Kevin Grieco

Kevin Grieco

Postdoctoral Fellow

ICTD

I study how low-capacity governments raise taxes and enforce policies. My current work focuses on fiscal capacity and traditional political institutions in Sierra Leone (where I have spent over four years living and working), collects original quantitative and qualitative data, uses field experiments to answer causal questions, and involves collaborations with local government and civil society partners. My research has been supported by the International Growth Centre, the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), and UCLA’s Dissertation Year Fellowship. I was a 2021-2022 C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellow and a 2023 UCLA Keck Graduate Fellow.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Local Government Revenue Initiative, an initiative of the ICTD. I received my PhD in Political Science from UCLA in 2024.

Education
  • PhD in Political Science, 2024

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • MSc in International Development, 2016

    Wageningen University

  • BA in Economics & Philosophy, 2012

    University of New Hampshire

Working Papers

(2024). Participation, Legitimacy and Fiscal Capacity in Weak States: Evidence from Participatory Budgeting. Working Paper.

PDF PAP

(2024). Increasing local disease preparedness and surveillance capacity for global health security: a cluster-randomised control trial. Under review.

Preprint PAP

Ongoing projects

(2023). Weber's Nudge: Does Signaling Procedural Fairness on Tax Bills Increase Compliance?. Data collection complete.

PAP

(2023). Mobilizing Voters with SMS in Sierra Leone. Data collection complete.

PAP

(2023). Property Taxation and Political Accountability: Evidence from a Rule-based expansion of tax demands in Sierra Leone. Data collection complete.

Policy Reports & Briefs

(2023). Can Rural Property Tax Generate Revenue?. Policy Report.

PDF

(2020). Sierra Leone's response to COVID-19: A Rapid Assessment. Policy Report.

Report

(2019). Simplifying Property Tax Administration in Africa: Piloting a Points- Based Valuation in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Policy Report.

Brief