André Butler

I am an applied economist specialising in development and environmental economics. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance and the Conservation Research Institute.

My research examines how the drivers of economic growth in lower-income countries interact with climate variability and natural resource management.

Within this broader agenda, my work examines:

1. Political incentives shaping investments in large-scale rural infrastructure

2. Natural resource use, including groundwater irrigation and soil health, and its consequences for spatial economic development

3. Formal financial systems as mechanisms for strengthening resilience to climate risks

Methodologically, I employ experimental and quasi-experimental approaches, leveraging high-resolution data from satellite imagery, web scraping, and household surveys. My research has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Public Economics and the World Bank Economic Review, and has been presented at major conferences such as the European Economic Association and Royal Economic Society annual meetings.

Beyond academia, I actively contribute to evidence-based policy discussions, with my work featured on platforms like VoxDev and Ideas for India.

I began my career in the natural sciences, publishing several papers published papers on vegetation atmosphere interactions and its implications for climate change. I transitioned to economics to have a more direct impact on policy.

Research fields:

Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics, Political Economics, Environmental Economics. 

email: andre.butler@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae