Welcome! I am a Harvard Academy Scholar for Academic Year 2025-26, and I am an incoming (July 2026) Assistant Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs at Yale University. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University in June 2025.

My research focuses on corruption, public goods provision, and state-building in low-income countries. My dissertation documents and explains patterns of state expansion into historically neglected regions of sub-Saharan Africa. I utilize a variety of methods, with an emphasis on spatial analysis and field-based surveys and survey experiments.

My research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science. Prior to graduate school, I worked on issues related to Indian politics as a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I received a B.A. summa cum laude in Politics from Princeton University.

You can reach me by email at jhintson@fas.harvard.edu.