Julio S. Solís Arce

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University.

My research explores political economy and culture, examining how these dynamics shape political and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. I am particularly interested in the cultural foundations of collective choice rules and political institutions across societies, both past and present.

In my work, I integrate insights from economics, political science, and anthropology, employing methods ranging from experimental economics to ethnography.

During the 2025–2026 academic year, I am a Traveling Scholar doing fieldwork in Botswana and a Guest Researcher in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana.

At Harvard, I am a Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, a Graduate Student Affiliate at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) and the Center for International Development (CID), and a regular attendee at the Culture, Cognition, Coevolution Lab.

Prior to joining Harvard, I completed my undergraduate studies in Political Science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City and a Master’s in Mathematics, Economics, and Statistics at the African School of Economics in Cotonou, Benin. I also served as a predoctoral research fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.