Development economics
Read more about our research in development economics.
Three development economists formerly employed by the Department of Economics at The University of Manchester could unambiguously be described as founders of the discipline, namely: W. Arthur Lewis, Hans Singer and Kurt Mandelbaum (aka Kurt Martin). Other eminent economists from Manchester, such as Sir John Hicks, Harry Johnson and Alan Prest, also made significant contributions in the field that we know of today as development economics, and H W Arndt, the most famous historian of the idea of economic development, was here too. See Leeson and Nixson (2004) for a more detailed history.
Research
Our research in development economics covers human capital and education, gender and intra-household allocation, poverty and inequality, health and nutrition, labour markets and migration, policy evaluation and social protection, and political economy and institutions. We also work on agriculture, trade and industrial policy, and information and incentives in developing countries. Our research draws on household surveys and administrative data, experiments and quasi-experimental methods, with particular expertise in China, India, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa.
There are a large number of development economists at Manchester who are associated with other schools and institutes within the University. In particular, members of the department work alongside other development economists from the Global Development Institute (GDI).
Staff
- Abhishek Chakravarty - gender inequality, policy evaluation, and intra-household resource allocation in developing countries.
- Indranil Dutta - quantitative development economics and applied welfare economics, well-being, deprivation and distribution.
- Katsushi Imai - nutrition and health in Asia, microeconometrics, panel data.
- Alessia Isopi - development economics, asymmetries in information, experimental economics.
- Sonya Krutikova - education, labour economics, development economics.
- Nuno Palma - economic history, growth and development, monetary economics.
- Xiaobing Wang - growth and development, the economics of China, labour economics.
- Nick Weaver - applied development economics, political economy.
- Linchuan Xu - development economics, environmental economics, macro development.
Development economics working papers
Members of the economics department regularly publish current research in the Manchester Economics Discussion Paper Series and the Global Development Institute Working Paper Series.
Joint development seminar
There are workshop programmes in development economics and policy (run jointly with the Global Development Institute) where members of staff, PhD students and invited academics present their research.
Applied seminar
Our regular applied seminar frequently brings development economists from the UK and internationally to Manchester to present their latest work.