Center on Policy Entrepreneurship

Faculty and Staff

Ethan Bueno de Mesquita
Academic Director, Center on Policy Entrepreneurship
Deputy Dean and Professor, Chicago Harris

Ethan Bueno de Mesquita is a professor and deputy dean for the faculty at Chicago Harris. He is an applied game theorist whose research focuses on political violence—especially terrorism and insurgency—and on democratic accountability. Bueno de Mesquita's work on accountability examines how changes in electoral environments affect public goods provision, the quality of fiscal management, the incumbency advantage, corruption, and party strength. He is also concerned with more foundational questions regarding the nature of representation and accountability in democratic systems. Bueno de Mesquita received his BA in political science from the University of Chicago and his MA and PhD in political science from Harvard. Full Bio

Scott Ashworth
Associate Professor, Chicago Harris 

Scott Ashworth is an associate professor at Chicago Harris. His research uses game-theoretic models to study a variety of issues in political science, with a special emphasis on campaigns and elections. Ashworth's recent research has examined the welfare economics of campaign finance, the sources of the incumbency advantage, the media's influence on policy choice, and some methodological pitfalls in the study of suicide terrorism. His current research continues to use ideas from contract theory to explore foundational and applied questiond in the theory of political accountability. Ashworth received his BS in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Bio

Chris Berry
Associate Professor, Chicago Harris

Chris Berry is an associate professor at Chicago Harris. His research interests are in the political economy of American local government and the politics of federal spending. He is currently engaged in two major lines of research. The first explores how the institutional design of local government influences political accountability and public policy. The second is an analysis of the ways in which executive and legislative politics influence the geographic distribution of federal outlays. Berry received his BA from Vassar College, Master of Regional Planning (MRP) from Cornell University, and PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Full Bio

Marc Farinella
Executive Director, Center on Policy Entrepreneurship
Chief Operating Officer, Chicago Harris

Marc S. Farinella, AM'87, is executive director of the Center on Policy Entrepreneurship and chief operating officer at Chicago Harris. A longtime political strategist and public policy specialist, Farinella has held senior leadership roles in both the policy and political arenas. He served as chief of staff for the Governor of Missouri and as North Carolina State Director for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Full Bio

J. Mark Hansen
Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science

John Mark Hansen is the Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science, Chicago Harris and the College. He also serves as Senior Advisor to University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer. Hansen is also one of the nation's leading scholars of American politics. His research has focused on interest groups, citizen activism and public opinion, and he is the author of two books: Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America (1993) with Steven Rosenstone, and Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby, 1919-1981 (1991). Hansen received a B.A. from the University of Kansas, and a M. Phil. and Ph.D. in 1987 from Yale University. Full Bio

William Howell
Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics, Chicago Harris
Professor, Department of Political Science and the College

William Howell is the Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics at Chicago Harris and a professor in the Department of Political Science and the College. He has written widely on separation-of-powers issues and American political institutions, especially the presidency. He has recently completed two book projects: The Wartime President, which is forthcoming at the University of Chicago Press; and Thinking about the Presidency: The Primacy of Power, which is forthcoming at Princeton University Press. Howell received a PhD in political science from Stanford University. Full Bio

B. Pablo Montagnes
Assistant Professor

Pablo Montagnes is an assistant professor at Chicago Harris. His research is focused on group decision making in a variety of settings including elections and partnerships. His teaching interest and research approach center around game theory and positive political theory. Montagnes received his PhD in Managerial Economics and Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Full Bio

Roger Myerson
Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor in Economics

Roger Myerson, the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, has made seminal contributions to the fields of economics and political science. In 2007, he was awarded the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Myerson has applied game-theoretic tools to political science, analyzing how political incentives can be affected by different electoral systems and constitutional structures. Myerson has a PhD from Harvard University. Full Bio

Boris Shor
Assistant Professor

Boris Shor is an assistant professor at Chicago Harris. His research is focused on two areas. The first is the empirical analysis of the policy consequences of enduring political institutions in the United States. The second is the analysis of state legislative ideology in comparative context and the connection to cross-state policy differences. In other research, Shor is examining on the causes and consequences of the blue-red state divide in the U.S. He is interested in leveraging advanced computer technology in addressing substantive political questions. Shor received his AB from Princeton University and his MPhil and PhD in political science from Columbia University. Full Bio