Tzachi Raz is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. His primary research interests are at the intersections of political ecoNomy, ecoNomic history and macroecoNomics. Tzachi's current work focus on the period of westward expansion and explores the effects of secure property rights and the agrarian origins of the American tradition of individualism. He earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and a master's degree in ecoNomics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.