Eddy Malesky is a Professor of Political Economy at Duke University and the Director of the Duke Center for International Development (DCID). A leading voice in international and comparative political economy, Malesky has produced groundbreaking research on governance, markets, and institutional reform in developing and authoritarian regimes, with a particular emphasis on Southeast Asia.

Malesky’s scholarship centers on critical questions in foreign direct investment (FDI), investment incentives, authoritarian institutions, transparency, and anti-corruption. He has been at the forefront of developing practical tools that translate academic insights into measurable governance improvements. Most notably, he pioneered the Vietnam Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), which has become a widely adopted model for assessing subnational economic governance from the perspective of private firms. Building on this foundation, he contributed to the design of the Provincial Administrative Performance Index (PAPI), which captures citizen experiences with government performance. These indices have since been replicated and adapted in a growing list of countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Senegal.

Malesky’s academic publications span the top journals across multiple disciplines. In Political Science, his work appears in American Political Science Review (APSR), American Journal of Political Science (AJPS), Journal of Politics (JOP), and Quarterly Journal of Political Science (QJPS). His Economics publications include the Economic Journal and Journal of International Economics. In Management and International Business, he has published in the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) and the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS). His work is characterized by empirical rigor, cross-disciplinary relevance, and a commitment to real-world impact.

As the founding member and current chair of the Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG), Malesky has helped foster a dynamic community of scholars dedicated to empirical research on Southeast Asia. Through SEAREG, he has mentored early-career researchers and contributed to shaping a new generation of area studies scholarship that integrates quantitative methods and field-based insight.

Malesky’s contributions have been recognized through numerous prestigious awards. He is a recipient of a state medal awarded by the Government of Vietnam for his contributions to the country’s governance reforms. His research has earned best article awards from the International Political Economy Society, the American Political Science Association (APSA) Political Economy Section, and the APSA Southeast Asian Politics Section. His commitment to policy engagement was recognized by the Academy of Management’s ONE-SIM Outreach Award, honoring outstanding real-world impact based on a published academic paper. He has also received the Duke Teaching Award for Top 5% of all instructors, based on undergraduate teaching evaluations three times. Early in his career, he was honored with the Gabriel Almond Award for the Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics, awarded by APSA.

Through his scholarship, institutional leadership, and policy engagement, Edmund Malesky continues to drive new thinking about the political underpinnings of economic reform and institutional accountability in emerging markets.