I am an Assistant Professor of AI Governance at Northeastern University. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Computational Social Science at the California Institute of Technology, working with Michael Alvarez, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy of the University of Toronto and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, working with Peter Loewen. I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2021.
My research has appeared or is forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, Environmental Politics, Political Science Research and Methods, Political Behavior, West European Politics, the European Journal of Political Research, Foreign Affairs, Sociology, Perspectives on Politics, the Lancet, Nature Medicine, Economics & Politics, the Journal of Evolutionary Economics, the Journal of Public Policy, Europe-Asia Studies, the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, npj Climate Action, PLOS Climate, PNAS Nexus, Scientific Reports, South European Society and Politics, Social Science Quarterly, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, and the World Economy.
My work lies at the intersection of political economy and political behavior. I focus on how individuals’ political and policy preferences change in response to different socioeconomic shocks—such as artificial intelligence and automation (AAI), climate change, and globalization—and why voters sometimes support policies that undermine social welfare. In my book, “Who Thinks Like an Economist? How the Economist Mental Model Shapes Political Decisions” (forthcoming at Cambridge University Press) I argue that different mental models of the political economy are key to understanding the rise of populism, protectionism, and nationalism that challenge liberal democracy and social welfare.
I use empirical methods such as survey data combined with innovative experimental designs to explore how people think about the trade-offs that big societal transformations bring. A significant strand of my work examines the political implications of AI and automation.
In addition to my core research, I also exploit my life-long passion for soccer to advance our understanding of consequential issues such as racial discrimination and human rights. One of my publications was covered by the Guardian.
From April 2020 to June 2021 I worked as a research assistant on the UW COVID-19 State Policy Project, led by Chris Adolph and John Wilkerson, the nation-leading daily data collection effort on social distancing policies in response to COVID-19 in the US.
Beatrice Magistro 