Emilia Simison

Emilia Simison

Postdoctoral Fellow

CIPR, Tulane University

Hi! I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) at Tulane University. My research focuses on the comparative political economy of policymaking and policy change. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I analyze how political institutions across regime types shape the extent to which citizens and interest groups influence policymaking, and how that affects policy outputs. As part of this research agenda, my book project (based on my PhD dissertation) explores the relationship between regime types and public policies to better understand how, and under which conditions, policy change takes place as a consequence of regime type transitions. I am also a co-organizer of the Authoritarian Political Systems Group.

I hold a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I specialized in Comparative Political Economy and Methodology. I also received an MA from Torcuato Di Tella University (UTDT) and a BA from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), both in Political Science. Prior to MIT, I was a PhD fellow at CONICET working at Gino Germani Research Institute, and taught at UBA and UTDT.

Interests

  • Political Economy
  • Political Institutions
  • Authoritarian Politics
  • Latin American Politics
  • Public Policy

Education

  • PhD in Political Science, 2022

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • MA in Political Science, 2015

    Universidad Torcuato Di Tella

  • BA in Political Science, 2011

    Universidad de Buenos Aires

Publications

Economic Crises, Military Rebellions, and Democratic Survival: Argentina, 1983-2020

In Democracy in Hard Places, Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud bring together a distinguished cast of contributors to illustrate how …

When Mayors Deliver: Political Alignment and Well-being

While in recent decades developing countries have achieved significant improvements in well-being, disparities within countries …

Supporters and Opposition in Authoritarian Legislatures

Do supporters and opposition behave differently in authoritarian legislatures? This paper examines this question by analysing …

Lawmaking in personalist dictatorships: evidence from Spain

How does lawmaking work in personalist dictatorships? Assuming that legislative institutions established within power-sharing …

Experimentos en las Ciencias Sociales

La complejidad que caracteriza a las sociedades actuales desafía al investigador de las disciplinas que integran las ciencias sociales: …

Law-Making and Federalism in Argentina’s Last Dictatorship

This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the renewal of academic engagement in the Argentinian dictatorship in the …

Legislatures and Representation in Latin American Politics

The variation offered by Latin American legislatures makes them empirically and theoretically relevant to the field of legislative …

Teaching

(most recent)

Science, Technology, and Public Policy (TA)

Quantitative Research Methods I: Regression (TA)

Math Camp I for incoming students (Instructor)

Quantitative Research Methods II- Causal Inference (TA)

Introductory workshop on R for Social Science applications (Instructor)

International Political Economy (TA)

Recent Presentations

Yes, and yes, sir, parties? Amending Executive bills in Authoritarian Brazil
Democracies, Dictatorships, and Policy Change: Banking Policy Across Regime Types in Argentina and Brazil
Social Mobilization and Social Policy in Latin America
Resetting public policy? Regime Change and Housing Policy in Argentina and Brazil
Social Policy Expansion, Continuity, and Change in Latin America

Research Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Part-time Fellow

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School

Feb 2019 – Jul 2019
 
 
 
 
 

PhD Fellow

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)

Apr 2013 – Apr 2017
 
 
 
 
 

Research Assistant

Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani

Jan 2011 – Mar 2013

Contact