Charles R. Hankla

Charles R. Hankla is a Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. He serves as Director of the International Center for Public Policy (ICePP) and Associate Director of the Public Finance Research Cluster (PFRC), focusing on global research, training, and technical assistance in public finance and fiscal decentralization.

• PhD in Political Science from Emory University (2005)
• MA from the London School of Economics (1999)
• BSFS from Georgetown University (1997)

His research explores how political institutions influence fiscal decentralization, budgeting, and trade/industrial policy. He leads a $1.2 million World Bank project in Mozambique and collaborates on fiscal decentralization in Cameroon. Recent grants include NSF funding for a randomized controlled trial in India and an International Growth Centre grant.

• Co-authored book: Local Accountability and National Coordination in Fiscal Federalism: A Fine Balance
• New book (2025): In Pursuit of Prosperity: Industrial Policy and the Politics of Economic Upgrading

Dr. Hankla has published in journals such as American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Publius. He received the 2017 Graduate Mentoring Award and contributes extensively to public discourse, with over 650,000 reads on The Conversation and media appearances on BBC, CBS, and World Economic Forum platforms.