Benjamin Helms joined the Department of International Affairs as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2023. He was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his PhD in Politics from the University of Virginia in 2022.
Helms’ research interests are in international political economy, with a particular focus on the political economy of globalization in emerging economies and the politics of international migration. He is particularly interested in how global economic integration reshapes domestic politics in developing countries, as well as the political causes and consequences of immigration. Helms’ book, The Ties that Bind: Immigration and the Global Political Economy (co-authored with David Leblang), was published with Cambridge University Press in 2023. His ongoing projects focus on globalization and governance outcomes in emerging economies, the relationship between internal migration and political change in developing countries, and the linkages between international migration and foreign investment.
Helms’ research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Studies in Comparative International Development, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. His research has been supported by the Bankard Fund for Political Economy.
