Thomas Flaherty

Thomas Flaherty is a Ph.D. candidate and NSF Graduate Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He received an M.A. in political science from UCSD in 2018 and a B.A. in political science from UCLA in 2014. He has published in International Organization, Economics & Politics, and The Review of International Organizations. His research broadly explores the political economy of place—or how the structures and conditions found within local economies affect policy preferences and political behaviors. Using economic geography theories, he identifies the ways in which individuals form relationships with the places they live, and quantifies these relationships with spatial and machine learning measurement techniques. His current work applies these theoretically-informed measures to reconsider important questions in political economy: does economic exposure to trade affect globalization attitudes, and do these attitudes affect voting; does inequality affect support for redistribution? See his website for details on how this perspective sheds new light on these enduring issues.

Proposal Title: Geographic Mobility and Globalization Backlashes: Evidence from the NAFTA Import Shock and Populist Votes for Ross Perot