Kate Bedford

I am an interdisciplinary scholar with research expertise in political economy, international development, socio-legal studies, and gender/sexuality studies. My first book (Developing Partnerships: Gender, Sexuality and the Reformed World Bank, 2009) explored the World Bank’s gender and development lending in Latin America, with case studies of Ecuador and Argentina. My development research has been funded by the Ford Foundation, Overbrook Foundation, UNRISD, and the RCUK.

I am also interested in gambling, and what it can teach us about law and political economy. In 2008, I began a project on gambling regulation, using commercial and non-commercial bingo to think in new ways about law shapes everyday playful speculation. Funded by a large ESRC grant, I and a team of researchers explored bingo regulation around the world. My second book, Bingo Capitalism: The Law and Political Economy of Everyday Gambling, was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. It was awarded the 2020 Hart-SLSA book prize and the 2020 International Political Economy book prize of the British International Studies Association.

I am currently working on two research projects: on the role of sumptuary law within UK gambling law reforms, and on the changing approach to law within gender and development lending.