Maria Puolakkainen
I am a DPhil student in Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations and a member of Nuffield College. My research is motivated by the persistence of extreme economic inequality and I am working on questions on the politics of industrial policies, structural upgrading, and informal labour, with a regional focus on Latin America.
My doctoral research examines the political economy of productive economic structures. My first dissertation paper leverages the interactive effect of industry geography and political institutions to explain the distribution of industrial policy benefits in Brazil and Mexico. I also explore whether voters respond to public transfers to industry and how voting behaviour by informal workers shapes economic policymaking.
Other non-dissertation work investigates wage policies in Mexico, in collaboration with Prof. David Doyle.
Previously I worked on political dimensions of organised crime and violent non-state armed groups, particularly the impact of criminal governance on the provision of public goods in Colombia. I worked extensively on criminal violence and territorial contests between prison factions and militia groups in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states in Brazil during my time as a researcher of political violence and protest at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
My main focus is on causal inference and experiments, but I also engage in qualitative interviewing and case study approaches. I completed my MPhil in Latin American Studies at St Antony’s College with a high distinction in my dissertation, and hold a BSc in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (major in Economics) from the University of Warwick.
Previously, I have worked as a a consultant at a Colombian NGO serving Venezuelan migrants (Famicove), and as an investment banking analyst in Nordic mergers and acquisitions at Nomura International.

Tom Weller Photography
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E: maria.puolakkainen@politics.ox.ac.uk
X: @MariaLingon
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Nuffield College
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1NF -