Ben Morse
Research Affiliate
email bmorse@mit.edu
Ben is a Senior Training Manager at J-PAL Global and a Research Affiliate at the MIT GOV/LAB. He is a recent Ph.D. graduate in comparative politics from MIT and his research focuses on the political economy of development in West Africa, with an emphasis on state-building and rule of law. In his dissertation, Ben explores the ways in which political competition affects how citizens perceive and learn about the state, and the extent to which these effects influence voluntary compliance and state-building outcomes. He also conducts research to inform humanitarian response, most recently during the Ebola crisis in Liberia. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the International Growth Centre, and the Folke Bernadotte Academy.
Projects
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Projects October 2019
Dissertation and Seed Grants
A compilation of research projects and outcomes by MIT Political Science graduate students supported by MIT GOV/LAB.
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Research August 2020
Building Trust and Improving Effectiveness: Lessons from Liberia
Stories of Change from Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) with results from our community policing project in Liberia, part of EGAP's Metaketa IV.
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Research April 2020
Building Credibility and Cooperation in Low-Trust Settings: Persuasion and Source Accountability in Liberia During the 2014-2015 Ebola Crisis
Open access version on SSRN of a recently published article in the journal of Comparative Political Studies.
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Research March 2020
Information and Accountability: Evidence Syntheses of Within-Government and Citizen-Government Accountability Pathways
Full report on the evidence syntheses undertaken for the Transparency and Accountability Initiative as part of the Learning from Evidence series.
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Projects August 2017
Community Policing and Trust in Liberia
Can community policing build confidence in the police and improve community cooperation?
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Research March 2019
Why Citizen Trust in Government Matters - Especially when Crisis Strikes
Research brief for the Scholars Strategy Network on our suite of research projects on the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.
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Resources January 2015
Survey Questions for Ebola Recovery
Publicly accessible data from Trust and Cooperation in the Fight Against Ebola.
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Research November 2018
Effect of International Standards on Accountability Behaviors
Evidence review on the impact of international norms and standards initiatives on accountability.
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Resources January 2015
Data for Ebola Recovery on Humanitarian Data Exchange
Publicly accessible data from Trust and Cooperation in the Fight Against Ebola.
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Projects November 2015
Trust and Cooperation in the Fight Against Ebola
How can governments engender compliance during a health crisis when citizens do not trust them?
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Projects August 2015
Improving Health Services Through ICT Innovation in Guatemala
Under what conditions do ICT channels for citizen input lead to more government responsiveness and citizen participation among individuals who are relatively marginalized?
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Research November 2016
Public health and public trust: Survey evidence from the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in Liberia
Paper in Social Science and Medicine on trust in government and citizen compliance during the Ebola outbreak
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Research August 2016
Building Trust in a Reformed Security Sector in Liberia
Results from an impact evaluation of the Liberian National Police’s “Confidence Patrol” community policing program supported by the International Growth Centre (IGC).
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Research May 2016
Patterns of demand for non-Ebola health services during and after the Ebola outbreak: panel survey evidence from Monrovia, Liberia
Paper in BMJ Global Health on trust in government and demand for non-Ebola health services during the Ebola outbreak
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Research April 2015
Patterns of Trust and Compliance in the Fight Against Ebola in Liberia
Insights from our study on citizens' changing levels of trust in government around the Ebola crisis
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Research January 2015
Data For Ebola Recovery Website
Website with results from December 2014 survey of Monrovian citizens.
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News April 2020
[Podcast] Learning From Ebola
Scholars Strategy Network's "No Jargon" podcast featured research by Lily Tsai and Ben Morse on Ebola and lessons for Covid-19. Give it a listen.