Laura Paler is an Assistant Professor in the political science department at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in comparative politics, the political economy of development, and political behavior. Her research focuses on: (i) how taxes, natural resources and aid affect political behavior and development; (ii) the determinants of conflict and post-conflict reintegration; and (iii) the role of cross-cutting social identities in shaping political preferences and behavior. She undertake large-scale field research projects that employ experimental and quasi-experimental methods for causal inference and that involve the collection of extensive original survey and behavioral data. Her research is based on work in a diverse group of countries, including Indonesia, Colombia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Lebanon. It has been published or is forthcoming in leading journals in the discipline, including The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, The Quarterly Journal of Political Science, and Comparative Political Studies. She is currently a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics network (EGAP), on the advisory board of the Project on Resources and Governance (PRG), a co-convener of the Northeast Workshop in Empirical Political Science, and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.