David Szakonyi is a PhD candidate in the political science department at Columbia University as well as a research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. His dissertation examines the reasons businesspeople run for political office as well as measures the rents firms receive from gaining direct representation in political institutions. His work has been published or is forthcoming in World Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and Journal of Politics.