
Saad Ahmad Gulzar
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Bio
I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. My research asks under what conditions can representative government – one that provides equality of voice and influence – improve people’s lives?
Focusing on South Asia, I pose two broad sets of questions:
1. Does representative government improve redistribution at the cost of policy efficiency? My work shows that broadening political representation can redistribute welfare towards marginalized communities without incurring efficiency costs. I argue that taking electoral incentives seriously holds the key to making politics work for development.
2. How can societies transition towards more representative government? I examine long-term historical processes of transitions and their policy consequences. I also study how barriers that prevent broader political participation can be overcome both at the individual and organizational levels. My work shows that politics can be made more inclusive and that doing so can better align policy outcomes with the preferences of people.
I work closely with politicians, political parties, bureaucrats, and government agencies in Pakistan, India, and Nepal, and strive to make these collaborations meaningful for research and policy. My work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, the Journal of Development Economics, and the Journal of the European Economic Association.
I received my Ph.D. in Political Science at New York University in 2017, where my work received the Best Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association’s Experiments Section.
Please visit my website for my cv and research: saadgulzar.com
2021-22 Courses
- Causal Inference for Social Science
POLISCI 150C, POLISCI 355C (Spr) - The Politics of Development
COLLEGE 105 (Spr) -
Independent Studies (4)
- Advanced Individual Study in Political Methodology
POLISCI 359 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Directed Reading and Research in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 249 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Directed Reading and Research in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 349 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Directed Reading and Research in Political Methodology
POLISCI 259 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Advanced Individual Study in Political Methodology
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Prior Year Courses
2019-20 Courses
- Causal Inference for Social Science
POLISCI 150C, POLISCI 355C (Spr) - Theories in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 440A (Aut) - Workshop in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 440D (Aut, Win)
2018-19 Courses
- Causal Inference for Social Science
POLISCI 150C, POLISCI 355C (Spr) - Workshop in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 440D (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Causal Inference for Social Science
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Feyaad Allie, Sarah Thompson, Aliz Toth -
Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor
Gemma Dipoppa -
Doctoral (Program)
Sebastian Lucek, Natalya Rahman
All Publications
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How Campaigns Respond to Ballot Position: A New Mechanism for Order Effects
JOURNAL OF POLITICS
2022
View details for DOI 10.1086/715594
View details for Web of Science ID 000745650900004
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Information, Candidate Selection, and the Quality of Representation: Evidence from Nepal
JOURNAL OF POLITICS
2021
View details for DOI 10.1086/711898
View details for Web of Science ID 000673218100002
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Do Campaign Contribution Limits Curb the Influence of Money in Politics?
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
2021
View details for DOI 10.1111/ajps.12596
View details for Web of Science ID 000613333600001
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Who Enters Politics and Why?
ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, VOL 24, 2021
2021; 24: 253-275
View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-polisci-051418-051214
View details for Web of Science ID 000652490700013
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Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas
AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
2020; 114 (4): 1230–46
View details for DOI 10.1017/S0003055420000532
View details for Web of Science ID 000575170900018
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POLITICAL IDENTITY: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON ANTI-AMERICANISM IN PAKISTAN
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
2020; 18 (5): 2532–60
View details for DOI 10.1093/jeea/jvz053
View details for Web of Science ID 000606029900012
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Data and policy decisions: Experimental evidence from Pakistan
JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
2020; 146
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102523
View details for Web of Science ID 000570268500015
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Can Political Alignment Be Costly?
JOURNAL OF POLITICS
2020; 82 (2): 612–26
View details for DOI 10.1086/706890
View details for Web of Science ID 000530241000017
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Studying Sensitive Topics in Fragile Contexts
DATA COLLECTION IN FRAGILE STATES: INNOVATIONS FROM AFRICA AND BEYOND
2020: 173–92
View details for DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-25120-8_10
View details for Web of Science ID 000558201600011