Professor Shotts uses game theory to analyze how elections and political institutions influence policy choices made by government officials. He has published papers on presidential leadership, term limits, racial redistricting, and the politics of regulatory enforcement. He is currently doing research on several topics, including electoral challengers, competitive policy entrepreneurship, and the politics and economics of industry-level self-regulation.

Ken teaches GSB classes on Strategy Beyond Markets and Business Ethics. He also teaches in several Executive Education programs, including the Stanford Executive Program, Executive Program for Strategy and Organization, and Executive Leadership Development.

Kenneth W. Shotts is The David S. and Ann M. Barlow Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He received his BA in Political Science from Stanford in 1993 and his PhD from the GSB in 1999. In addition to his time at the Stanford, he has taught at Northwestern and the University of Michigan, and has been a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.