Overview
Malesky is a specialist on Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. Currently, Malesky's research agenda is very much at the intersection of Comparative and International Political Economy, falling into three major categories: 1) Authoritarian political institutions and their consequences; 2) The political influence of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations; and 3) Political institutions, private business development, and formalization.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor of Political Science
·
2016 - Present
Political Science,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Director of the Duke Center for International Development
·
2020 - Present
Duke Center for International Development,
Sanford School of Public Policy
Director of Graduate Studies
·
2025 - Present
Political Science,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
·
2020 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Recent Publications
Do better managers bribe less? Cross-national and experimental evidence
Journal Article Business and Politics · March 25, 2026 AbstractWork on the relationship between regulation and bribery suggests that bribes are a joint function of the demands of bureaucrats and the supply of business managers willing to pay them. However, du ... Full text Open Access CiteA Field of Her Own: Property Rights and Women’s Agency in Myanmar
Journal Article Journal of Politics · January 1, 2026 Can financial incentives lead households to register land in women’s names, thereby providing them with formal property rights? Can formal property ownership improve women’s economic outcomes and change decision-making dynamics within the household? To inv ... Full text CiteErratum: CORRIGENDUM: Making Bribery Profitable Again? The Market Effects of Suspending Accountability for Overseas Bribery (International Organization (2025) 79:4 (739–758) DOI: 10.1017/S0020818325100970)
Journal Article International Organization · January 1, 2026 Upon publication of this article only one of two supplementary material files were included with the publication. This has now been updated to include the missing file. ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG)
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. · 2026 - 2029The Moral Economy of of Authoritarian Nostalgia: How Institutional Betrayal Erodes Collective Memory
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Institute for Humane Studies · 2026 - 2027The Political Economy of Authoritarian Nostalgia: Catastrophic Forgetting in Newly Consolidated Democracies
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Political Science Association · 2025 - 2026View All Grants
Education
Duke University ·
2004
Ph.D.