Elliot Posner

Case Western Reserve University

Based in

United States
North America

Elliot Posner, a political economist at Case Western Reserve University, does research on climate finance, stranded assets and the politics of grid decarbonization. In particular, he investigates U.S. wholesale electric markets and how they configure investment incentives for private equity firms and alter the influence of utilities on energy policy. By highlighting the underappreciated contribution of these markets, he aims to contribute to our general understanding of climate politics and obstructionism. Posner also maintains a longstanding general interest in the politics of finance. “Financial Regulatory Conundrums in the North Atlantic” (European Journal of Political Research, 2024), co-authored with Lucia Quaglia, explains why stringent financial regulation adopted in Washington and Brussels after the Great Financial Crisis remains largely intact. Voluntary Disruptions: International Soft Law, Finance and Power (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-authored with Abraham Newman, is about the impact of non-binding financial regulatory agreements on the United States, the European Union and financial services industry groups. The Origins of Europe’s New Stock Markets (Harvard University Press, 2009) is about the EU politics surrounding smaller company finance and venture capital. Other articles and book chapters have appeared in the European Journal of International Relations, Journal of European Public Policy, International Organization, the Review of International Political Economy, World Politics and edited volumes.

Posner has been a professor in the Department of Political Science since 2007 and Department Chair since 2021. Before earning a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Prof. Posner received degrees from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University (M.A.) and Brown University (B.A.) and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, where he taught English and math to eighth and ninth graders. He was a resident fellow at Iméra, Institut des études avancées, Aix-Marseille Université (2018-19). The recipient of a European Union Affairs Fulbright research grant, he spent the 2011-12 academic year as a visiting scholar at Sciences-Po’s Centre d’études européenes in Paris and at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank. Through his active participation in the Organized Section on Qualitative and Multi-Method Research of the American Political Science Association, he supports the advancement of qualitative research.