Kevin Keller

I study the relationship between law and economic growth. Drawing on my training as an historian, I explore the origins of the legal rules that govern international economic exchanges, as well as the institutions that participate in those exchanges. I also study public law from a comparative perspective, and examine how leaders from across the world have attempted to build domestic legal systems that encourage economic development.

My work is global in perspective. I am interested in how legal rules arise, circulate, and change as they encounter on-the-ground resistance. This often entails tracing conflicts across time and space. To conduct this type of research, I make use of primary sources in Chinese, Spanish, and English. 

My research has appeared or is forthcoming in the American Journal of Comparative Law, Harvard Law Review, Journal of American-East Asian Relations, and an edited volume on China-Africa relations.

I received a JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where I was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a BA summa cum laude in Chinese from Arizona State University. I began my career in the international development sector, including two years in the Zambia office of IDinsight, an economic research and consulting firm.

For more information, please visit www.kevin-keller.com.