I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Economics at the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.  My primary interests are development economics, program evaluation and empirical microeconomics.

 

I am particularly interested in how communications among individuals in developing countries can be understood and harnessed whether to spread sustainable technologies among farmers or to form more effective institutions at the community, regional, and national level.  

 

“Informational Barriers to Credit for Migrants: Evidence from Guatemala.”  Forthcoming in Economic Development and Cultural Change.  [PDF] [Online Appendix]

 

“Impact Evaluation of Infrastructure Investments: The Experience of the Millennium Challenge Corporation” (with Rebecca Tunstall).  Journal of Development Effectiveness 3(1) (March 2011).  [PDF]

 

"Civil Liberties and Economic Development" (with Roger Betancourt). Journal of Institutional Economics 6(1) (September 2010). [PDF]

 

“Crime and Microenterprise Growth: Evidence from Mexico,” (with S. Pearlman) [PDF]

 

"Diagnostics in Transition: Analyzing the Constraints to Economic Growth in Moldova"  (with Franck Wiebe). Millennium Challenge Corporation Working Paper (December 2009)  [PDF]

 

“Can Aid Agencies Follow Best Practices?” (with Franck Wiebe). Millennium Challenge Corporation Working Paper (August 2009)  [PDF]

“Making Networks Work for Policy,” (with L. Beaman, J. Magruder, and A. Mobarak), a field experiment using social networks to disseminate sustainable agricultural practices in Malawi

 

“Communicating with Farmers: Identity Matters,” (with A. Mobarak), a field experiment using representative farmers to disseminate sustainable agricultural practices in Malawi

 

“The Impact of the Measles Initiative on Child Mortality in sub-Saharan Africa,” (with K. Kranker)

 

“Unbundling Democracy,” (with R. Betancourt)

 

"Impact Evaluation of Community-Driven Development in the Philippines"(with J.L. Arcand, A. Beatty,  E. King, and M. Pradhan), a randomized control trial of the KALAHI-CIDSS program expansion