Updated on September 2025
Welcome to my website!
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Program for Quantitative and Analytical Political Science (QAPS) in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. I will be on the academic job market in Fall 2025.
My dissertation shows how economic sanctions on authoritarian regimes can backfire: rather than weakening incumbents, sanctions trigger economic decline that disproportionately incentivizes opponents to emigrate, ultimately strengthening the regime’s hold on power.
Beyond this, I study political economy and methodology, with a regional focus on Latin America. My work has appeared in the Journal of Politics and Cambridge Elements, among other outlets, and will soon appear in World Development.
On Unfounded Claims of Electoral Fraud, with Dorothy Kronick and Francisco Rodríguez.
Accepted at World Development
Latest draft
Cattaneo, Matias D., Nicolás Idrobo, and Rocío Titiunik. 2024. A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Extensions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Final draft | Replication | Publication
Idrobo, Nicolás, Dorothy Kronick, and Francisco Rodríguez. 2022. “Do Shifts in Late-Counted Votes Signal Fraud? Evidence from Bolivia.” The Journal of Politics 84(4): 2202-2215.
Final draft | Replication | Publication | Media coverage: NYT (English, Spanish), Crisis Group
OAS Response | Nooruddin’s Response | Our Response to Nooruddin
Cattaneo, Matias D., Nicolás Idrobo, and Rocío Titiunik. 2020. A Practical Introduction to Regression Discontinuity Designs: Foundations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Final draft | Replication | Publication | Erratum
Idrobo, Nicolás, Daniel Mejía, and Ana María Tribín. 2014. ``Illegal Gold Mining and Violence in Colombia.” Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 20(1): 83-111.
Publication
[Job market paper] Why Economic Sanctions Backfire: the Role of Emigration and the Venezuelan Case. September, 2025.
Latest draft
The Effect of Oversight on the Quantity and Quality of Policing, with Dorothy Kronick and Tara Slough. September, 2024.
Latest draft
The Failed War on Pre-Trial Detention: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Reform, with Dorothy Kronick and Ángela Zorro Medina. February, 2025.
The Advent of the Inference Era: Science Production in Economics and Political Science since 1970, with Arthur Lupia, Hwayong Shin and Rocío Titiunik. February, 2025.
The Hidden Power of Money: How Campaign Contributions to Legislators Buy Legislative Influence, with Pablo Querubin, Miguel Rueda and Nelson Ruiz. February, 2025.
Covariate Distributions and Feasible Questions in Comparative Politics and Political Economy, with Rocío Titiunik. October, 2023.