Peter Coughlin

Dr. Peter Coughlin is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland, affiliated with the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. His research focuses on Social Choice, Voting Theory, and Applied Game Theory, with contributions to electoral competition models and probabilistic voting frameworks. He holds a PhD from the State University of New York at Albany (1976) and has held postdoctoral positions at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and Carnegie Mellon Universities.

His work has addressed topics such as interest group influence on government size, Nash social welfare maxima in electoral outcomes, and strategic voting behavior. Awards include the James L. Barr Award in Public Economics and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford).

• Teaching: Courses include Public Choice (ECON451), Game Theory (ECON414), and Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (ECON306).
• Recent Research Trends: Explores probabilistic voting models, electoral competition dynamics, and applications of game theory to sports and policy design.

Dr. Coughlin’s publications span over four decades, with seminal contributions to understanding median voter theorems, single-peaked preferences, and Nash equilibrium applications in political economy contexts.