SITE welcomes new faculty members: Anastasiia Arbuzova and Olle Folke
(From left: Anastasiia Arbuzova & Olle Folke)
Anastasiia Arbuzova joins SITE as a postdoctoral fellow. Her research lies at the intersection of political economy, with a particular focus on non-democratic regimes, and development economics often with a gender perspective. Her job market paper explores how legitimacy concerns can drive electoral manipulations in autocracies, offering important insights into institutional strategies in authoritarian settings.
Olle Folke is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Government at Uppsala University, and now also affiliated with SITE. His research focuses on political economics and gender & politics, with a particular emphasis on gender equality in the labor market and political representation. His work has been published in leading journals across economics, political science, sociology and business administration, and he has previously taught at Columbia University and Yale University.
To mark their arrival, we interviewed both Anastasiia and Olle about their academic backgrounds, research interests, and what they look forward to during their time at SITE. Read the full interview below:
Welcome to SITE, Anastasiia and Olle! Could you tell us a bit about your academic and professional background?
Anastasiia: I recently graduated with a PhD in Economics from Boston University, where I spent the past six years working on topics in political economy and development economics. My academic path began with a joint undergraduate degree in Economics from New Economic School and Higher School of Economics.
Olle: I received my PHD in economics at IIES in Stockholm University in 2010 and since then I have been employed as a political scientist, first at Columbia University and for the last 10 years in Uppsala. I have continued working in economics throughout this time and in recent years began working more and more in labor economics with a focus on sexual harassment.
What motivated you to pursue a career within your respective fields?
Anastasiia: I am driven by the idea that research can improve lives—both by helping us understand failures and by finding ways to address existing issues, such as the challenges faced by underprivileged groups, particularly women.
Olle: I have chosen research questions based on what I am interested in learning about myself and that has a wide societal relevance. This is the reason that we research has covered a wide array of topics.
What are your main research interests, and how do they align with SITE’s mission?
Anastasiia: My research focuses on the functioning of autocracies as well as on gender-related issues, both of which are among the central themes at SITE.
Olle: To me SITE’s mission of making policy relevant research is closely aligned with my own research interests. Topic wise I also think that SITE is a great fit for me since there is a lot of interesting research being done at SITE on both gender equality and political economics.
Can you share a project or publication you’re particularly proud of?
Anastasiia: I was trusted to lead fieldwork for a study in Ethiopia, which gave me the experience and confidence to later design and conduct my own survey experiment - something especially challenging in modern-day Russia.
Olle: The publication I am most proud of is “Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. The reason that I am proud of this publication is that it has contributed to raising awareness of the economics consequences of sexual harassment within economics.
Finally, what are you most looking forward to about working at SITE?
Anastasiia: I’m most looking forward to meeting like-minded colleagues and building connections within the broader network.
Olle: Being part of a great research environment with a focus on policy relevant research.
We are excited to have them both join the SITE team and look forward to their contributions to our research and policy outreach.
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