My current research focuses on macro comparative issues at the nation-state level.  In general, I am interested in understanding cross-national variation in economic and social development, exploring a wide range of outcomes, including economic growth, educational expansion, physical welfare, environmental protection, and human rights.  Several projects have emerged from my recent network analysis of trade and international organizations across 168 countries, where I am broadly exploring the developmental impact of network integration.  I am also investigating world health trends during the post-WWII era, tracking convergence and divergence in cross-national welfare, and developing a narrative to help explain these patterns.  And in another project, I am adopting an institutional perspective to help explain cross-cultural variation in human rights outcomes, focusing on the discrepancy between a state’s public embrace of human rights norms and its actual level of compliance with these norms.