Spring Showcase 2026 Features Research of 8 Faculty and Postdoctoral Candidates

This day of programming spotlighted Columbia’s Center for Political Economy as a cross-disciplinary site that deepens thinking about political economy and promotes developments within economics by connecting it to, among other fields, history, law, anthropology, political science, sociology, public health, and engineering. 

Since September 2022, the Center has advanced innovative ideas and policy solutions with research grants, postdoctoral posts, and diverse convenings. Held Feb. 16, the 2026 Showcase brought its projects, themes, and opportunities into focus through a series of presentations from its faculty grant recipients and a poster session led by its graduate student grant recipients.

Read more about the research being funded by the center by faculty members and by graduate students.

The showcase also included a poster session by the new doctoral grantees.

Presenters 

Watch videos of individual presentations by clicking on the names listed below:

Political Economy and Democracy Initiative Projects:

• Stephanie McCurry, R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History in Honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 
  Project Title: "Law, Labor and Reconstruction in the Local Courts, 1865-1876"
• Andrea Prat, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business, Columbia Business School, and Professor of Economics, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  Project Title: "The Dynamics of Voter Information and Decision-Making: An AI-Driven Study of Electoral Preferences in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election"
• Justin Phillips, Eaton Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  Project Title: "Quasi-Corruption in City Politics: Activist and Voter Beliefs"
   

Political Economy of Climate Idea Lab Projects: 

• Gemma Dipoppa, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 
  Project Title: "Political Constraints and Bureaucratic Action in Environmental Governance"
• Johnathan Guy (Collaborator with Nikhar Gaikwad), Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Political Economy of Climate Idea Lab, Center for Political Economy, Columbia World Projects  
  Project Title: "Political Economy of Compensation in Fossil Fuel Economies"
   

Firms and Industrial Policy Idea Lab Project: 

• Richard John, Professor of History and Communications, Journalism School 
  Project Title: "Anti-Monopoly and Democracy in the Political Economy of the United States from the War of Independence to Big Tech"
   

Work and Labor Idea Lab Projects:

• Sorcha Brophy, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health 
  Project Title: "Organizing Against Healthcare Corporatization"
• Junyan Jiang, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 
  Project Title: "Platform Economy and China’s Digital Working Class"

Watch the complete showcase in the video below: