Rachel Wellhausen is a doctoral candidate studying international political economy and comparative politics in the MIT Department of Political Science. Her dissertation project, "When Governments Break Contracts," seeks to explain the ability of governments to choose policies problematic for internationally mobile investors while still receiving foreign investment. The project hypothesizes that the push and pull of foreign investors of different types, in different capital markets, creates space for strategic government behavior. Ongoing research includes quantitative analysis focusing on emerging economies as well as qualitative fieldwork in Eurasian transition countries with planned extensions to other world regions.
Rachel’s other research interests are in the political economy of science and technology policy, technology transfer, and development. She has conducted research on intellectual property and development issues associated with emerging technologies, particularly synthetic biology; the internationalization of research and development; and the rise and effectiveness of energy efficiency policies in the US.
Rachel received an MSc with Distinction in European Political Economy: Transition from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her thesis addressed variation in wage and social transfer arrears across the region. As an Arizona Flinn Scholar, Rachel graduated summa cum laude with three BA degrees in Economics, English, and Interdisciplinary Studies (specializing in German, Russian, and Political Science) from the University of Arizona. Rachel was recognized as the outstanding Honors College graduate and one of two outstanding university-wide graduates. Rachel has also studied and worked throughout Eurasia, including a year as an undergraduate NSEP Boren scholar in Irkutsk, Russia and work at a London-based political risk consultancy.
