Matthew Amengual

I am an Associate Professor in International Business at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School. My research investigates the politics of promoting economic development that is both equitable and sustainable. I focus especially on labor regulation in global supply chains and the conditions under which factory working conditions improve. At Oxford I teach in MBA, EMBA, and postgraduate programs and supervise doctoral students. I hold a PhD in Political Science from MIT (2011) and previously taught at MIT's Sloan School of Management. I have been Associate Editor at Industrial & Labor Relations Review since 2018.

Books

Communities, Mines, and Distributive Politics: Direct Contestation in the Andes. Oxford University Press, 2024.

Politicized Enforcement in Argentina: Labor and Environmental Regulation. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Completed Working Papers

• "What Jobs Do Workers Want? Worker Preferences in Global Value Chains" (with Alessandro Guasti, Greg Distelhorst)
• "Order Overload? Demand Spikes and Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains" (with Greg Distelhorst)
• "Exporting, Firm-specific Institutions, and Labor Conditions" (with Alessandro Guasti, Greg Distelhorst)
• "Can Training Improve Supplier Social Compliance?" (with Alessandro Guasti, Damian Raess)

Journal Articles

• "Cooperation and Punishment in Regulating Labor Standards: Evidence from the Gap Inc Supply Chain" (with Greg Distelhorst). Strategic Management Journal, 46(11), 2025. [Re:Structure Lab Policy Brief]
• "Moralized Global Markets and Contested Fields: Perceptions of Supply Chain Controversies in Germany" (with Tim Bartley, Sebastian Koos). Socio-Economic Review, 24(1), 2026.
• "Global Markets, Corporate Assurances, and the Legitimacy of State Intervention" (with Tim Bartley). American Sociological Review, 87(3), 2022. [Washington Post Monkey Cage] [ASR Podcast]
• "The 'Court of Public Opinion:' Public Perceptions of Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations" (with Rita Mota, Alexander Rustler). Journal of Business Ethics, 185, 2023. [Harvard Business Review]
• "True Motives: Prosocial and Instrumental Justifications for Behavioral Change in Organizations" (with Evan Apfelbaum). Management Science, 67(8), 2021. [Published version] [Harvard Business Review]
• "Global Purchasing as Labor Regulation: The Missing Middle" (with Greg Distelhorst, Danny Tobin). Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 73(4), 2020. [Published version] [Special Issue]
• "Special Issue Introduction: Labor Regulation in Global Supply Chains" (with Sarosh Kuruvilla). Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 2020.
• "Buying Stability: The Distributive Outcomes of Firm Responses to Risk in the Bolivian Mining Industry." World Development, 104, 2018. [Published version] (REPAL Best Paper Prize)
• "Who Opposes Labor Regulation? Explaining Variation in Employers' Opinions" (with Salo Coslovsky, Duanyi Yang). Regulation & Governance, 11(4), 2017. [Published version]
• "Co-enforcing Labor Standards: The Unique Contributions of State and Worker Organizations in Argentina and the United States" (with Janice Fine). Regulation & Governance, 11(2), 2017. [Published version]
• "Reinforcing the State: Transnational and State Labor Regulation in Indonesia" (with Laura Chirot). Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 69(5), 2016. [Published version]
• "Pathways to Enforcement: Labor Inspectors Leveraging Linkages with Society in Argentina." Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 67(1), 2014. [Published version]
• "Pollution in the Garden of the Argentine Republic: Building State Capacity to Escape from Chaotic Regulation." Politics & Society, 41(4), 2013. [Published version]
• "Complementary Labor Regulation: The Uncoordinated Combination of State and Private Regulators in the Dominican Republic." World Development, 38(3), 2010. [Published version]
• "Virtue out of Necessity?: Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains" (with Richard Locke, Akshay Mangla). Politics & Society, 37(2), 2009.
• "Norms of Deliberation: An Inductive Study" (with Jane Mansbridge, Janette Hartz-Karp, John Gastil). Journal of Public Deliberation, 2(1), 2006.

Other Research

• "The Social Determinants of Enforcement: Integrating Politics with Limited State Capacity" (with Eduardo Dargent). Book chapter in The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
• "Better Work and State Regulation in Indonesia: Towards Reinforcement" (with Laura Chirot). ILO Better Work Programme, 2016.
• "Cambios en la Capacidad del Estado Para Enfrentar Las Violaciones de las Normas Laborales." Desarrollo Económico, 51(20), 2011.
• "Economic Development and Working Conditions in Export Processing Zones: A Survey of Trends" (with William Milberg). International Labour Organization, 2008.