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I am PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. My research interests are at the intersection of development economics and political economy focusing on how institutions and gender influence economic and human development. My research has been published in the Journal of Development Economics and the Journal of Population Economics.
I am on the 2026-2027 job market. My job market paper studies how electoral redistricting shapes political candidacy and economic development.
I am a PhD Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, a graduate student affiliate of the Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab, and a member of the Representation of Women Lab.
Email: cweir2@nd.edu
Address: 3060 Jenkins Nanovic Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
Job Market Paper
Abstract: This paper examines how electoral redistricting affects political candidacy, representation, and economic development using India's 2008 Delimitation as a natural experiment. I exploit constituency-level variation in voter composition and changes in which seats are reserved for disadvantaged social groups. I find that the presence of new voters and changes in reservation status reduce both major party incumbent nominations and the probability of an incumbent winning reelection. Constituencies experiencing reservation status changes see an increase in paved road provision and higher nighttime lights growth in the five years following redistricting. Because India's redistricting was conducted by an independent commission rather than incumbent legislators, these findings suggest that insulating redistricting from political influence can generate economic benefits alongside the standard justification of limiting partisan gerrymandering.
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