Scott Ashworth

Scott Ashworth is a Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. His research integrates game-theoretic models with empirical analysis to address critical issues in political science, including campaigns and elections, political accountability, and media influence on policy.

• Education: BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, PhD in Economics from MIT.
• Prior Positions: Assistant Professor at Harvard University and Princeton University.

Key research areas include welfare economics of campaign finance, sources of incumbency advantage, and methodological challenges in studying political violence. His recent work extends contract theory to analyze political accountability frameworks.

Award-winning collaboration includes the book Theory and Credibility: Integrating Theoretical and Empirical Social Science (2021) with Chris Berry and Ethan Bueno de Mesquita. Publications span top journals like American Journal of Political Science, Political Science Research and Methods, and American Political Science Review.

His work often examines strategic interactions between voters and politicians, focusing on how information asymmetry, media commentary, and institutional design shape electoral outcomes and policy choices. Current projects explore normative foundations of economic advice and preference modeling in political contexts.