WELCOME
I am an Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice (primary) and Department of Political Science (secondary). I study the comparative political economy of development with a focus on urban and distributive politics, inequality and social policy, and climate change and environmental politics in developing countries.
My book project explores how the geographic layout of cities –layouts of segregation– shape patterns of public goods provision, political polarization, and urban coalition-building in Brazil and Mexico. My other projects examine deforestation in the Amazon, urban housing markets and the causes of slum growth, the politics of gentrification, urban climate change adaptation, and informal labor in developing cities.
My research is published or forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, and Comparative Political Studies. I have received several honors for my work, including the Mancur Olson Best Dissertation award (2025) from the American Political Science Association (APSA) Political Economy Section, the Harold D. Lasswell Best Dissertation in Public Policy award, and the Paul A. Sabatier best paper award from the APSA Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics Section.
I am a recipient of the Susan Clarke Young Scholar Award from the APSA Urban Politics Section in 2023. I received my Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 2023. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Yale Leitner Program in Political Economy and a Jorge Paulo Lemann Doctoral Fellow for research on Brazil.
Contact
alicezxu@upenn.edu