Uma Ilavarasan

Hello!

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University and a Malcolm Wiener Ph.D. Research Fellow in Poverty and Justice through the Harvard Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Social Policy. My research explores the creative means through which strong states amass their power and programmatically exercise it to pursue preferred ends, knitting together questions of American and comparative political economy, state building, and public policy. In my work, I employ archival research; in-depth elite interviews; and the statistical analysis of original administrative data.

In my dissertation, I introduce the concept of policy by contract, and provide a theory of how and why policymakers leverage public procurement to make and enforce distinctive standards for contractors' production processes and products. My primary case is the United States (both past and present), with extensions to the European Union.

I am an affiliate of the Center for American Political Studies, the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, as well as a Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

I graduated in May 2019 from Reed College with a B.A. in Economics. Between July 2021 and July 2022, I served as a Financial Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In my free time, I enjoy yoga, reading as much fiction as I can get my hands on, and snuggling with my beloved cats, Fig and Pudding.

I am on the 2026-2027 academic job market.