Background and Research Interests

A development economist, with over 40 years of experience as an academic, researcher and policy adviser. Previously: Chief Economist, UNU-WIDER Helsinki; Professor of Development Studies, University of Manchester; Director of the Programme in Quantitative Development Economics, University of Warwic 

Specializing in natural resources (particularly the extractive industries of oil, gas and mining and their relation to climate change), poverty and inequality, the macro-economics of development (particularly debt and fiscal policy, including tax policy, and the macroeconomics of aid), and the economics of post-conflict reconstruction. 

Published in leading journals on these topics, including Resource and Energy Economics, Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of African Economies Journal of Development Studies, World Development, and Journal of Peace Research.

Research impact indicators

GoogleScholar: 6,085 citations, h-index 43, i10-Index 107

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• ‘Discerning Trends in International Metals Prices in the Presence of Non Stationary Volatility’. Resource and Energy Economics, 71 (2023). (co-author: A. Ghoshray)
• ‘Inequality: Measurement, Trends, Impacts and Policies’. The Review of Income and Wealth, 63  (2017). (co-authors: J. Pirttilä, and F. Tarp).
• ‘Aid, the Real Exchange Rate and Why Policy Matters: The Cases of Morocco and Tunisia’. Journal of Development Studies, 53 (2017). (co-author: M. Baliamoune-Lutz).
• ‘The Macroeconomics of Aid: Overview’.  Journal of Development Studies, 57 (2017). (co-authors: O. Morrissey, and F. Tarp).
• ‘Agricultural Commodity Price Shocks and Their Effect on Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa’. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 67 (2016). (co-authors: A. Ghoshray, and M. P. Stamatogiannis).
• ‘Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid’. World Development, 69 (2015). (co-author: F. Tarp).
• ‘Transnational Terrorism as a Spillover of Domestic Disputes in Other Countries’. Defence and Peace Economics, 16 (2005). (co-author: S.M. Murshed).
• ‘Reconstructing and Reforming the Financial System in Conflict and ‘Post-Conflict’ Economies’. The Journal of Development Studies, 41 (2005). (co-authors: A. Geda, P. Le Billon, and S.M. Murshed).
• ‘The Political Economy of Zimbabwe's Descent into Conflict’. Journal of International Development, 15 (2003). (co-author: L. Laakso).
• ‘Debt Relief and Civil War’.  Journal of Peace Research, 40 (2003). (co-author: S.M. Murshed).
• ‘Credibility and Reputation in Peacemaking’.   Journal of Peace Research, 39 (2002). (co-author: S.M. Murshed).
• ‘Conflict in Africa: The Cost of Peaceful Behaviour’. Journal of African Economies, 11 (2002). (co-authors: P. Le Billon, and S.M. Murshed).
• ‘The Impact of Macroeconomic Adjustment on Poverty in the Presence of Wage Rigidities’.  Journal of Development Economics, 40 (1993). (co-author: L. Demery).
  
  

Books: 

• Extractive Industries: The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development. Oxford University Press (2018). (co-editor: A. Roe)
• Poverty Dynamics: Inter-Disciplinary Perspectives. Oxford University Press (2009).  (co-editors: D. Hulme and R. Kanbur).
• From Conflict to Recovery in Africa. Oxford University Press (2003).
• Debt Relief for Poor Countries. Palgrave Macmillan (2004). (co-editors: H. Hansen, and F. Tarp).
• Fiscal Policy for Development: Poverty, Reconstruction and Growth. Palgrave Macmillan (2004). (co-editor: A. Roe).

Education

• 1979 -1980: MSc Economics (Distinction). Birkbeck College, University of London. 
  
  
• 1976 -1979: BA (Hons) Economics and Politics (First Class). University of East Anglia. 
  
  
• 1981-1983: PhD Student, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Experience

• 2020 – Present:    Professor, Development Economics Research Group, University of Copenhagen
  
  
• 2009 – 2020: Chief Economist/Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER
  Member of senior management team: together with the director, responsible for management of 30+ staff (& worldwide network of 300+ researchers); mobilization of funding (includes tripling the funding of WIDER since 2009 to $9 mn); creation and implementation of research strategy; management of research projects including extractive industries development impact; direction of communications team.
  
  
• 2006 – 2009: Professor of Development Studies, University of Manchester, and Associate Director of the DFID-funded Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2006 to 2009. Executive Director, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester (2006-09). Construction of the new institute BWPI, design of the research programme, mobilization and management of funding and staff. Leadership with Professor Joseph Stiglitz of the BWPI/Institute for Policy Dialogue annual Advanced Graduate Workshop.
  
  
• 2002 – 2006: Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER.Supporting the Assisting Director with: design and management of research programme; staff recruitment and management; oversight of WIDER’s budget; presentations to UN General Assembly (Finance); organized conferences ‘Making Peace Work’ and ‘Sharing Global Prosperity’; research on post-conflict reconstruction, taxation, and international finance for development (latter for UN-DESA General Assembly report).
  
  
• 1999 – 2001: Senior Research Fellow, UNU-WIDER.Led research on fiscal policy and development as well as on the causes of conflict; organized conference on ‘Debt Relief’.
  
  
• 1997 – 1999: Research Fellow, UNU-WIDER (On leave from Warwick University). Led research on Africa’s recovery from conflict, and the economics of post- conflict recovery. Taught WIDER courses on development economics at the University of Helsinki.
  
  
• 1990 – 1999: Lecturer in Quantitative Development Economics (QDE), University of Warwick. Tenured faculty member; director of the Masters programme in QDE; taught undergraduate and graduate economics in the areas of development economics and international economics; supervised PhD students; research on economic reform and poverty in Africa.
  
  
• 1985 – 1997: Advisory experience. Prepared donor and government strategy papers on poverty and economic reform, participated in World Bank public expenditure reviews and other missions (inc. Bulgaria, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe), and undertook consultancies for EU, FAO, ILO, UNDP, and UNICEF.
  
  
• 1988 – 1990: Lecturer in the Economics of South-East Asia, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. Taught undergraduate and graduate economics; supervised PhD students; research on macro-economic policy and poverty.
  
  
• 1983 – 1988: Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute.Co-directed research on macro-economic stabilisation and income distribution; country studies for UNICEF’s ‘Adjustment with a Human Face’ programme.
  
  
• 1981 – 1983: PhD student and Graduate Tutor, Birkbeck College, London University. Research on ‘Econometrics of UK Monetary Policy Targeting’, under the supervision of Professor Aris Spanos; taught classes in microeconomics.
  
  
• 1980 – 1981: Economist (Overseas Development Institute Fellow), Ministry of Trade and Industries, Tanzania. Responsible for setting the prices of selected consumer products for the National Price Commission.