ALEXANDER SAHN

PhD Candidate in Political Science
UC Berkeley

My research seeks to understand and reduce inequalities in American political economy. My work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Behavior, and Political Analysis.

My dissertation provides new explanations for the origins and maintenance of land use policies responsible for the housing affordability crisis in the United States.

RESEARCH

RACE AND REPRESENTATION IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE 2020. American Political Science Review (WITH JAKE GRUMBACH)

Campaign finance is more racially unequal than voter turnout or Congressional representation, but the nomination of candidates of color can close this gap.

GENDER, RACE, AND INTERSECTIONALITY IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE Forthcoming at Political Behavior (WITH JAKE GRUMBACH AND SARAH STASZAK)

Co-ethnic contributing behavior dominates co-gendered contributing with no evidence of intersectionality.

ACHIEVING STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE WITH CONTROL VARIABLES AND WITHOUT TRANSPARENCY Forthcoming at Political Analysis (WITH GABE LENZ)

A large portion of observational studies would not meet statistical significance without undisclosed covariate adjustment.

WHY IS HOUSING UNAFFORABLE? THE GREAT MIGRATION'S EFFECT ON

EXCLUSIONARY ZONING

The Great Migration caused cities to adopt exclusionary zoning, leading to more unaffordable housing today.

FAUX-RESPONSIVENESS AND ELECTION CYCLES IN THE PERMITTING OF HOUSING

Cities permit less housing before elections when mayors are running for re-election, especially when homeowners dominate.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LOBBYING IN PUBLIC MEETINGS: EVIDENCE FROM SAN FRANCISCO

Attendees of public meetings (older homeowners) get the outcomes they want (slowing and blocking affordable housing).

SCOPE CONDITIONS, NUMERACY, AND THE EVALUATION OF POLICY (WITH AMY LERMAN AND LAURA STOKER)

Gain-loss framing has little effect on problems and policy solutions, which have bipartisan support.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

TEACHING

PS1: Introduction to Political Science: Graduate Student Instructor for Paul Pierson (Spring 2017)
PS1: Introduction to Political Science: Graduate Student Instructor for Rob van Houweling (Fall 2017)

MENTORSHIP

Berkeley D-Lab: Senior Fellow (2018-)
Student Mentoring and Research Teams: Mentor (2017)
Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program: Mentor (2017)

TUTORING

Political Science Graduate Methods Tutor (2016-)
Berkeley D-Lab Research Consultant (2017-)

CONTACT

210 Barrows Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720