Gal Bitton Alayof

Hello!

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University and an Azrieli Fellow. I am also a fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) and the Center for American Political Studies (CAPS). I earned my PhD in Political Science from Tel Aviv University in January 2025.

I specialize in international political economy, focusing on financial decision-making and policymaking. My research addresses topics such as financial liberalization, cultural finance, and voter attitudes toward redistribution policies. I take a multi-level approach, using micro-level insights to explain macro-level phenomena, bridging individual behaviors with broader economic and political trends.

More broadly, my work explores the psychological foundations of globalization and the reciprocal relationship between citizens and the international system—how individual perceptions shape global openness, and how external threats and institutional arrangements, in turn, reshape trust, identity, and political behavior. Through a comparative lens, I examine how these dynamics vary across political and cultural contexts, revealing when behavioral biases are filtered, amplified, or constrained by national institutions and historical experience. Methodologically, my work emphasizes experimental and observational methods, survey design, and computational approaches, including the use of large language models (LLMs) for predictive modeling.

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Here are some key moments captured on camera:

Presenting at PEIO 2025.

Azrieli Forum.

Presenting at the 2024 Rebecca B. Morton Conference.

Presenting at PolMeth 2024.

Azrieli Forum.