Nicolás Idrobo

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Updated on March 2025

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Welcome to my website!

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and starting in July 2025, I will be a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Program for Quantitative and Analytical Political Science (QAPS) in the Department of Politics at Princeton University.

My dissertation studies how economic sanctions placed on authoritarian regimes can not only be ineffective, but also counterproductive, by producing an economic decline that incentivizes political opponents to emigrate, making the regime politically stronger in the end.

I also study questions in political economy and methodology, with a regional focus on Latin America. My work has been published in the Journal of Politics and Cambridge Elements.

Contact information:
idrobo@sas.upenn.edu
+1 (734) 353-7093
133 S 36th St
Office 350
Philadelphia, PA 19104
CV Email Google Scholar

Main publications

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

Working papers

  1. On Unfounded Claims of Electoral Fraud, with Dorothy Kronick and Francisco Rodríguez. November, 2024.
    Invitation to revise and resubmit at World Development
    Latest draft

  2. [Job Market Paper] Why Economic Sanctions Backfire: the Role of Emigration and the Venezuelan Case. September, 2024.
    Latest draft

  3. The Effect of Oversight on the Quantity and Quality of Policing, with Dorothy Kronick and Tara Slough. September, 2024.
    Latest draft

Work in progress

  1. The Failed War on Pre-Trial Detention: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Reform, with Dorothy Kronick and Ángela Zorro Medina. February, 2025.

  2. 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.

  3. The Hidden Power of Money: How Campaign Contributions to Legislators Buy Legislative Influence, with Pablo Querubin, Miguel Rueda and Nelson Ruiz. February, 2025.

  4. The Holy Roman Empire as an International Organization, with Jason Hartwig. July, 2024.

  5. Covariate Distributions and Feasible Questions in Comparative Politics and Political Economy, with Rocío Titiunik. October, 2023.