadership behavior. Drazen has collaborated with institutions like NBER and CEPR, producing influential papers on topics ranging from voter-friendly spending to IMF lending conditionality.

• Education:
  • Bachelor of Science (MIT, 1972)
  • Doctor of Philosophy (MIT, 1976)
• Grants: NSF grant (2015–2018) for research on political leaders' motivations.
• Labs/Teams: Active in interdisciplinary research networks focusing on political economy and macroeconomic policy.