Biography

My research is related to the problems and possibilities that emerge when states and organizations adopt a reliance on markets for the distribution of scarce national resources or cultural goods. My past work examined cases of market-assisted land reform in Central America. My current project examines efforts by charitable organizations to further democratize US arts and culture sectors through a greater reliance on markets to accomplish such a goal.

I also take on projects that examine the challenges and successes of social groups, states and organizations working to bring about higher degrees of social equality and/or establish more egalitarian political economies. In the past, I have examined state-led efforts to address dilemmas of land distribution, property concentration and social inequality in Latin America and rural regions of the US. More recently, I have been exploring land use decisions shaped by civil society actors trying to establish more “livable communities” and “affordable neighborhoods” in low-density rural areas of California’s Sonoma and Solano Counties.