Having completed her Ph.D. at Yale, Lucy Martin is thrilled to join the UNC faculty as an assistant professor of political science. Also trained as an economist with a master’s degree from Yale, Lucy’s research focuses on the political economy of development in sub-Saharan Africa. Her dissertation shows that, when citizens pay taxes, they are less tolerant of corruption and are more likely to demand accountability from government officials. This makes governments that rely on taxes for revenue, rather than foreign aid or oil revenues, more likely to be accountable to their citizens. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Uganda, using qualitative, game-theoretic, and experimental methods in her work. She is currently expanding the dissertation to look at how and when governments will tax citizens if doing so generates increased pressures to provide public goods. Her research has been covered in The Economist.
Beyond her work on taxation, Lucy is interested in corruption and accountability more generally. She is currently conducting research on how and when corruption will induce citizens to take part in collective action, and how citizens decide whom to blame for accountability failures. She is also interested in the psychological mechanisms that affect when citizens will take part in elections or protests. At UNC she will teach courses on African politics, the political economy of development, and research methods.
Born in England to a Scottish mother and English father, but reared in Kentucky, Lucy did her undergraduate studies at Kenyon College in Ohio, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. There, she majored in Political Science, minored in Sociology, and spent an inordinate amount of time running a variety of student organizations, including the on-campus women’s center. After graduating in 2004 she did campaign work in Kentucky, then moved to Washington, DC. There, she worked for Clean Water Action and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Lucy is excited to move back to the southern U.S., and is looking forward to exploring North Carolina from the mountains to the ocean. Lucy also enjoys cooking and baking, and is widely (and wildly) praised for her peanut butter fudge and lemon bars. She is also trying to relearn the piano.