Development Economic researchers explore the factors that contribute to the persistence of poverty and/or to slow growth, such as the country’s infrastructure, the standards of health and education services, the functioning of markets, and government policy. By studying the decisions of households, firms and policymakers, they formulate theories and test them empirically, with the goal of offering solutions for improvement.

Key areas covered are:

  • poverty reduction
  • social services and human capital: health and education policies
  • private sector development in low-income countries
  • microeconomics of growth
  • markets and market failures: land, credit, insurance

Annual Symposium

The Development Economics annual symposium is a chance for researchers to come together over two days to discuss recent research in the field. In recent years, it has been jointly hosted with organisations such as the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit and the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD)

Programme Directors

Researchers

Abigail Adams-Prassl

Associate Professor in Economics Department of Economics, University of Oxford; Research Fellow Institute for Fiscal Studies

Philippe Aghion

Professor Collège De France; Professor London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Nava Ashraf

Professor of Economics London School of Economics and Political Sciences; co-Lead Academic Monash University

David Atkin

Professor of Economics Associate Professor of Economics MIT Sloan School of Management

Emmanuelle Auriol

Professor of Economics Toulouse Business School; Professor Toulouse School of Economics

Oriana Bandiera

Sir Anthony Atkinson Professor of Economics London School of Economics and Political Sciences; Director Suntory and Toyota Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD)

Abhijit Banerjee

Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics MIT Sloan School of Management

Natalie Bau

Associate Professor University of California, Los Angeles

Erik Berglöf

Chief Economist Professor in Practice (LSE) & Director of IGA London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Marianne Bertrand

Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics the Booth School of Business University Of Chicago

Sonia Bhalotra

Professor of Economics University of Essex, Department of Economics

Christopher Blattman

Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago, in the Harris School of Public Policy University Of Chicago

Gharad Bryan

Lecturer in Economics London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Robin Burgess

Professor of Economics; Director, International Growth Centre London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Michael Callen

Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government Harvard Kennedy School

Lucia Corno

Associate Professor of Economics Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Executive Director, Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP) Universita' Luigi Bocconi

Stefan Dercon

Professor of Economic Policy, Blavatnik School of Government and Economics Department Department of Economics, University of Oxford

Oeindrila Dube

Philip K. Pearson Professor, Harris School of Public Policy University Of Chicago

Pierre Dubois

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of Economics Toulouse School of Economics

Ruben Enikolopov

ICREA Research Professor New Economic School; Visiting Professor Pompeu Fabra University

Benjamin Faber

Associate Professor of Economics University Of California, Berkeley

Maitreesh Ghatak

Professor of Economics London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Douglas Gollin

Professor of Economics Department of Economics, University of Oxford

Michael Greenstone

Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and Director of the Energy Policy Institute University Of Chicago

Rema Hanna

Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies Harvard Business School

Chang-Tai Hsieh

Phyllis and Irwin Winkelreid Professor of Economics University Of Chicago

Seema Jayachandran

Professor of Economics Northwestern University; Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Princeton University

Simon Johnson

Fellow, Development Economics / Fellow, Financial Economics

Ravi Kanbur

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Professor of Economics Cornell University

Asim Ijaz Khwaja

Director, Center for International Development and Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development, Harvard Kennedy School Harvard University

Pramila Krishnan

Professor of Development Economics Department of Economics, University of Oxford

Victor Lavy

William Haber Chaired Professor of Economics Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Chaired Professor of Economics Royal Holloway University of London

Costas Meghir

Douglas A. Warner III Professor of Economics Yale University

Guy Michaels

Associate Professor in the Department of Economics London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Ahmed Mobarak

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of Economics Yale University

Sendhil Mullainathan

Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business University Of Chicago

Rohini Pande

Professor Harvard University; Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center Yale University

Albert Park

Professor of Economics Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Torsten Persson

Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professor, Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) Swedish Institute for Social Research

Marta Reynal-Querol

ICREA Research Professor, Professor of Economics, Director of IPEG, Department of Economics and Business Pompeu Fabra University

James Robinson

Professor, Harris School of Public Policy University Of Chicago

Dani Rodrik

Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy Harvard University

Dominic Rohner

Professor of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne) HEC-Lausanne (University of Lausanne)

Paul Seabright

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of Economics Toulouse School of Economics

Sandra Sequeira

Associate Professor London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Robert M. Townsend

Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics MIT Sloan School of Management

Anthony Venables

Professor of Economics Department of Economics, University of Oxford; Honorary Senior Research Fellow Research Professor (part time) Monash University; Professor of Economics Monash University

Shang-Jin Wei

Professor of Finance and Economics, and NT Wang Chair in Chinese Business and Economy Columbia University

L. Alan Winters

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of Economics University of Sussex

Yanhui Wu

Associate Professor of Economics University of Hong Kong

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

Research Fellow Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of Economics Paris School Of Economics

Research affiliates

Alex Armand

Research Affiliate Centre for Economic Policy Research; Assistant Professor, Nova School of Business and Economics NOVA University Lisbon

Vittorio Bassi

Lead Academic, Uganda Country Team Monash University; Assistant Professor of Economics University of Hong Kong

Michal Bauer

Associate Professor of Economics Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute; Associate Professor of Economics Charles University

Lori Beaman

Assistant Professor of Economics Northwestern University

Emily Breza

Assistant Professor, Economics Department Harvard University

J Michelle Brock

Associate Director, Senior Research Economist, Office of the Chief Economist European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Anne Brockmeyer

Research Director for Tax & Development Institute for Fiscal Studies; Senior Economist (on leave) The World Bank Group

Katherine Casey

Associate Professor of Political Economy Stanford Graduate School of Business

Julie Chytilová

Associate Professor of Economics, Charles University; Researcher, CERGE-EI Charles University

Alexia Delfino

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics Universita' Luigi Bocconi

Rebecca Dizon-Ross

Associate Professor of Economics and Charles E. Merrill Faculty Scholar, Booth School of Business University Of Chicago

Kyle Emerick

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics Tufts University

Kelsey Jack

Associate Professor of Environmental and Development Economics University of California, Santa Barbara

Namrata Kala

Postdoctoral Fellow Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); Prize Fellow in Economics, History, and Politics Harvard University

Julien Labonne

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Associate Professor in Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government Department of Economics, University of Oxford

Rachael Meager

Assistant Professor, Economics Department London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Amma Panin

Assistant Professor of Economics IRES/LIDAM - UCLouvain; Assistant Professor

Vincent Pons

Associate Professor Harvard Business School; Faculty Research Fellow National Bureau of Economic Research; Faculty Research Fellow Nber

Jacopo Ponticelli

Associate Professor of Finance, Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University; Associate Professor of Finance

Eva Raiber

Assistant Professor at the Aix-Marseille School of Economics Aix-Marseille University

Pauline Rossi

Associate Professor École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique; Associate Professor

andrea tesei

Affiliate Centre for Economic Policy Research; Associate Professor of Economics Queen Mary University Of London

Edoardo Teso

Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences Northwestern University

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