معرفی
Victor Menaldo is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington, affiliated with the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Center for Environmental Politics. He co-founded the UW Political Economy Forum. His research focuses on comparative politics and political economy, particularly the political economy of property rights, industrialization, innovation, liberal democracy, and development. Menaldo has published extensively in top journals and authored three books: The Institutions Curse (2016), Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy (2018, with Mike Albertus), and U.S. Innovation Inequality and Trumpism (2025, with Nicolas Wittstock). His upcoming book The Political Economy of AI (Cambridge, 2026) explores technological governance.
Education: Ph.D., Stanford University (2009).
Research interests include the political economy of innovation, authoritarian regimes, democratization processes, and the impact of natural resources on political systems. His work bridges historical and contemporary analysis, addressing topics like technology transfer between nations, the effects of populism on economic productivity, and the role of institutions in fostering or hindering development.
Media engagement includes op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Foreign Policy, discussing topics such as cancel culture, AI regulation, and U.S.-China technology dynamics. Grants and advising include work on financial underdevelopment, fiscal policies, and the political economy of rent-seeking in resource-rich nations.
Labs/Teams: Co-leads the UW Political Economy Forum, fostering interdisciplinary research on political and economic systems.
