Natalia Garbiras-Díaz

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development. My main research interests are in comparative politics and the political economy of development, focusing on corruption, public goods provision, and accountability in Latin America. I also study the formation of citizen and ex-combatant attitudes and their role in stabilizing peace in post-conflict settings. In my dissertation, I explore the information and institutional environments that pave the way for outsider candidates’ rise and success. I hold an M.A. in Economics from the University of Los Andes (Colombia). Before coming to Berkeley, I worked at the World Bank, the Observatory of Democracy, and Colombia’s National Planning Department.