Michael Tomz
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Department of Political Science
Encina Hall West, Stanford, CA 94305-6044
Phone: 650-725-4031, Email: tomz@stanford.edu
Website:
http://www.stanford.edu/~tomz
Education
Research Interests
International Relations, Political Economy, Public Opinion, Methodology.
For a copy of my research statement, click here.
Books
Reputation and International
Cooperation: Sovereign Debt across Three Centuries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007. The book is available from Princeton University Press,
Amazon.com,
and Barnes & Noble.
Modern Political Economy and
Latin America: Theory and Policy. Editor (with Jeffry Frieden and
Manuel Pastor). Boulder: Westview Press, 2000. The book is available from Amazon.com
and Barnes & Noble.
Articles
Domestic Audience Costs in International Relations: An Experimental Approach. International Organization 61, no. 4 (Fall 2007): 821-40.
Membership Has Its Privileges: The Impact of the GATT on International Trade (with Judith Goldstein and Douglas Rivers). Forthcoming, American Economic Review 97, no. 5 (December 2007).Institutions in International Relations: Understanding the Effects of the GATT and the WTO on World Trade (with Judith Goldstein and Douglas Rivers). International Organization 61, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 37-67.
Do Countries Default in Bad Times? (with Mark Wright). Journal of the European Economic Association 5, no. 2-3 (May 2007): 352-60.
How Does Voting Equipment Affect the Racial Gap in Voided Ballots? (with Robert Van Houweling). American Journal of Political Science 47, no. 1 (January 2003): 46-60.
Relogit: Rare Events Logistic Regression (with Gary King and Langche Zeng). Journal of Statistical Software 8, no. 2 (2003). Abstract published in Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 12, no. 1 (2003): 246-47.
Clarify: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results (with Jason Wittenberg and Gary King). Journal of Statistical Software 8, no. 1 (2003). Abstract published in Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 12, no. 1 (2003): 245-46.
An Easy and Accurate Regression Model for Multiparty Electoral Data (with Joshua Tucker and Jason Wittenberg). Political Analysis 10, no. 1 (Winter 2002): 66-83.
Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation (with Gary King and Jason Wittenberg). American Journal of Political Science 44, no. 2 (April 2000): 347-61.
Electoral Surprise and the Midterm Loss in U.S. Congressional Elections (with Kenneth Scheve). British Journal of Political Science 29, no. 3 (July 1999): 507-21.
The Long-Run Advantages of Centralization for Collective Action (with Edward Schwartz). American Political Science Review 92, no. 3 (September 1997): 685-93.
Current Projects and Working Papers
The Credibility of International Commitments (supported by National Science Foundation CAREER Award SES-0548285)
The Effect of International Law on Preferences and Beliefs
Sovereign Theft: Theory and Evidence about Default and Expropriation (with Mark Wright)
Interests, Information, and the Domestic Politics of International Agreements
Democratic Default: Domestic Audiences
and Compliance with International Agreements
"Reputation Spillovers in International Relations"
"Estimating the Effects of International Law with Observational Data"
"Reciprocity and Domestic Politics"
"MID Narratives+ Database" (with Jessica Weeks). Provides narratives, complete citations, and new variables for the Militarized Interstate Dispute Database. As of September 2007, our research group has documented more than 1,000 disputes. Data are stored in an Internet wiki that facilitates collaboration to improve the database (to be opened to the public in 2008).
"A Century of Expropriation." Describes cases of expropriation of foreign direct investment since 1900. The data are useful for testing theories about the causes and effects of expropriation, including reputation spillovers from FDI to other areas of international relations. As of September 2007, the database contains all known twentieth-century cases of expropriation of U.S. firms.
"Commerce and the Law before World War II." Contains data on commercial treaties and bilateral trade in the pre-GATT era. As of September 2007, the database includes MFN agreements, direction of trade, and national accounts for the years 1920-40.
The Political Economy of Elections (supported by National Science Foundation Award SES-0550844 to Paul Sniderman, Michael Tomz, and Robert Van Houweling)
The Microfoundations of Issue Voting (with Robert Van Houweling)
The Electoral Implications of Candidate Ambiguity (with Robert Van Houweling)
Brand Names and the Organization of Mass Belief Systems (with Paul Sniderman)
"Spatial Models of Voting: A Formal-Experimental Approach" (with Robert Van Houweling)
"Ideological Asymmetries in the American Party System" (with Van Houweling and Sniderman)
"Projection and Persuasion" (with Robert Van Houweling and Paul Sniderman)
Software
Treatment: Software for Public Opinion Surveys with Embedded Experiments (with Nico Benitez), copyright 2005-07. Latest Version Beta 1.1, August 2007. Creates multimedia surveys with embedded experiments, delivers surveys over the Internet, and generates datasets and codebooks for analysis.
Diagnosis: Software for Assessing Covariate Balance in Randomized Experiments and Observational Data, copyright 2007. Implements parametric and nonparametric tests for covariate balance. An improved version is now in development in collaboration with Jas Sekhon and Rocio Titiunik.
Clarify: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results (with Jason Wittenberg and Gary King), copyright 1998-2003. Latest Version 2.1, released January 5, 2003. Uses stochastic simulation to interpret statistical results of non-linear models. Clarify won the 1999 APSA Award for the Best Research Software in Political Science.
ReLogit: Rare Events Logistic Regression (with Gary King and Langche Zeng), copyright 1999-2003. Latest Version 2.0, released January 22, 2003. Performs logistic regression when the sample is unbalanced or has been selected by a rule correlated with the dependent variable.
Awards and Research Grants
National Science Foundation, Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, "Credible Commitments in International Relations," 2006-11
National Science Foundation, "Studies of Spatial Reasoning in Political Choice" (with Paul Sniderman and Robert Van Houweling), 2006-08
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Fellow, 2006-07
Howard Foundation, George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Fellowship, 2006-07
Stanford University, Victoria Schuck Faculty Scholar, 2006-present
National Science Foundation: Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS), "Audience Costs in International Crises," 2003
National Science Foundation: Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS), "Political Choice Spaces and Political Choices" (with Paul Sniderman), 2003
Stanford University Research GrantsAmerican Political Science Association, Okidata Best Research Software Award, 1999
Harvard Merit Fellowship (awarded to the top ten Ph.D. students in any field at Harvard), 1997-98
Doctoral Dissertation Research FellowshipsMarshall Scholarship (to study for a master's degree at Oxford University), 1992-94
Georgetown University HonorsNational Champion in Extemporaneous Speaking, Runner-up in Team Debate, 1988
Visiting Positions
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Fellow in Residence, 2006-07
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Visiting Scholar, July 2006
International Monetary Fund, Research Department, Visiting Scholar, April 2004
Conference Presentations and Invited Talks
Teaching Awards
Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research, Stanford University, 2005. This is a university-wide award, given to one professor at Stanford each year. For more information click here.
Keynote Speaker, Summer Honors College, Stanford University, 2005. For a copy of my keynote address, click here.
Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, 2003.
Grants from Stanford University (Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education) to support the Political Science Program for Undergraduate Research, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.
Grants from Stanford University (Program in Ethics and Society, and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education) for curricular development of "Introduction to International Relations," 2001, 2002.
Derek Bok Certificate for Excellence in Teaching, Harvard University, 1997.
Teaching Interests
International Relations: IR theory; international political economy
Political Economy: the politics of economic development; electoral politics
Methodology: econometrics and data analysis; research design; experimental methods
Teaching Experience
Conferences Organized
Sovereign Debt and Latin America: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives. A Conference of the Social Science History Institute. Stanford University, February 28-March 1, 2003.
Frontiers in Latin American Political Economy. A Conference of the Social Science History Institute Stanford University. January 18-19, 2002. Co-organizer with Alberto Diaz Cayeros, Steve Haber, Beatriz Magaloni, Barry Weingast.
University Service
Professional Activities
Reviewer:
American Journal of Political Science,
American Political Science Review,
American Politics Research,
Economics & Politics,
Electoral Studies,
International Organization,
International Studies Quarterly,
Journal of Conflict Resolution,
Journal of International Economics,
Journal of Law & Economics,
Journal of Politics,
Perspectives on Politics,
Political Analysis,
Political Psychology,
Public Choice,
Review of International Economics,
Social Science Quarterly,
State Politics & Policy Quarterly,
World Politics,
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences,
Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order,
National Science Foundation,
Princeton University Press,
Routledge Press,
Time Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS).
Member: American Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association, International Studies Association, American Economic Association