Caterina Chiopris is a Ph.D. student in political economy and government at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the contemporary phenomenon of democratic backsliding, especially in Eastern Europe, and topics within historical political economy. Her current work focuses on the drivers of increased state capacity in the modern era, and the spatial integration of the periphery into the state system. As well as, the origins of the welfare state, and the legacy of religious institutions after their incorporation into the state apparatus. A recent project is on the history of science, specifically on the expansion of innovation and knowledge production in the industrial era, and how it relates to human capital's spatial mobility. Methodologically, she is interested in natural experiments, networks, and natural language processing.
She holds an M.A. in analytical political economy from Duke University, and a B.A. in international relations (international law, economics, and political science) from TU Dresden. She studied Chinese language and culture at Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, and Yunnan University.
