Hello! I am a PhD candidate in the department of Political Science at Florida State University.

My primary research agenda is aimed at understanding how international agreements shape domestic labor market outcomes, with particular attention paid to the over two billion individuals working in the informal economy. Utilizing methods aimed at causal identification, my work contributes to our understanding of the consequences of international agreements by demonstrating that, even when these agreements are adopted for reasons unrelated to informality, they can significantly impact the size of the informal economy by reducing exclusionary barriers to employment.

In addition to my primary research agenda, a second strand of my research helps explain the rise of populist opposition to trade and its implications for the embedded liberalism compromise and future trade agreements.

My work has been published in Politics and Governance as well as conditionally accepted at the American Journal of Political Science (AJPS).

Please feel free to email me directly at cgahagan[at]fsu.edu.