Her research interests are in the political economy of institutions and development, where institutions can be both formal and informal. Using empirical methods and applied theory, recent work investigates the political motivations of donor foreign aid allocation, recipient country motives to accept conditional foreign aid under electoral competition, and U.N. General Assembly voting patterns given increasing economic dependence on China. At a microeconomic level, Alam's current research agenda looks at the process of household decision-making in South Asia, focusing in particular on how social norms contribute to gender disparities in the control of household resources and the resulting differences in spending on boys compared to girls.