BRIAN MIN

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science

University of Michigan

 

Research Associate Professor, Center for Political Studies

Faculty Affiliate, Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS)

 

7634 Haven Hall

brianmin@umich.edu


 

 

 


Brian Min studies the political economy of development with an emphasis on distributive politics, public goods provision, and energy politics.

 

He is the author of Power and the Vote: Elections and Electricity in the Developing World. His research uses high resolution satellite imagery to study the politics of rural electrification across the developing world. He has collaborated closely with the World Bank to develop new methods using remote sensing and statistical algorithms to plan and monitor electrification projects in settings including India, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Kenya, Pakistan, and Vietnam. His current research focuses on the political targeting of power outages using high frequency satellite data.

 

His earlier research on ethnic politics and conflict introduced a major new dataset (with Lars-Erik Cederman and Andreas Wimmer) on Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) in all countries of the world since 1946.

 

He is the recipient of the 2011 Gabriel Almond Award from the American Political Science Association for best dissertation in comparative politics. His research has been funded by the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, International Growth Centre, and the National Science Foundation.

 

 

 

BOOK

 

 

 

Power and the Vote: Elections and Electricity in the Developing World. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2015.

Book Reviews:

Herbert Kitschelt, Camb. Rev. Intl. Aff. 2016.

Toke Aidt, Journal of Politics. 2016.

 

ARTICLES

 

 

Women Legislators and Economic Performance” (with Sonia Bhalotra, Thushyanthan Baskaran, Yogesh Uppal).
Journal of Economic Growth. 2023.

 

Local Partisan Biases in Allocations of Foreign Aid: A Study of Agricultural Assistance in India” (with Eugenio Arima, David Backer, Allen Hicken, Ken Kollman, Joel Selway).
World Politics. 75(1):43–98. 2023.

 

Election Cycles and Electricity Provision: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment with Indian Special Elections” (with Thushyanthan Baskaran and Yogesh Uppal).
Journal of Public Economics. 126:64–73. 2015.

Related columns: Ideas for India, Mint.

 

Tracking Electrification in Vietnam Using Nighttime Lights” (with Kwawu Mensan Gaba).
Remote Sensing. 6(10):9511–9529. 2014.

 

Electoral Cycles in Electricity Losses in India” (with Miriam Golden).
Energy Policy. 65:619–625. 2014.

News coverage: Economic Times, Hindustan Times, India Today, Mint, DNA - Daily News and Analysis, Firstpost, Outlook, Financial Express, Business Standard.

 

Detection of Rural Electrification in Africa using DMSP-OLS Night Lights Imagery” (with Kwawu Mensan Gaba, Ousmane Fall Sarr, Alassane Agalassou).
International Journal of Remote Sensing 34(22):8118–8141. 2013.

 

Distributive Politics Around the World” (with Miriam Golden).
Annual Review of Political Science 16:73–99. 2013.

Supplemental inventory of articles on distributive politics
Supplemental bibliography of articles on distributive politics

 

Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis” (with Lars-Erik Cederman and Andreas Wimmer).
World Politics 62(1):87–119. 2010.

 

Ethnic Politics and Armed Conflict: A Configurational Analysis” (with Andreas Wimmer and Lars-Erik Cederman).
American Sociological Review 74(2):316–337. 2009.

Online appendix with coding rules for the Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) dataset and additional tables.

 

Baghdad Nights: Evaluating the US Military Surge Using Night Light Signatures” (with John Agnew, Thomas W. Gillespie, and Jorge Gonzalez).
Environment and Planning A 40(10): 2285–2295. 2008.

Press reactions: Reuters, New Scientist, Xinhua (China), and blogs at the New York Times - Freakonomics, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, ADN (Spain).

 

From Empire to Nation-State: Explaining War in the Modern World, 1816–2001.” (with Andreas Wimmer).
American Sociological Review 71(6):867–897. 2006.

Winner, 2007 Best Paper Award, Political Sociology Section, American Sociological Association.
Winner, 2007 Best Paper Award, Comparative Historical Sociology Section, American Sociological Association.