Human capital & capacity

A core part of my research looks at human capital and human flourishing, studying the role of education, cognitive and non-cognitive (or socio-emotional) skills, health, and mental health for labour and development outcomes. 

Work in progress

The impact of climate change on work. Lessons for developing countries.
with Moustafa Feriga, Nancy Lozano, Working Paper

Robustness and external validity: what do we learn from repeated study design over time?
with Andrew Dillon, Jed Friedman. Working paper

Workplace based health care for malaria: demand and impact on worker productivity and earnings
with Oladele Akogun, Andrew Dillon. Working paper

Does migration from a developing country to the UK increase immigrants’ risk of obesity?
with Girma Geye Dinsa, Marc Suhrcke. Working paper.

Published

Health information, treatment, and worker productivity.
Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol 19, Issue 2, April 2021, with Andrew Dillon, Jed Friedman

Productivity and health: alternative productivity measures using physical activity
World Bank Economic Review, Vol 35, Issue 3, October 2021,p 652-680,with Oladele Akogun, Andrew Dillon, Jed Friedman, Ashesh Prasann 

The COVID-19 pandemic and maternal mental health in a fragile and conflict affected setting, a cohort study in Tumaco, Colombia.
Lancet Global Health, Volume 9, Issue 8, August 2021with Andres Moya, Alethea Desrosiers, Vilma Reyes, María José Torres.

Poverty, Aspirations and Education. Evidence from India.
Journal of Development Studies, 2021, Vol 57, Issues 1, with Stefan Dercon, previous versions available as IZA Discussion Paper 13697, RISE Working Paper 20/53

Diabetes, employment and behavioural risk factors in China: Marginal structural models and fixed effects estimation.
Economics and Human Biology, Vol 39, December 2020, with Till Seuring, Marc Suhrcke, Max Bachmann, available as IZA Discussion Paper 11817

The impact of diabetes on labour market outcomes in Mexico: a panel and biomarker data analysis,
Social Science and Medicine, Vol 233, July 2019, p252-261
. with Till Seuring, Marc Suhrcke

Do returns to education depend on how and who you ask?
Economics of Education Review, Vol.60, Oct 2017, 5-17
, with Kathleen Beegle, Andrew Dillon

Labor supply, absenteeism and occupational choice of health workers,
in Richard M. Scheffler, Christopher H. Herbst, Christophe Lemiere, and Jim Campbell, 2016, 'Health Labor Market Analysis in Low- and Middle-Income Countries', The World Bank and University of California Berkeley, with Tomas Lievens, Damas Butera.

Internal geographic imbalances of health workers,
Chapter 24 in Antony Culyer, 2014, Encyclopedia of Health Economics, Elsevier, 

What explains the variation in child labor statistics? Evidence from a survey experiment in Tanzania,
Journal of Development Economics, 98(1):136-147, 2012, with Andrew Dillon, Elena Bardasi, Kathleen Beegle

Do labor statistics depend on how and to whom the question was asked?  Results from a randomized survey experiment,
World Bank Economic Review, 25 (3):418-447, 2012, with Elena Bardasi, Kathleen Beegle, Andrew Dillon

The role of motivation for health service delivery,
in Agnes Soucat, Richard Scheffler, Teodros A. Gebreyesus, 2012, 'The Labor Market for Health Workers in Africa. A New Look at the Crisis', The World Bank and University of California Berkeley, with Kennet Leonard, Michelle Brock

Working for the public or private sector? Or for both?
in Agnes Soucat, Richard Scheffler, Teodros A. Gebreyesus, 2012, 'The Labor Market for Health Workers in Africa. A New Look at the Crisis', The World Bank and University of California Berkeley, with Tim Ensor, Tomas Lievens

Does employment generation really matter for poverty reduction?
In Ravi Kanbur and Jan Svejnar, 2009, Labor Markets in Developing and Transition Countries, Routledge, with Catalina Gutierrez, Carlos Orecchia, Pierella Paci

Reciprocity in the workplace,
Experimental Economics, 12 (1) p99, 2009, with Abigail Barr

Book review ‘Globalization, labor markets and inequality in India’,
Book review, Journal of South Asian 

Human capital revisited: the role of experience and education when controlling for performance and cognitive skills,
Labour Economics, 15, 1143-1161, 2008

The nature of unemployment among young men in Urban Ethiopia,
Review of Development Economics, 11 (1), 170-183, 2007

Employment and shared growth. The role of labour mobility for development,
2007, The World Bank, with Pierela Paci (eds), with contributions from Gary Fields, John Haltiwanger, Francis Teal, Chris Woodruff.

Labor, growth and poverty,
in Paci and Serneels, 2007, Employment and Shared Growth. The Role of Labor Mobility for Development, The World Bank, with Pierella Paci

African Poverty through the lens of labor economics: earnings and mobility in three countries,
Labor, growth and poverty,  in Paci and Serneels, 2007, Employment and Shared Growth. The Role of Labor Mobility for Development, The World Bank, with Justin Sandefur, Francis Teal