Elliot Motte

Elliot Motte

Welcome to my website!

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

I am on the 2025/2026 job market.

My research focuses primarily on political economy. I also work on public economics, law and economics, and environmental economics. Much of my work uses Large Language Models and other cutting-edge text analysis methods.

Contact: elliot.motte@upf.edu

References: Ruben Durante, Maria Petrova, Roberto Galbiati, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

CV JMP

Working Papers

Insult Politics in the Age of Social Media Job Market Paper

Short Abstract: Offensive rhetoric by politicians boosts engagement and electoral support, revealing incentives for incivility that deepen partisan polarization.

Publications

Media Slant and Public Policy Views

American Economic Association Papers & Proceedings, 2024.

Short Abstract: Exposure to partisan cable news systematically shifts citizens’ policy preferences in the direction of each channel’s slant.

Work in Progress

Jury Composition and Sentencing Decisions

Short Abstract: Exploiting quasi-random jury assignment in French criminal courts, we study how laypeople's social identities affect high-stakes judicial decisions.

Media Bias of Conflict

with Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Marta Reynal-Querol, Federico Scabbia

Short Abstract: Analyzing 10 million news articles with LLMs, we map the anatomy of global conflict coverage, examining how international ties drive bias and shape downstream economic outcomes.

Pre-Doctoral Publications

The Road to Recovery: The Role of Poverty in Exposure, Vulnerability and Resilience to Floods in Accra

with Alvina Erman, Radhika Goyal, Akosua Asare, Shinya Takamatsu, Xiaomeng Chen, Silvia Malgioglio, Alexander Skinner, Nobuo Yoshida, and Stéphane Hallegatte

Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, 2020.

Short Abstract: Differences in households’ income levels are key determinants of flood vulnerability and resilience, calling for disaster policies that account for relative rather than absolute losses.