Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

This year’s Northeast Political Economy Conference (NPEC) will be held on Friday, October 2, 2026 at Brown University. This is an interdisciplinary conference, with presentations from both political scientists and economists! View full schedule here: https://events.brown.edu/ppe/event/335953-northeast-political-economy-conference-npec

This fall, Center Director David Skarbek will teach POLS 1455: Crime, Punishment, and Politics.

The Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics supports research and teaching on the values, institutions, and incentives that shape society. Many of the most pressing questions demand both normative and empirical insight, and the Center supports work that brings philosophical reasoning, political analysis, and economic approaches into conversation in a spirit of open and rigorous inquiry. The Center emphasizes methodological integration of approaches that jointly address institutional design and the conditions necessary for societies to flourish. Committed to civil discourse and intellectual pluralism, the Center advances rigorous scholarship and innovative teaching that equip students and faculty to navigate and engage a complex, interconnected, and contested world.

After much anticipation, we're excited to welcome David French to Brown University on October 1 for “I Know I'm Right: How Fundamentalism Perverts Politics and Religion.” We hope you will join us!

Last year's Constitution Day event was a great success that sparked thoughtful conversations!

We're excited to continue the tradition this year by welcoming Cass R. Sunstein, one of the nation's leading legal scholars, whose work has shaped conversations on constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and behavioral economics.

We are looking forward to the return of our PPE Society students back to Brown for another semester of thoughtful conversations, new ideas, and meaningful community.

Nothing beats Summertime on College Hill!

Join us in welcoming Trellace Lawrimore to The PPE Center as our new Postdoctoral Research Associate!

Trellace Lawrimore is a political scientist specializing in historical political economy and Southern politics. The central question of her research is how elites maintain power over racially diverse populations. She uses historical data and formal theory to answer this question. Her book project tackles this question in the antebellum US South; she investigates how Southern enslavers leveraged private and public resources to repress enslaved Americans. We look forward to having her join our team!

Join us in welcoming Donia Kamel to The PPE Center as our new Postdoctoral Research Associate!

Donia Kamel is an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of political economy, economic history, migration, race and ethnicity, and discrimination. Her research examines how legal and institutional classifications shape immigrant integration, identity formation, and economic outcomes, with a particular focus on the classification of Arabs as white in the early-twentieth-century United States. We are thrilled to have her join us at the PPE Center!

Join us in welcoming Aaron Chipp-Miller to The PPE Center as our new Postdoctoral Research Associate!
Aaron is a political philosopher whose research explores the normative significance of power and what it means for the structure of social institutions, including states and firms. We're excited to have him join our community and look forward to the insights and contributions he'll bring to the Center.