His research focuses on service provision in authoritarian regimes and the incentive structure of developing nations in providing social welfare benefits, as well as how individuals are impacted by and react to state narratives and ideology. His primary interest is in finding new ways of unlocking data to better understand individual-level outcomes in China. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include political economy, institutions and governance, and political science.
MacDonald has a B.A. in history and an M.A. in East Asian studies from Stanford University, and an M.Phil and Ph.D. in politics from Oxford University. Prior to joining Duke Kunshan, he was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Louisville's Center for Asian Democracy.