Research: My research seeks to explore micro-foundations of power, and how power shapes economic and human development. I combine the tools of applied economics with history, anthropology, political science, and moral psychology. Much of my research has been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I co-founded Marakuja Research and built partnerships that allow me to study armed organizations through the traces they leave and from their inside, including the state itself. My projects start with ethnography, and often use real-time data collection, randomized interventions, or historical reconstruction. Listen here to Podcast.
Teaching: Political Economy of Development (PhD), Power and “Development“ (Master).
Cinema: In 2019, I was featured in award-winning documentary Congo Calling (The Guardian) directed by Stephan Hilpert.
Pedagogy: In 2024, was voted the Outstanding Faculty of the Year by the students of the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. I was also voted by the students to deliver the school’s graduation speech, so-called “Last Lecture.” Read it here: Last Lecture.
Topoetymology: Sánchez is not a middle name.
My last name (surname) is SÁNCHEZ DE LA SIERRA. In Spain, naming conventions follow a two-surname system: people carry two surnames, traditionally the first inherited from the father and the second from the mother. Sánchez is my first surname, inherited from my father. It means descendant of Sancho, derived from Sanctius, meaning “socially sanctioned” or “morally respected.” It is not a title, and its origin is neither noble nor theological, relax. De la Sierra is my second surname, inherited from my mother. It’s not noble either. It just means “from the mountains” (of Northern Iberia, in the Cantabrian system).
My first (given) name is just Raúl in Spanish, Raoul in French (no middle name).
Raúl SÁNCHEZ DE LA SIERRA 