2026 James A. Robinson: Political Science Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Political Science	94	10	8	7	5	443	108313
Economics and Finance	86	204	185	149	132	324	72876

Research.com Recognitions

2026 - Research.com Political Science in United States Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Political Science in United States Leader Award
2023 - Research.com Political Science in United States Leader Award
2017 - William H. Riker Prize for Political Science For advancing the scientific study of politics by systematically linking formal and empirical inquiry into the enduring features of legal and representative institutions.
2012 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2007 - Heinz I. Eulau Award, American Political Science Association (APSA)
2007 - Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, American Political Science Association (APSA)

Overview

James A. Robinson is affiliated with the University of Chicago in the United States and has a substantial body of research in social sciences, with a particular focus on sociology, political science, demography, economics, and law. Their work spans various subfields including sociology and political science, demography, economics and econometrics, political science and international relations, and law.

Key topics addressed in James A. Robinson's research include culture, economy, and development studies; political conflict and governance; religion and society interactions; corruption and economic development; historical economic and social studies; taxation and compliance studies; and income, poverty, and inequality.

Recent publications by Robinson reflect a diverse range of interests and collaborations. These papers include:

Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan (2020), BioScience
Segmentary Lineage Organization and Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa (2020), Econometrica
The Perils of High-Powered Incentives: Evidence from Colombia's False Positives (2020), American Economic Journal Economic Policy
Weak, Despotic, or Inclusive? How State Type Emerges from State versus Civil Society Competition (2022), American Political Science Review
Social Origins of Dictatorships: Elite Networks and Political Transitions in Haiti (2021), American Political Science Review

Frequent coauthors in these works indicate ongoing collaboration with scholars such as Daron Acemoğlu, Leander Heldring, Leopoldo Fergusson, Santiago Torres, and Sebastián Vollmer. These collaborations have contributed to fields intertwining economics, politics, and sociology.

Publishing outlets where Robinson regularly appears include:

SSRN Electronic Journal
AEA Randomized Controlled Trials
American Political Science Review
Journal of African Economies
Perspectives on Politics

Robinson has also contributed to book literature, with publication through World Bank eBooks, notably including the book Endogenous Institutions and Economic Policy published in 2023.

Throughout their career, James A. Robinson has been recognized with multiple awards including the William H. Riker Prize for Political Science in 2017 for work linking formal and empirical inquiry on legal and representative institutions, election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012, as well as receiving the Heinz I. Eulau Award and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award from the American Political Science Association in 2007.

Best Publications

Comprehensive molecular portraits of human breast tumours

Daniel C. Koboldt;Robert S. Fulton;Michael D. McLellan;Heather Schmidt

11317
Citations
Comprehensive molecular characterization of human colon and rectal cancer

Donna M. Muzny;Matthew N. Bainbridge;Kyle Chang;Huyen H. Dinh

7891
Citations
Comprehensive genomic characterization defines human glioblastoma genes and core pathways

Roger McLendon;Allan Friedman;Darrell Bigner;Erwin G. Van Meir

7310
Citations
The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson

6529
Citations
Comprehensive genomic characterization of squamous cell lung cancers

Peter S. Hammerman;Doug Voet;Michael S. Lawrence;Douglas Voet

3665
Citations
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

3495
Citations
Institutions as the fundamental cause of Long-Run growth

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James Arthur Robinson

2700
Citations
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: GEOGRAPHY AND INSTITUTIONS IN THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTION*

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson

2634
Citations
Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

2007
Citations
Why Did the West Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Inequality, and Growth in Historical Perspective

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

1449
Citations
Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

1367
Citations
Political foundations of the resource curse

James A. Robinson;Ragnar Torvik;Thierry Verdier

1358
Citations
The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James Robinson

1331
Citations
Chapter 6 Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson

1316
Citations
Institutional Causes, Macroeconomic Symptoms: Volatility, Crises and Growth

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson;Yunyong Thaicharoen

1255
Citations
The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth

Daron Acemoglu;Simon H. Johnson;James A. Robinson

1210
Citations
A Theory of Political Transitions

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

1152
Citations
Income and Democracy

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson;Pierre Yared

1134
Citations
The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation

Daron Acemoglu;Daron Acemoglu;Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;Simon Johnson;James A. Robinson;James A. Robinson;James A. Robinson

977
Citations
Persistence of Power, Elites and Institutions

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

924
Citations
World development report 2006 : equity and development

Berk Ozler;Tamar Manuelyan Atinc;Abhijit Banerjee;Francisco H.G. Ferreira

867
Citations
Is Child Labor Inefficient

Jean‐Marie Baland;James A. Robinson

689
Citations
Governance and Development

Jean-Marie Baland;Karl Ove Moene;James A. Robinson

618
Citations
Kleptocracy and divide-and-rule : a model of personal rule

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson;Thierry Verdier

478
Citations
Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James Robinson

418
Citations
Political Losers as a Barrier to Economic Development

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

386
Citations
De Facto Political Power and Institutional Persistence

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

377
Citations
Chiefs: Economic Development and Elite Control of Civil Society in Sierra Leone

Daron Acemoglu;Tristan Reed;James A. Robinson

354
Citations
The role of institutions in growth and development

Daron Acemoglu;James Robinson

314
Citations
The Monopoly of Violence: Evidence from Colombia

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson;Rafael J. Santos

275
Citations
The Political Economy of the Kuznets Curve

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

243
Citations
When Does Policy Reform Work?: The Case of Central Bank Independence

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;Pablo Querubín;James A. Robinson

203
Citations
WHY IS AFRICA POOR

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

199
Citations
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY

James A. Robinson

177
Citations
The Evolution of Culture and Institutions: Evidence From the Kuba Kingdom

Sara Rachel Lowes;Nathan Nunn;James A. Robinson;Jonathan L. Weigel

166
Citations
Disease and Development in Historical Perspective

Daron Acemoglu;Simon Johnson;James Robinson

148
Citations
Natural experiments of history

Jared M. Diamond;James A. Robinson

134
Citations
State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century

Daron Acemoglu;Jacob Moscona;James A. Robinson

121
Citations
Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Our Argument

Daron Acemoglu;James A. Robinson

0
Citations
Why Did West Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Ineqiality and Growth in Historical Perspective

Daron Acemoglu;James Robinson

0
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Daron Acemoglu MIT

Simon Johnson MIT

Ragnar Torvik Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Thierry Verdier Paris School of Economics

Jean-Marie Baland University of Namur

Sebastian Vollmer University of Göttingen

Eric S. Lander Broad Institute

Rameen Beroukhim Harvard University

Jared M. Diamond University of California, Los Angeles

Matthew Meyerson Harvard University

External Links

Wikipedia of James A. Robinson Personal website of James A. Robinson Google Scholar page

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