Sara Lowes is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego, a faculty research fellow at the NBER, a research affiliate of CEPR, and a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. She graduated from Harvard University in 2017 with a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government. She graduated from Middlebury College in 2007 with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. She studies economic development, political economy and economic history. Her most recent work is in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  She also has research experience in Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Bolivia and Vietnam.