Standing Field Committee for Development Economics

German Economic Association

Author : entwicklungsoekonomischerausschuss

Postdoctoral Researcher in Economics at Wageningen University

The Section Economics based at Wageningen University is inviting applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship position starting on October 1, 2024. As postdoctoral researcher, you will work in a NWO funded project focusing on the intra-household allocation of educational resources in low- and middle income countries. In particular, you will be responsible for the preparation and implementation of a field experiment in Indonesia. Your tasks include experiment and survey design, communication with research partners, data analysis and drafting of articles in close collaboration with the team members. You are expected to dedicate at least 75% of your research time to this project, while the remaining 25% can be spent on your own research initiatives.

All applications should be submitted by June 2, 2024. Further information can be found here.

Call for Papers: Africa in the global economy – Uncertain future in turbulent times?

The 2nd edition of the international research conference „Africa in the global economy – Uncertain future in turbulent times?“ hosted by the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) will take place in person on 5-6 December 2024 in Bonn, Germany. The organizers invite scholars to submit abstracts on their work on deepened economic relationships within Africa and with external partners until 1 May. The conference is jointly organized by IDOS, AERC, Boston University, ERF, the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance and the Research Network Sustainable Global Supply Chains.

Further details can be found here.

Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in an der Universität Osnabrück

Das Fachgebiet „Internationale Wirtschaftspolitik“ des Fachbereiches „Wirtschaftswissenschaften“ an der Universität Osnabrück sucht zum 1. Oktober 2024 eine*n wissenschaftliche*n Mitarbeiter*in (m/w/d) (Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L, 100%). Die Stelle ist auf drei Jahre befristet und kann um weitere 3 Jahre verlängert werden. Es besteht die Option einer Teilzeitbeschäftigung.

Zu den Hauptaufgaben der Stelle zählen die aktive Mitwirkung in der Lehre, die Unterstützung der Forschungstätigkeiten des entsprechenden Fachgebiets sowie die Mitarbeit in der akademischen Selbstverwaltung. Darüber hinaus wird die Möglichkeit zur Promotion bzw. Habilitation angeboten.

Bewerbungen werden bis zum 12.05.2024 entgegengenommen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie here.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Globalisation and Development

The GIGA seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (m/f/d) Globalisation and Development Applications are invited for a full-time position, with an initial contract of three years and the possibility of another three years after successful evaluation and depending on the availability of funds. The successful applicant should start as soon as possible. The position is designed for further professional qualification as defined in § 2 WissZeitVG (Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act). The salary is commensurate with EG 13 TV-AVH / TVöD. Part-time options will be considered, if so desired by the successful candidate.

The successful candidate will be affiliated to one of the GIGA’s Regional Institutes and conduct research within Research Programme 3 “Globalisation and Development” (RP3). The programme studies the economic, political, and social foundations of inclusive and sustainable development; its current research focuses, inter alia, on sustainability in global value chains, decent work and employment, climate change and development, and rural-transformation processes. Further, RP3 frequently engages in research at the interface of political economy and development. It is planned to expand RP3’s research activities on the development implications of digitalisation and the “just energy transition” in the Global South. This list of topics is not exhaustive, and the candidate’s own work can match or complement RP3’s ongoing research. The candidate is expected to hand in a research outline explaining how they would contribute to the GIGA’s research agenda. This outline should include concrete ideas for collaboration with projects and researchers at the GIGA.

The candidate is expected to conduct excellent research with real-world relevance and, accordingly, to participate in knowledge-exchange and outreach activities (media engagement, policy advice, and similar). There are no teaching obligations for this position, but the Institute offers support in finding teaching opportunities at one of the GIGA’s partner universities.

Screening of applications will begin on 29 April 2024. Further information can be found here.

PhD position in Development Microeconomics at the University of Fribourg

The Chair of Development Economics at the University of Fribourg is seeking applications for a 5-year (100%) PhD position. The candidates are expected to have a strong research interest in microeconomics applied to developing countries. The focus of the position is on research, with a small workload on assistance for teaching and administration of the Chair. Candidates should have a Master’s degree in economics, statistics or a related field, preferably with a good command of econometric tools. Excellent English language skills are required; good French language skills are recommended. The position will begin on September 1, 2024. All applications should be submitted by April 15, 2024.

More information can be found here.

PhD-candidate at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research

RWI is inviting applications for a PhD-candidate (m/f/d) (100% for 3 years) in the new Policy Lab “Climate Change, Development and Migration”. The position is to work in close collaboration with Profs. Renate Hartwig and Jörg Ankel-Peters on population, health and development economics – with a meta-scientific angle. The candidate will apply empirical and data-driven methods, including qualitative and quanti- tative research designs, using a range of methods from text analysis to expert surveys and Randomized Controlled Trials. Projects will also examine the scientific process, i.e. how empirical evidence is generated and compiled, as well as, the shortcomings thereof. A specific focus will be dedicated to the science-policy interface and how scientific knowledge translates to society.

The full-time position (100%) is initially limited to three years, but an extension is desired. The position is based in Essen/Germany starting as soon as possible. Details can be arranged in consultation with the candidate. The remuneration and benefits are based on the German public service pay scale (100% TV-L E13). The deadline for application submissions is 15.03.2024.

More information can be found here.

Team Leadership Position at BNITM in Hamburg

The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine is hiring a Head of Research Group Implementation Science & Intervention Research in Infectious Diseases at the next possible date.

The working group shall conduct studies that address implementation bottlenecks, identifies optimal approach for a particular setting, and promotes the uptake of research findings in order to result in improved health care and its delivery. Intervention research – defined as the studies to learn what treatments, diagnostics, or strategies work best in local healthcare systems to improve human health – shall be the core expertise of the working group. In this regard the working group should engage in the empirical testing and evaluation of innovative health care interventions and health system research. Furthermore, its work should focus on assessing the impact of interventions in resource poor regions; particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It is envisioned that the working group engages in research on infectious disease topics that are closely linked to the core focus of the institute (e.g., malaria, arbovirus & hemorrhagic fevers or neglected tropical diseases).

Applications must be submitted by 31 March 2024.

More information can be found here.

15 Doctoral Researchers in Food Systems Economics

The University of Göttingen has position openings for 15 Doctoral Researchers in Food Systems Economics (all genders welcome) to join the Research Training Group (RTG) 2654 “Sustainable Food Systems” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The positions should be filled by 1 September 2024. The regular working hours will be 65% (currently 25.87 hours per week) with a limited contract of three years to 31 August 2027. The salary is in accordance with the German public service salary scale E13 TVL (65%). These are qualification positions for junior researchers pursuing a PhD degree.

The positions involve interdisciplinary research on questions related to “Sustainable Food Systems”. Food and agriculture are playing key roles for many of the global challenges such as poverty, undernutrition, obesity, climate change, and biodiversity loss. It is obvious that the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without major changes in food production, distribution, and consumption. But what types of changes are useful and how these changes can be implemented politically, economically, and socially are open questions that will be addressed in the RTG, focusing on both rich and poor countries. The Program is implemented in cooperation with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC and KU Leuven in Belgium. The positions are based in Göttingen (Germany), but will require international travel for data collection and exchange with collaborators.

The application deadline is 20 March 2024. Further details about the RTG and more information regarding the application process and material can be found on the website and the job posting can be found here.

Doctoral Student at the ETH Zurich

The Development Economics Group (ETH-DEC) at ETH Zürich offers a Doctoral Student position in Development Economics. The starting time is the 1st of July (or later) 2024. Payment per month. The position is full-time and limited to four years.

The successful candidate will conduct and publish research on new research projects related to global value chains, global communication, and global cooperation. The candidate will work closely together with Prof. Isabel Günther. As part of the ETH-DEC and the ETH NADEL Global Cooperation and Sustainable Development, the successful candidate will also participate in ongoing research and teaching linked to poverty and inequalities. We offer an exciting and intellectually challenging position at a renowned university with close links to policymaking and other disciplines.

The deadline for application submissions is 15.03.2024.

More information can be found here.

Danzer, Alexander M., and Lennard Zyska. 2023. „Pensions and Fertility: Microeconomic Evidence.“ American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 15 (2): 126-65. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200440

A long-standing theoretical claim is that children serve as their parents' retirement assets in the absence of formal social security systems. But how can this hypothesis be tested empirically? The paper studies the context by examining the introduction of a comprehensive and financially lucrative pension system in Brazil. While employees in metropolitan areas have been paying into a state pension system for several decades, employees and self-employed people in rural areas of Brazil only gained access to a state pension scheme with the constitutional reform of 1991. The research shows that women who were able to qualify for the state pension system at a young age actually had fewer children. Compared to the control group (women in urban settlement areas for whom no change was made in pension provision), the women affected by the introduction of the pension system had on average 1.3 fewer children at the age of 45, and thus fewer than 4 children per woman. This accelerated the decline in birth rates in rural Brazil that had already been occurring for many decades. The pension reform thus exacerbated the demographic undermining of the pay-as-you-go pension system in Brazil.

Doctoral Researcher at the University of Cologne

The University of Cologne is currently inviting applications for a PhD Position at a 75% activity rate (salary scale 13 TV-L). The doctoral project will be embedded in the long-term project Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel (TVSEP) and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). TVSEP is a comprehensive primary panel data set starting 2006 of nearly 4,400 rural households in 440 villages and promotes research on topics such as long-term effects of shocks, migration and rural transformation.

The role involves conducting an in-depth analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in rural Thailand and Vietnam, specifically focusing on its influence on regional diversification and structural change. Additionally, the selected candidate will play a crucial role in the design and implementation of planned household surveys in the field, contributing to the development and execution of survey methodologies to gather pertinent data for the research project. Responsibilities also extend to the writing of a doctoral thesis based on the research findings and contributing to academic publications related to the project. Furthermore, the candidate will be responsible for presenting research findings at conferences and workshops, effectively communicating the results of the study and engaging in discussions to contribute to the broader academic discourse in the field.

Applications should be submitted by January 31, 2024, for consideration.

More information can be found here.

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leibniz University Hannover

The Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Leibniz University Hannover invites applications for the position of a Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/d) in the DFG-funded long-term project TVSEP (salary scale 13 TV-L, 100%) starting on 01.04.20241 or at the earliest possible date. The position is limited to 3 years, with the possibility of an extension.

The position is intended for management activities and research within the TVSEP long-term project. The tasks include organizing household data collections in Thailand and Vietnam, data cleaning and analysis (using the statistical software Stata), creating the online questionnaire in Survey Solutions, communicating with project partners abroad, doing own research and promoting research collaboration in an international team and providing support to the organization of workshops and conferences. The position involves extensive travel in Thailand and Vietnam.

The deadline for application submissions is 31.01.2024. Later applications will be also considered as long as the position has not yet been filled. 

More information can be found here.

PhD Position at the Leibniz University Hannover

The Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Leibniz University Hannover invites applications for the position of a Doctoral Researcher (m/f/d) in the DFG-funded long-term project TVSEP (salary scale 13 TV-L, 75 %) starting on 01.04.2024 or at the earliest possible date. The position is limited to 3 years, with the possibility of an extension.

Tasks include writing a doctoral thesis based on the long-term project TVSEP; support of the primary data collection in Thailand and Vietnam (including travel); assisting the cleaning and harmonization activities of up to 10 waves of panel data; presenting research results at international conferences and writing and submitting articles to leading academic journals.

The deadline for application submissions is 31.01.2024. Later applications will be also considered as long as the position has not yet been filled. 

More information can be found here.

Research Assistant / PhD Position at the University of Göttingen

Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (Prof. Maike Wollni) is hiring a Research Assistant / PhD Student (65%). The position is set to commence as soon as possible and is limited to 3 years.

The advertised position is part of the DFG-funded research project „Designing effective policy instruments for sustainable land transformation“. The doctoral researcher will conduct research on the effectiveness of different attributes of Payments-for-Ecosystem-Services schemes to induce adoption of sustainable land use practices, and will explore the relevance of experiential learning as an education tool to increase environmental awareness, values and pro-environmental behavior.

The position is based in Göttingen (Germany) but requires traveling and extended research stays in Indonesia. Applications must be submitted by January 15, 2024.

More information can be found here.

Call for Papers – „Finance and Development“ Workshop

Financial systems are developing rapidly around the global South. These developments increase the need for research into their effects, especially regarding issues of financial inclusion and individual as well as institutional responses.

To this end Heidelberg University’s South Asia Institute and the Department of Economics will host the sixth annual workshop “Finance and Development” in Heidelberg, Germany, on May 16 in the afternoon and May 17, 2024.

Deadline for submitting full papers and presenter nominations is February 2, 2024, with selection decisions to follow by March 8.

Further information can be found here.

Professorship of Economics, esp. Sustainable Economic Policy (W2 with tenure track to W3)

The Ingolstadt School of Management is currently inviting applications for the position of Professor in Economics, with a special focus on Sustainable Economic Policy. This tenure-track opportunity, aimed at early career researchers, progresses from a W2 to a permanent W3 professorship. Candidates are expected to possess expertise in sustainability, a strong research background, and the ability to teach in both German and English.

Applications should be submitted by February 15, 2024, for consideration.

More information can be found here (german) and here (english).

Call for Papers – German Development Economics Conference

We would like to draw your attention to the upcoming German Development Economics Conference scheduled for May 23-24, 2024, and hosted by Leibniz University Hannover. We are thrilled to announce that our keynote speakers for this year’s conference are Sandra Sequeira from the London School of Economics and Tavneet Suri from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

We invite you to submit your full papers for consideration. The submission period opens on December 1st, 2023, and concludes on February 15th, 2024. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by late March 2024.

Please find further information and the full Call for Papers here.

Förderpreis 2024 für praxisrelevante Entwicklungsforschung

Der Entwicklungsökonomische Ausschuss des Vereins für Socialpolitik vergibt in enger Kooperation mit der KfW Entwicklungsbank den Förderpreis 2024 für praxisrelevante Entwicklungsforschung.

Die aktuelle Ausschreibung finden Sie here. Für weitere Informationen klicken Sie bitte here.

Call for Papers – Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPE)

The Research Training Group Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPE) at the University of Passau is organizing the first DPE Forum on „Bytes and Behemoths: Understanding Power in Digital Platform Ecosystems,“ to be held on June 4-5, 2024. The forum will feature keynote speakers Professor Marshall van Alstyne (Boston University) and Professor Dr. Martin Selmayr (European Commission in Austria). Abstract submissions are welcomed until January 31, 2024.

The full Call for Papers can be found here.

Postdoctoral Position at Goethe University Frankfurt

The Chair of Development Economics (Prof. Matthias Schündeln), Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Goethe University Frankfurt, seeks to fill one Postdoctoral Position (m/f/d) in Development Economics. Responsibilities of the position include contributing to the teaching activities of the chair, conducting research in the field of development economics, and participating in research trips for data collection and other collaborations.

The initial appointment is for three years, with the possibility of an extension. The position is open immediately. The salary grade is based on the job characteristics of the collective agreement applicable to Goethe University (Salary grade: E 13 TV-G-U). The applications close on December 20, 2023.

More information can be found here.

Multiple Replicator Positions at RWI

RWI − Leibniz Institute for Economic Research invites applications for several positions of Replicator (m/w/d) on a self-employed basis to conduct a robustness replication of a published microeconomic study in the field of Development Economics. The successful applicant will work on the project “Robustness and Replicability in Economics (R2E). The applicants should have completed or be currently enrolled in a doctorate degree in economics, statistics, computer sciences, or a related field in social science and have an excellent command of English and advanced knowledge of the statistical software.

The position starts as soon as possible and is limited to six months. The work can be done fully remotely. The applicant will receive compensation of 2,500 € gross in total, possible distributed in installments based upon predetermined deliverables. The deadline for application submissions is November 26, 2023.

More information can be found here.

Two Stephan Klasen Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers in Development Economics

The Faculty of Business and Economics at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen invites postdoctoral researchers in development economics from low- and middle-income countries to apply for the Stephan Klasen Fellowship. The fellowship period runs from April 1st, 2024, to March 31st, 2025. Fellows will be expected to relocate to Göttingen for the duration of the fellowship. Applications close on 15th November 2023.

More information can be found here.

Researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) is looking for a researcher for the research programme „Transformation of Economic and Social Systems.“ As a member of the research team „World Economy and Development Finance,“ the selected researcher should contribute through research and policy advice to international debates on the transformation of the world economy in the context of sustainable development. The research expertise should lie in the areas of development finance, sustainable finance, and/or international finance. The planned start date of employment is 1 April 2024 and will conclude on 31 December 2026. The closing date for applications is 29 October 2023.

More information can be found here.

Economist at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) is looking for an economist for the research programme „Transformation of Economic and Social Systems”. As a member of the research team “World Economy and Development Finance”, the selected economist will contribute to research and policy advice on global economic challenges. The Institute has a particular interest in scholars with expertise on international trade, global value chains (GVCs) and/or foreign direct investment (FDI). The position will start on 1 January 2024 and is limited to 31 December 2026. Applications must be submitted by 23 October 2023.

More information can be found here.

Postdoctoral Position in Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies is hiring a Postdoc in Economics for a contract from June 2024 to May 2026 at an 80% activity rate. In this role, the candidate will conduct research in labor economics, education, and migration. The starting date is June 1st, 2024. The salary and working conditions are in accordance with the regulations of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Applications must be submitted by November 15, 2023.

More information can be found here.

PhD Research Position at the University of Jena

The Chair of Economic Policy at the University of Jena is seeking a full-time Research Associate (PhD Candidate). The position will begin on March 1, 2024, with an initial contract term of three years. Compensation will be in accordance with TV-L E13 guidelines. All applications should be submitted by November 30, 2023.

More information can be found here.

PhD Teaching Assistant Position at the University of Passau

The Chair of Development Economics (Professor Michael Grimm) of the School of Business, Economics and Information Systems of the University of Passau is looking for a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Development Economics (PhD Position). An excellent command of both English and German is required. The position is set to commence as soon as possible but no later than April 1, 2024. The contract is initially set for a duration of three years. Compensation will be based on the TV-L E13 scale, and the role is available at 66% of a full-time position. The deadline for application submissions is October 6, 2023.

More information can be found here.

Liebenehm, Sabine, Ingmar Schumacher, and Eric Strobl. 2023. Rainfall Shocks and Risk Aversion: Evidence from Southeast Asia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12403

Empirical evidence on the temporal stability of risk aversion and the role of exogenous shocks is inconclusive. In this paper we revisit this problem and analyze whether and to what extent risk aversion changes in response to rainfall shocks in an agrarian setting, and the role of changes in yields and output prices as two potential channels. We study this both in a simple theoretical model and in an extensive empirical study. The theoretical model predicts that under prudence, households that are either a net seller, a net buyer, or autarkic, increase risk aversion. To test the model predictions, we use a panel data set of the same 1,005 respondents from Northeastern Thailand and Central Vietnam (TVSEP) interviewed across five survey waves between 2008 and 2017 and combine it with historical rainfall data at the village level to capture negative rainfall shocks. Our empirical strategy exploits exogenous variation in the timing, location, and magnitude of rainfall shortages to identify their effect on risk aversion. We find that rainfall shortages increase respondents’ risk aversion, a finding remarkably stable across alternative specifications. The magnitude of the main effect of rainfall shortages on risk aversion is largest among net buyers, and approximately half the size among net sellers. Autarkic households do not exhibit a significant effect. Although rainfall shortages lead to significant reductions in agricultural yields and significant increases in commodity prices, the mediation analysis suggests that these market mechanisms do not play a significant role, except for a small statistically significant mediating effect of prices among the net buying household group. The finding that rainfall shortages lead to significant increases in risk aversion, especially among households that depend on local markets to buy food, has potentially important implications for food security and poverty dynamics. An increased level of risk aversion can undermine investments, e.g., in a beneficial technology, induce forgone returns, and increase the likelihood to fall or being pushed further below the poverty line.

Further Information.

PhD Research Position at the Technische Universität Braunschweig

The Institute of Economics (Prof. Dr. Markus Ludwig) at Technische Universität Braunschweig is seeking to fill a full-time (100%) Doctoral Student position. The role, with a start date on or after 15.10.2023, has an initial contract term of three years. The salary will follow TV-L E13 guidelines. Applications must be submitted by 20.08.2023.

More information can be found here.

PhD Research Position at the University of Freiburg

The Institute for Economic Research, Department of International Economic Policy (Prof. Dr. Günther Schulze) at the University of Freiburg is seeking a teaching and research assistant (50%). Planned start date of employment is 01.11.2023, or as otherwise agreed. The position is limited to 31.10.2026. The salary will be determined in accordance with TV-L E13. The closing date for applications is 16.08.2023.

More information can be found here.

Call for Papers – Doctoral Workshop

The Standing Field Committee of Development Economics of the German Economic Association invites submissions for this year’s doctoral workshop. It will be organized by Isabel Günther and the ETH Zürich Development Economics Group and takes place on September 28 and 29 2023 at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland.

Please find further information and the full CfP here.

Head of Research Area “Governance of Global Inequalities”

The Department of Political Science (IPZ) at the University of Zurich invites applications for a

Head of Research Area “Governance of Global Inequalities”

The successful candidate will be responsible for research and teaching in the area of the political governance of global inequalities. Applicants can have a background in international/comparative political economy, international relations, or in political philosophy, and their research and/or teaching should relate to PPE (‚Politics, Philosophy and Economics‘). Within the broader substantive area, specialized attention might be given to issues such as the governance of global climate change agreements and policies, the regulation of migration flows, trade imbalances, developing economies and emerging markets, or changing geopolitical hierarchies. Irrespective of the substantive orientation, the successful candidate’s research should have a focus on the political governance of transnational economic, political, or social inequalities, and show an interest in empirical and normative questions and implications.

More information can be found here.

Braczkowski, A.R., O’Bryan, C.J., Lessmann, C. et al. The unequal burden of human-wildlife conflict. Commun Biol 6, 182 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04493-y

Human-wildlife conflict is one of the most pressing sustainable development challenges globally. This is particularly the case where ecologically and economically important wildlife impact the livelihoods of humans. Large carnivores are one such group and their co-occurrence with low-income rural communities often results in real or perceived livestock losses that place increased costs on already impoverished households. Here we show the disparities associated with the vulnerability to conflict arising from large carnivores on cattle (Bos taurus) globally. Across the distribution of 18 large carnivores, we find that the economic vulnerability to predation losses (as measured by impacts to annual per capita income) is between two and eight times higher for households in transitioning and developing economies when compared to developed ones. This potential burden is exacerbated further in developing economies because cattle keepers in these areas produce on average 31% less cattle meat per animal than in developed economies. In the lowest-income areas, our estimates suggest that the loss of a single cow or bull equates to nearly a year and a half of lost calories consumed by a child. Finally, our results show that 82% of carnivore range falls outside protected areas, and five threatened carnivores have over one third of their range located in the most economically sensitive conflict areas. This unequal burden of human-carnivore conflict sheds light on the importance of grappling with multiple and conflicting sustainable development goals: protecting life on land and eliminating poverty and hunger.

Further Information.

2023 German Development Economics Conference

The 2023 German Development Economics conference took place on 1-2 June, 2023, and was hosted by the Technical University Dresden. The annual conference brings together international scholars and researchers of development economics and neighboring fields. Plenary sessions with keynote speakers, parallel sessions with contributed papers, and poster sessions will reflect the current state of research in development economics and provide a forum for exchange for researchers and practitioners.

Official conference welcome
Public panel at the Frauenkirche
Keynote Speakers

Michèle Tertilt (University of Mannheim)
Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown University)

Local Organizers

Christian Leßmann (Technical University Dresden).

Selection Committee

Axel Dreher (Heidelberg University), Andreas Fuchs (University of Göttingen), Michael Grimm (University of Passau), Isabel Günther (ETH Zürich), Krisztina Kis-Katos (University of Göttingen), Christian Leßmann (TU Dresden) and Matthias Schündeln (Goethe University Frankfurt).

Submission

The CfP closed on February 15.

Program

The program can be found here.

Hoeffler, Anke; Sterck, Olivier, 2022. Is Chinese aid different?. In: World Development. Elsevier. 156, 105908. ISSN 0305-750X. eISSN 1873-5991. Available under: doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105908.

China is commonly depicted as a "rogue" donor, using aid to further its own interests abroad and secure access to natural resources. Especially China’s involvement in African countries has been criticized for being guided by self-interest rather than recipient need or merit. For the period 2000-2012, we compare China’s aid allocation behaviour to that of the five largest donor countries globally: France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the USA. We use regression analysis and a rigorous variance decomposition method to measure the importance of various factors in predicting aid commitments. We find that donors differ markedly in how they allocate aid. While Germany, Japan, the USA, and the UK assign high importance to recipient need, France’s and China’s allocation models are, for a large part, driven by variables that relate to self-interest: trade in the case of France, and the adherence to the "One-China policy" in the case of China. However, China is not a purely selfish donor. As most Western donors, China commits more aid to poorer countries. Furthermore, we find no evidence that commercial interests, such as trade or access to natural resources, determine Chinese aid allocation. This latter result contrasts with Western donors, which allocate more aid to their trade partners. France and the UK also commit significantly more aid to their former colonies. In conclusion, the claim that China’s aid allocation is different must be qualified.

The study made use of a dataset published by Axel Dreher and Andreas Fuchs - also members of the Research Group on Development Economics - together with Brad Parks, Austin M. Strange and Michael J. Tierney in the article "Apples and Dragon Fruits: The Determinants of Aid and Other Forms of State Financing from China to Africa".

Further Information.

Doctoral Workshop 2022

The Doctoral Workshop 2022 of the Research Group on Development Economics of the German Economic Association was organized by Professor Tilman Brück (IGZ, HU Berlin & ISDC) and took place on September 22nd and 23rd, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. The workshop’s aim was to enable doctoral students to improve their ongoing research, advise them on the preparation of a refereed journal article, practice academic discussions and build informal networks.

Günther, Isabel, Harttgen, Kenneth, Seiler, Johannes and Utzinger, Jürg. An index of access to essential infrastructure to identify where physical distancing is impossible. Nature Communications 13, 3355 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30812-8.

To identify areas at highest risk of infectious disease transmission in Africa, we develop a physical distancing index (PDI) based on the share of households without access to private toilets, water, space, transportation, and communication technology and weight it with population density. Our results highlight that in addition to improving health systems, countries across Africa, especially in the western part of Africa, need to address the lack of essential domestic infrastructure. Missing infrastructure prevents societies from limiting the spread of communicable diseases by undermining the effectiveness of governmental regulations on physical distancing. We also provide high-resolution risk maps that show which regions are most limited in protecting themselves. We find considerable spatial heterogeneity of the PDI within countries and show that it is highly correlated with detected COVID-19 cases. Governments could pay specific attention to these areas to target limited resources more precisely to prevent disease transmission.

Further Information.

Implementation Research on OPD services in the Social Health Protection Initiative, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) area in Pakistan

Since 2015, the Social Health Protection Initiative (SHPI) aims at increasing access of the poor to health services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) in Pakistan. The KfW-financed project removes financial barriers by providing a subsidized health insurance. Phase 1 extended insurance for the poorest 21% of the population covering inpatient services in selected public and private hospitals. Phase 2 is now extending coverage to include outpatient services (OPD). KfW selected the research consortium consisting of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, and Khyber Medical University, to provide evidence in support of the implementation. The research component covers 1) preparatory studies in support of the design of the scheme, 2) implementation research throughout the project cycle, 3) outcome and impact evaluation, and 4) additional research on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for inpatient care services (IPD) under Phase 1.

Source of funding: KfW
Project period: August 2021 – August 2023 (initially)
Beteiligte Forscherinnen und Forscher (Principal Investigators): Andreas Landmann (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Zohaib Khan (Khyber Medical University), Manuela De Allegri (Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg)

Further Information.

Money, Methods and Morals: What are Development Economists up to?

Do you ask yourself where our discipline is heading? In a special issue of the Review of Development Economics, we want to debate the current trends and the future directions in development economics. This is an open call for submissions on research methods, ethics and finance. The co-editors are Anke Hoeffler and Reetika Khera.

Link to the call: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14679361.

More information can be found here.

Awarding the 2022 Research Prize

The Research Group on Development Economics of the German Economic Association, in close cooperation with KfW Development Bank, awards the 2022 Research Prize for policy relevant research on developing countries. The objective is the promotion of dialogue between academia and practice as well as development research in the German-speaking area.

The prize for young researchers awards three German- or English-language doctoral theses in the field of development research in social sciences that combine scientific excellence and relevance for development policy. The independent committee selecting the winning theses consists of representatives from various scientific backgrounds and KfW Development Bank. The prize will be awarded at the next annual conference of the Research Group on Development Economics in Hohenheim on June 9th and 10th, 2022.

The submission window closed February 15th, 2022. For further information, please see the call for applications or the Research Prize page .

Steinkamp, Sven and Frank Westermann, „Development aid and illicit capital flight: Evidence from Nepal“, The World Economy, September 2021, DOI: 10.1111/twec.13208.

Source: Figure from working paper version (IEW WP #121)

While illicit capital flight is a major concern of policymakers in developing countries, there is only little research on the possible link between capital flight and development aid. In this paper, we address the issue for Nepal, a stereotypical financially closed developing economy that is highly dependent on resources from abroad. Distinguishing features of our approach are the use of a narrowly defined proxy of capital flight, based on trade cost-adjusted mirror trade statistics, and the focus on the foreign-exchange cash component of development aid. We document a robust partial correlation between aid and outward capital flight that is economically and statistically significant. Interestingly, this positive correlation is not observable for remittances, an alternative form of foreign-exchange inflows where the capital flight motivation is absent. Furthermore, it is visible in the FX cash component but not in broader aid definitions that include in-kind transfers, or in multilateral and IMF loans. Finally, when comparing the subcomponents of export underinvoicing and import overinvoicing, only the latter is driving our results.

Further Information.

Budjan, Angelika J., and Andreas Fuchs (2021). Democracy and Aid Donorship. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 13, Issue 4, Pages: 217–38.

Almost half of the world's states provide bilateral development assistance. While previous research takes the set of donor countries as exogenous, this article introduces a new dataset on aid giving that covers all countries in the world, both rich and poor, and explores the determinants of aid donorship. It argues and shows empirically that democratic institutions support the setup of an aid program in richer countries but undermine its establishment in poorer countries. The findings hold in instrumental-variable regressions and the pattern is similar for the amount of aid.

Further Information.

Toman Barsbai, Dieter Lukas and Andreas Pondorfer. Local Convergence of Behavior across Species. Science (2021)

Credit: Brian Wood

We find that foraging humans forage, reproduce, share parenting, and even organise their social groups in similar ways as surrounding mammal and bird species, depending on where they live in the world. Our results imply that local environments exert a key influence on how foraging human populations and non-human species behave, despite their very different backgrounds. Local environmental conditions select for similar foraging, social, and reproductive behaviors across human foragers and non-human animals, driving behavioral diversity worldwide.

Further Information.

Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin Strange, and Michael J. Tierney (2021). Aid, China, and Growth: Evidence from a New Global Development Finance Dataset. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages: 1–40.

China has become a major source of global development finance, but the nature and consequences of its official financing activities are poorly understood. The absence of systematic evidence and rigorous analysis on the economic growth effects of Chinese development finance represents a major blind spot in the literature. This article introduces a new dataset of official financing from China to 138 developing countries between 2000 and 2014. This allows us then to investigate whether Chinese development finance affects economic growth in recipient countries. The results demonstrate that Chinese development finance boosts short-term economic growth. An additional project increases growth by between 0.41 and 1.49 percentage points two years after commitment, on average. These effects persist across different aid sectors and appear to be driven by increases in investment and - to a lesser extent - consumption. While this study does not find that significant financial support from China impairs the overall effectiveness of aid from Western donors, aid from the United States tends to be more effective in countries that receive no substantial support from China. Overall, this evidence should allay some of the fears that policymakers have expressed about China acting as “rogue donor” that undermines the effectiveness of Western assistance.

Further Information.

Elías Cisneros, Krisztina Kis-Katos and Nuryartono, Nunung (2021): Palm oil and the politics of deforestation in Indonesia, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102453

This paper studies the interactions between political and economic incentives to foster forest conversion in Indonesian districts. Using a district-level panel data set from 2001 to 2016, we analyze variation in remotely sensed forest losses as well as measures of land-use licensing. We link these outcomes to political incentives arising before idiosyncratically-timed local mayoral elections as well as to price exposure measures based on oil palm soil suitability combined with global price variations for palm oil. Empirical results document increases of about 4% in deforestation in the year prior to local mayoral elections on average. Additionally, palm oil plays a crucial role in driving deforestation dynamics. Deforestation rates increase by 7% in places that experience a one standard deviation increase in local price exposure, but no upcoming elections. These effects are amplified to almost 19% larger forest losses in places that experience pre-election years and a standard deviation higher palm oil price exposure at the same time. We thus find clear evidence for economic and political incentives reinforcing each other as drivers of forest loss and land conversion for oil palm cultivation.

Further Information.

Call for Papers: Research Conference on „Sustainability in Global Value Chains“

The Research Conference on „Sustainability in Global Value Chains“, jointly organized by The Research Network Sustainable Global Supply Chains and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), will take place on 7 December 2021 and is part of the Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI 2021) held on 6 December 2021. It aims to bring together empirical research on sustainability topics in global value chains.

The organizers welcome submissions of full-length papers using micro and macro analyses, as well as quantitative and qualitative approaches. Interested applicants can submit the extended abstract by 31 May 2021 and the paper by 30 July 2021.

Further details on the conference as well as on the submission of papers can be found here.

Spring/Summer Program for the 3D Seminar Series – Digital Development Dialogue

The new program for the 3D Seminar Series for the summer term 2021 is now available. The seminar is organized by Sarah Langlotz and Lennart Kaplan (University of Göttingen) and aims at bringing together two speakers – one researcher and one practitioner – to touch upon key topics in development policy with the goal of stimulating a meaningful dialogue across the theory & practice divide.

For further information, please click here .

Doctoral Workshop 2021

The Doctoral Workshop 2021 of the Research Group on Development Economics of the German Economic Association was organized by Christian Lessmann from the TU Dresden and took place from 16-17 September 2021 in Dresden as well as online. The workshop’s aim was to enable doctoral students to improve their research, advise them on the preparation of a refereed journal article, practice academic discussions and build informal networks.

The program as well as further information on the event can be found here.

Menusch Khadjavi, Kacana Sipangule Khadjavi, and Rainer Thiele (2021). Social Capital and Large-Scale Agricultural Investments: An Experimental Investigation. The Economic Journal, Volume 131, Issue 633, Pages 420–449

Following the 2007–2008 global food crisis, agricultural producers have invested in large tracts of land in developing countries. We investigate how the arrival of large-scale farms changes inter-personal trust and reciprocity, important components of social capital, in traditional Zambian villages. Using experimental methods, we elicit trust and reciprocal behaviour in villages that lie near large-scale farms and compare them with control villages at a distance. Our data reveal greater trust in villages close to large-scale farms, which is in line with communal coping as a response to the arrival of the large farms. Reciprocity is more frequent after farm employment, which points to reputation building.  

Further Information.

Danzer, Alexander M., Robert Grundke (2020). „Export price shocks and rural labor markets: The role of labor market distortions.” Journal of Development Economics, 2020, Volume 145, 102464

Interview with a group of field workers in the Konibodom district in northern Tajikistan
© Robert Grundke

Can workers in developing countries take advantage of trade? Alexander M. Danzer (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt) and Robert Grundke (OECD) answer this question by using fluctuations in the world market price for cotton and identifying the effects of higher export prices on the wages of poor agricultural workers in the cotton harvest, using the example of Tajikistan. The increased demand for workers during the high price episode doubles wages for cotton pickers on small private farms, but has no impact on wages on large parastatal farms. The different treatment of workers is due to market power and the continued use of coerced labor in large companies during the cotton harvest, not least of school children and university students. The research concludes that trade produces winners and losers based on the political power relations between local decision makers and managers of parastatal farms.

Further Information.

Heß, Simon, Dany Jaimovich, and Matthias Schündeln. "Development projects and economic networks: Lessons from rural Gambia." The Review of Economic Studies (2021)

The authors study the effect of participatory development projects on social and economic networks in rural villages in The Gambia. Participatory development projects actively involve villagers in financing and decision-making processes, intending to create more effective projects and to strengthen local institutions. These projects, in particular Community-Driven Development (CDD) projects, are a major form of international donor activity. As of March 2021, the World Bank alone supports 327 CDD projects in 90 countries, lending over 33 billion US$. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of such projects on local communities. Existing research on the intended effects of CDD projects is limited in breadth and typically finds moderate positive effects at best. At the same time, CDD projects risk having unintended negative effects, e.g. through their interactions with local power structures and decision-making mechanisms, or through unequally distributed benefits.

The authors first argue theoretically that the effects of CDD projects on decision-making processes and unequal economic outcomes can translate into effects on social and economic networks. To study the effect of CDD projects on networks empirically, the authors utilize the random allocation of a CDD project to villages in The Gambia. They collected detailed data on social and economic interactions in 56 villages, half of which had received CDD projects in the past. The central empirical finding is that the density of social and economic networks in program villages is lower than in non-program villages. Given the importance of these informal networks for risk-sharing (e.g., in case of an illness), the reduced density of networks implies a negative effect on expected household welfare. Further empirical analyses suggest that elite capture (i.e., the appropriation of project gains by village elites) contributed to the problem of unequally distributed benefits from the project, which in turn led to conflicts, thus weakening the networks. Overall, the results demonstrate possible unintended negative consequences of participatory development projects.

Further Information.

Call for Papers: 14th Annual Conference on the Political Economy of International Organization (PEIO)

The 14th Annual Conference on the Political Economy of International Organization (PEIO) is hosted by Oxford University on January 13-15, 2022, bringing together economists and political scientists to address political economy issues related to international organizations.

The organizers are inviting submissions of both empirical and theoretical papers by September 30, 2021; submissions on topics more broadly related to international organization (e.g., foreign aid or international law) will also be considered.

Further details can be found here and on the conference website.

Call for Papers: 17th Annual Workshop of the Households in Conflict Network on “Conflict, Migration, and Displacement“

The 17th Annual Workshop of the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN) on “Conflict, Migration, and Displacement” will be held online on October 11-12, 2021. The event is hosted by the University of Goettingen with Mathias Thoenig (University of Lausanne) as the keynote speaker and an open plenary on “Migration and Security Policy”, which is jointly organized by the HiCN, the Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig), and the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE).

The organizers are inviting submissions of (preferably) full papers or extended abstracts by May 31, 2021 (23:59 CET).

For further information on the event and the Call for Papers, please click here.

PEGNet Conference on “Resilient Low-Carbon Economies: Risks and Policies”

The online conference on March 22nd & March 23rd 2021 is jointly organized by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and the Poverty Reduction, Equity and Growth Network (PEGNet) and will consist of several sessions on carbon pricing, the possibilities of a just transition and the impacts of climate change on pro-poor growth, health and migration in low-income countries.

For further details and the program, please click here.

“Is There a Rainbow after the Rain? How Do Agricultural Shocks Affect Non‐Farm Enterprises? Evidence from Thailand” (Katharina Grabrucker and Michael Grimm, both from the University of Passau), published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics

The authors merged detailed household panel data from the TVSEP with grid‐level precipitation data to study the indirect effects of rainfall shocks on non‐farm enterprises in rural Thailand. They focus on both forward and backward linkages along the value chain as well as direct demand effects through farmer’s consumption. Overall, their analysis shows that the costs of agricultural shocks are higher than what much of the literature has suggested so far. Despite limited market integration in poor rural economies, the spill-overs are sizable and are transmitted through various channels. One implication is that safety nets targeted at farms may need to consider non‐farm enterprises too.

Further Information.

2021 German Development Economics Conference

The annual conference was held on 17-18 June 2021 and brought together more than 150 international scholars and researchers of development economics and neighboring fields. Plenary sessions with keynote speakers and parallel sessions with contributed papers reflected the current state of research in development economics and provided a forum for exchange for researchers and practitioners. Due to the COVID pandemic the event was held fully virtual.

Keynote Speakers
Anandi Mani (Oxford University)
Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University)

Local Organizers
Dierk Herzer (HSU Hamburg), Jann Lay (GIGA Hamburg) and Rainer Thiele (IfW Kiel).

Selection Committee
Axel Dreher (Heidelberg University), Andreas Fuchs (University of Göttingen), Michael Grimm (University of Passau), Isabel Günther (ETH Zürich), Anke Hoeffler (University of Konstanz), Jann Lay (GIGA Hamburg), Matthias Schündeln (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Rainer Thiele (IfW Kiel).

Program

Next year the conference will be hosted by the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim. The Call for Papers will be published in November/December this year.

Nachruf Prof. Stephan Klasen, PhD

Der Entwicklungsökonomische Ausschuss trauert um sein langjähriges Mitglied und ehemaligen Vorsitzenden Prof. Stephan Klasen, PhD. Stephan Klasen ist am 27.10.2020 nach langer, schwerer Krankheit in Göttingen gestorben. Er hat für den Ausschuss und die entwicklungsökonomische Forschung immenses geleistet und war uns allen stets ein überaus kluger und inspirierender Gesprächspartner und wunderbarer Freund.

Einen Nachruf finden Sie hier.

Autumn/Winter Program for the 3D Seminar Series – Digital Development Dialogue

The new autumn/winter program for the 3D Seminar Series is now available. The seminar is organized by Sarah Langlotz and Lennart Kaplan (University of Göttingen) and aims to bring together two speakers – one researcher and one practitioner – to touch upon key topics in development policy with the goal of stimulating a meaningful dialogue across the theory & practice divide.

Click here for further information.

Artikel und Videos zum Nachwuchsförderpreis für Entwicklungsforschung der KfW und des Entwicklungsökonomischen Ausschuss veröffentlicht

Zum elften Mal hat die KfW Entwicklungsbank gemeinsam mit dem Entwicklungsökonomischen Ausschuss des Vereins für Socialpolitik (VfS) den Förderpreis für praxisrelevante Entwicklungsforschung verliehen. Mit dem Preis werden drei Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler ausgezeichnet, deren Doktorarbeiten wissenschaftliche Exzellenz und Praxisrelevanz auf herausragende Art vereinen.

Den gesamten Artikel sowie die Videos der drei Preisträgerinnen und Preisträger finden Sie hier.

3D Seminar – Digital Development Dialogue on Covid-19

Sarah Langlotz and Lennart Kaplan from the University of Goettingen have released a new format for policy and practice exchange – the Digital Development Dialogue (3D). The aim of this 3D seminar series is to bring together two speakers – one researcher and one policymaker/practitioner – to discuss topics related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Click here for further details and subscription.

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