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Personal Webpage    Stefan Dercon

I am a development economist applying microeconomics and statistics to problems of development. My interests are diverse, including research on risk and poverty, the foundations of growth in poor societies, agriculture and rural institutions, migration, political economy, childhood poverty, social and geographic mobility, micro-insurance, and measurement issues related to poverty and vulnerability.  I teach a number of graduate economics courses at Oxford University. Much of my work involves the collection and analysis of longitudinal data sets, and I am closely involved in 7 ongoing longitudinal surveys focusing on rural households in Ethiopia (ERHS), Tanzania (KHDS), and India (new ICRISAT VLS), and on children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam (Young Lives).  I am also involved in a number of intervention-based (RCT) research projects on extending health insurance (Kenya), raising aspirations (rural Ethiopia), offering drought insurance to funeral societies (Ethiopia) and the returns to firm jobs (Ethiopia). Much of my research is taking place in Ethiopia as part of the International Growth Centre as the lead academic for its work in that country.

From January 2012, I will be on leave from Oxford University to take the position of Chief Economist at the Department for International Development (DFID), the UK bilateral aid agency. http://www.dfid.gov.uk/

 

I have formal links to:

Department of International Development, Oxford University, where I am Professor of Development Economics;

Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, the main focal point for my research on Africa;

Wolfson College, Oxford University, where I am a Professorial Fellow;

Department of Economics, Oxford University, where I am a member of the sub-Faculty;

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), of which I am Research Fellow;

Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), of which I am a Senior Fellow;

EUDN (European Development Research Network) of which I am a Member.

I have previous but now scaled-back research links to

International Growth Centre, (a Oxford-LSE Centre researching growth in developing countries), where I was a member of the Steering Group;

Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth (an Oxford-LSE research programme with Southern partners), which I used to coordinate from Oxford;

Young Lives, (a longitudinal study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) for which I act as research advisor.

                                                                                                                            

Prospective students interested in research and study of the economics for development can find more information here.