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Zhaotian Luo

@luozhaotian.bsky.social
149 followers 34 following 1 posts

Assistant Professor of Political Science @UChicago

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Reposted by Zhaotian Luo
Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
It’s been great to get back to the theory of autocracy after a little break. Here is a new paper with @luozhaotian.bsky.social and @spantoja.bsky.social. It’s a fun setting: a dynamic agency model in which the agent can try to become the principal (e.g., via a coup). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Project Syndicate @projectsyndicate.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
JD Vance was right when he said that Watergate would be a 12-hour story today, but not for the reason he thinks, write @bobbygulotty.bsky.social and Zhaotian Luo. bit.ly/3RZY6DP
bit.ly
The Trolling of American Democracy
Robert Gulotty & Zhaotian Luo explain how illiberal politicians weaponize irony, forcing critics to choose between silence and ridicule.
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Reposted by Zhaotian Luo
Adam Przeworski @adamprz.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
A summary of what I understand and do not understand about the way democracy works: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7269378
papers.ssrn.com
<p>Swan Song: My Understanding of Democracy</p>
I summarize my understanding of democracy: the theory which predicts when elections peacefully manage conflicts and the empirical evidence regarding the co
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Day 1 of the UChicago-Beijing Political Economy of Governance Conference kicks off with two of our most prominent democracy scholars: Carles Boix and Adam Przeworski.
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Keynote speakers @rickhornbeck.bsky.social and @k-pravilova.bsky.social.
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Really looking forward to the first annual Workshop on Organizational and Political Economics in Chicago (OPEC!) this coming Saturday. @luozhaotian.bsky.social has done fabulous work pulling this together.
bfi.uchicago.edu
1st Workshop on Organizational and Political Economics in Chicago | Becker Friedman Institute
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
New paper alert! 📣 @chrisblattman.bsky.social, Arthur Yu, and I reexamine the autocratic growth penalty—the finding that autocracies systematically underperform democracies in economic growth. TL;DR, the penalty is concentrated in personalist, not institutionalized autocracies. Details👇 1/X
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Zhaotian Luo @luozhaotian.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
New Working Paper: Why does power alternate even without formal institutions? We develop a dynamic model where power alternation emerges spontaneously before it is formalized, as part of an efficient self-enforcing agreement governed by evolving norms. Link here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Monika Nalepa @monikanalepa.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
This year we will be in Michigan in August. Apply if you are midway through your PhD program in the social sciences to learn from the best in the discipline how theory and empirical methods come together!
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Somebody at @ajpseditor.bsky.social has a great sense of humor, having accepted our paper on the “dictator’s dilemma” the very day that Bashar al-Assad fled Syria. Joint with @luozhaotian.bsky.social, @antonshirikov.bsky.social, and Dmitriy Vorobyev. osf.io/b94fc
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