Bio and CV

I am a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa in the Development Economics Vice Presidency of the World Bank in Washington, DC.  I previously served as a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for South Asia.  I received a doctorate in economics from Harvard University in 2010 and a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 2003.  I was an inaugural Price Theory Scholar at the University of Chicago and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at New York University.  My research and policy interests are diverse and include a broad set of topics and both experimental and nonexperimental work in development economics and selected areas of domestic policy.  

My recent policy writing and research includes work on skills and creating jobs in firms in Africa and South Asia, on energy reliability in developing countries, on trade, on funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, on financing for COVID vaccine manufacturing and on financial inclusion and women empowerment including through technology.  I have previously worked on policy and research on financing an HIV/AIDS vaccine.

My work has been published in Science, the American Economic Review, the American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings issue, the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the American Law and Economics Review,  the Journal of Public Economics, Health Economics, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, and the Review of Development Economics.  

I have work and research experience in country in Africa, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia and Europe and have additionally spent time travelling in and working with data from Latin America and the Caribbean.

I speak advanced French and hold an Advanced Language Citation in French Language from my undergraduate studies.  I also have studied or learned some Spanish, Korean, German and Kiswahili and am beginning to learn Italian.  I am a citizen of the United States and am a member of the American Economic Association and the Council of Korean Americans. 

jlee20@worldbank.org | CV | Google Scholar Profile | World Bank Bio