Yvonne Ilupeju

Yvonne Ilupeju (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in political science, with fields in Comparative Politics and Methods. Her research focuses on the political economy of public goods distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically how electoral incentives shape infrastructure provision. Her current project examines whether politically competitive constituencies in Ghana experience greater improvements in electricity access during election periods. To learn more about Yvonne’s research and publications, visit her webpage.

Yvonne was given a summer mini-grant to support her travel for her project Democracy in the Dark: Electoral Politics and Electricity Access in Ghana, which examines whether politically competitive constituencies experience greater improvements in electricity access during election periods. Using constituency-level election data, satellite-derived nighttime light data, and demographic indicators, the project studies how democratic competition shapes infrastructure provision in Ghana.