Sossou S. Adjisse, Ph.D.

I am an applied microeconomist and Assistant Professor of Economics at West Virginia State University (WVSU). Before joining WVSU, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University. I earned my Ph.D. in Applied Economics (Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

My research examines how institutions, social norms, and information shape individual and collective behavior and welfare, particularly in communities facing poverty, vulnerability, and economic or environmental shocks—both historical and contemporary. Substantively, I study human capital development, including education and apprenticeships; migration; women’s political representation and empowerment; land rights and local governance; natural resource management and conservation; and international trade. This research agenda lies at the intersection of Development Economics, my primary field, Environmental and Resource Economics, Political Economy, Economic History, and Applied Econometrics.

I connect economic theory with empirical evidence using econometric and experimental methods, including structural, parametric, and nonparametric approaches. My research draws on original and innovative datasets, including administrative and historical records, randomized controlled trials, lab-in-the-field experiments, synthetic data, and simulations.