Luis Soto Tamayo

I am a PhD candidate in the School of Politics and Economics, Department of Political Economy at Kings College London. I was awarded the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership studentship by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Previously, I worked in the Mexican public sector, and in the Centre for Research and Economic Teaching (CIDE) as a research assistant. I hold an MSc in Comparative Politics from the University of Essex, and a BA in Political Science from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

Research interests

• State development
• Public management
• Bureaucracy
• Corruption
• Judicial politics
• Latin America
• Subnational politics

Doctoral research

My research focuses on the association between the public sector’s corruption and the state development in Mexico. Particularly, I analyse how the misuse of family ties and kinship among public servants affect the institutional performance. Methodologically, I am interested in developing quantitative research methods, comparative politics, causal inference models, and machine learning algorithms.

PhD supervisors

Dr Gabriel Leon and Dr Ruben Ruiz-Rufino

Publications

• "Electoral Competition and Judicial Independence in the States of Mexico, 1985-2014". Mexican Journal of Sociology (RMS) 79. No. 2, (April-June 2017): 287-318. Co-authored with Julio Ríos Figueroa (CIDE). URL:< http://revistamexicanadesociologia.unam.mx/index.php/rms/article/view/57664/51121>
• "Judicial Institutions in the States of Mexico: A Long-Term Perspective, 1917-2014". Colombia International Magazine 91, special issue "Sub-national Politics in Latin America", (July-September 2017): 243-263. Co-authored with Julio Ríos Figueroa (CIDE). URL: <https://dx.doi.org/10.7440/colombiaint91.2017.08>