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My research interests focus on economic growth, development, and agriculture, primarily in low-income countries.
Three-quarters of the world's poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and we still have limited understanding of the challenges and constraints that they face. Agricultural science and technology have historically made great contributions to improvements in living standards, for both rural and urban people, but social and environmental impacts have not always been positive.
Apart from the intellectual challenges of studying agriculture in developing countries, it's enormously interesting and enjoyable to travel in rural areas of the developing world -- to talk to farmers, to meet people, and to walk through rice paddies or maize fields. And it's always good to remember that even the poorest people in the world enjoy making fun of economics professors. They have seldom encountered people who are so astonishingly ignorant about rural life -- and quickly recognize that we are pretty much useless when it comes to farm work.
Three-quarters of the world's poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and we still have limited understanding of the challenges and constraints that they face. Agricultural science and technology have historically made great contributions to improvements in living standards, for both rural and urban people, but social and environmental impacts have not always been positive.
Apart from the intellectual challenges of studying agriculture in developing countries, it's enormously interesting and enjoyable to travel in rural areas of the developing world -- to talk to farmers, to meet people, and to walk through rice paddies or maize fields. And it's always good to remember that even the poorest people in the world enjoy making fun of economics professors. They have seldom encountered people who are so astonishingly ignorant about rural life -- and quickly recognize that we are pretty much useless when it comes to farm work.