The Political Economy and Behaviour Group
ABOUT
PEBG is a space at the University of Toronto for work at the intersection of political economy and behaviour — open to anyone in any department working on, or curious about, these questions.
We meet weekly through term for visiting speakers, a graduate student reading group, internal research talks, and sessions on the craft of academic research.
DETAILS
Tuesdays 3-4:30pm, SS3020; Thursdays 10:00–11:30 SS3130
Faculty convenors: Daniel Rubenson and Chagai Weiss
Student coordinator: Danielle Bohonos
Register your interest in taking part by filling out the form here
If you have comments or suggestions, please email Daniel or Chagai
Fall 2026
INTRODUCTIONS
Tuesday, September 8
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, September 17
Cyrus Samii, New York University
"Targeting Incentives for Environmental Stewardship (TIES): A Randomized Controlled Trial in Liberia"
READING GROUP
Tuesday, September 22
Heinze, Alyssa R. 2025. “Democratic Deepening or Elite Persistence? How Local Elites Adapt to Electoral Reform in Rural India,” American Political Science Review
PROFESSIONALIZATION
Tuesday, September 29
Giving a talk (led by Daniel)
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, October 8
John Marshall, Columbia University
"Generating and then meeting demand: Can radio journalists increase demand and supply of health services in Tanzania?"
READING GROUP
Tuesday, October 13
The uses and abuses of survey experiments. Macartan Humphreys blog; Cyrus Samii blog; Kirk Bansak, Jens Hainmueller, Daniel J. Hopkins and Teppei Yamamoto. 2022. “Using Conjoint Experiments to Analyze Election Outcomes: The Essential Role of the Average Marginal Component Effect,” Political Analysis
PROFESSIONALIZATION
Tuesday, October 20
Developing your research agenda (led by Chagai)
VISITING SPEAKER
Monday, November 2, 10:30am-12pm SS3130 (NOTE DAY & TIME)
Guy Grossman, University of Pennsylvania
"Cutting humanitarian aid raises debt and lowers schooling without building refugees' self-reliance"
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, November 12
Sophie Borwein, University of British Columbia
"Causal beliefs about the economic effects of AI among politicians and the public"
TORONTO POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR WORKSHOP
November 13 & 14
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, November 19
Ceren Baysan, University of Toronto
"Private Support, Reported Backlash: Demand for Gender Equality in Conservative Contexts"
READING GROUP
Thursday, November 26
Kuipers, Nicholas. 2025. States against Nations: Meritocracy, Patronage, and the Challenges of Bureaucratic Selection. Cambridge University Press. (Chapters TBC)
END of TERM SOCIAL
Thursday, December 3
Spring 2027
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, January 14
Josh Kalla, Yale University
"Sell What Voters Want: The Science of Winning Elections"
READING GROUP
Thursday, January 21
TBC
PROFESSIONALIZATION
Thursday, January 28
How to write a paper and publish it
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Thursday, February 4
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, February 11
TBC
PROFESSIONALIZATION
Tuesday, February 23
Thinking about publishing your dissertation as a book or article(s) or both (led by Chagai)
READING GROUP
Thursday, March 4
TBC
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, March 11
Tianyi Wang, University of Toronto
"Waves of Empowerment: Black Radio and the Civil Rights Movement"
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, March 18
Susan Hyde, University of California, Berkeley
TBC
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Thursday, March 25
PROFESSIONALIZATION
Thursday, April 1
How to conference
VISITING SPEAKER
Thursday, April 8
TBC
SOCIAL
Thursday, April 15