Jean-Paul Faguet

Jean-Paul Faguet is a Professor of the Political Economy of Development at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Co-Programme Director of the MSc in Development Management. He chairs the Decentralization Task Force at Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue. His work bridges economics and political science, focusing on institutions driving development. He holds affiliations with LSE’s Department of Government, International Inequalities Institute, Latin America and Caribbean Centre, and STICERD.

Trained at Princeton, Harvard, and LSE, Faguet’s research emphasizes historical institutions, inequality, decentralization, and political cleavages. His notable works include Decentralization and Popular Democracy: Governance from Below in Bolivia (winner of the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize) and edited volumes on decentralization’s global impacts. His current projects explore Colombia’s long-term development and Latin America’s political economies.

Key awards include the LSE-STICERD New Researcher Award and British Academy Grant. His research spans Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, analyzing governance, local politics, and institutional reforms. He advocates for blending qualitative and quantitative methods, emphasizing decentralization’s transformative potential when aligned with civil society engagement.