topics for research in development economics

What’s the Latest Research in Development Economics? A Roundup from NEUDC 2022

Almedina music, david evans.

What’s the latest in international economic development research? Last weekend was the North East Universities Development Consortium annual conference , often called NEUDC. With more than 135 papers presented (and almost all of them available for download ), it’s a great way to see recent trends in the international development research by economists and to learn about new findings.

The studies come from all over the world, as you can see in Figure 1 below. Just like last year , the plurality of studies take place in India (30 studies). Kenya is next (12), then Bangladesh (8), Brazil (7), China (7), and Indonesia (7). More than 40 countries are represented overall, from almost all regions of the world.

Figure 1: Where are recent development economics studies focused?

Source: This map draws on a sample of 139 studies from the NEUDC 2022 conference. Studies that covered more than three countries (often broad global or regional analyses) were excluded.

Researchers draw on a wide range of empirical methods. Nearly a third of studies reported on the results of a randomized controlled trial (43 studies). Other commonly used methods include difference-in-differences, fixed effects, and instrumental variables.

Figure 2: What empirical methods do recent development economics papers used?

Source: This chart draws on a sample of 139 studies from the NEUDC 2022 conference. Some studies used more than one method.

Below, we provide a quick takeaway from every paper in the conference for which we could find a digital copy. As you read our takeaways, keep the following in mind. First, we can’t capture all the nuance of a paper in a couple of lines. Second, our takeaway may not be the authors’ takeaway. Third, some of the papers are marked as preliminary and not ready for formal citation (you can see which if you follow the paper links). Fourth, we largely take the findings of these papers at face value: most have not yet been through peer review, so feel free to dig into the data and analysis to decide how confident you are in the results.

Our takeways are sorted by topic. If your principal interest is in a country or region, you can also read the takeaways sorted by country . We provide some indication of the empirical method used (for empirical papers) with hashtags at the end of the takeaways. Some papers fit into more than one category: for example, is a paper about the impact of free childcare on mothers’ careers about labor or about gender? It’s about both! In those cases, we’ve repeated studies in multiple sections below so if you’re focused on health, you’ll find all the health-related papers in the health section. The second or third time a paper appears, we put an asterisk after the summary so you can skip it if you’re reading straight through.

Happy learning!

Guide to the methodological hashtags: #DID = Difference-in-differences, #FE = Fixed effects, #IV = Instrumental variables, #LIF = Lab in the field, #PSM = Propensity score matching, #RCT = Randomized controlled trial, #RD = Regression discontinuity, #Other = Other

Households and human capital

Education and Early Childhood Development

· How critical are family conditions in early years for child development? Better weather (which means more agricultural income and better nutrition) at age 2 in Indonesia leads to higher adult cognitive ability. When households face hard times at earlier ages, they compensate with prolonged breastfeeding. ( Webb ) #FE

· Data from Indonesia suggest that parental education and parental income are the main drivers of differences in skills once kids grow up. ( Thomas ) #Other

· “Many teachers [in India and Bangladesh] underestimate the share of low performers in their classrooms, and...they believe that those students will perform better than they actually do. These results are not driven by less educated, trained, or experienced teachers or explained by biases against female, low-income, or lower caste students.” ( Djaker, Ganimian, and Sabarwal ) #Other

· A 1985 change in Indian law discouraging the payment of dowries led to a 24 percent drop in dowry payments, but it also led to an 18 percent reduction in girls' education attainment (with no impact on boys' education). ( Jha ) #DID

· Providing information about a learning app in Bangladesh didn't lead more people to use it, but it did lead some parents to arrange more tutoring, resulting in "lasting math learning gains, concentrated among richer households." ( Beam, Mukherjee, and Navarro-Sola ) #RCT

· Students in Kenya often apply to secondary schools with little information about the available schools. Providing information to students "led them to apply to" schools that were closer to home "without compromising school quality." Adding parents to those information meetings "led students to enroll in lower cost schools." ( Bonds ) #RCT

· Among students in 9th grade in India, student test scores rose similarly whether they were exposed to "rigidly defined remedial lessons that take time away from the curriculum" and "teacher determined remedial lessons," which allow teachers more flexibility. ( Beg et al. ) #RCT

· Parental aspirations for their children matter, but they may not be enough on their own. “In rural Gambia, families with high aspirations for their children’s future education and career, measured before children start school, go on to invest substantially more than other families in the early years of their children’s education. Despite this, essentially no children are literate or numerate three years later. When villages receive a highly-impactful, teacher-focused supply-side intervention, however, children of these families are 25 percent more likely to achieve literacy and numeracy than other children in the same village.” ( Eble and Escueta ) #RCT

· A ten day increase in the overlap between school days and peak farming periods in Malawi translates to children losing about a third of a year of schooling. ( Allen ) #IV

· Eliminating school fees for secondary school in Tanzania led not only to increased secondary school enrollments; it also increased primary school pass rates. ( Sandholtz ) #DID

· Indonesia's major school construction program from the 1970s led to eight percent overall higher national output forty years later, and much of that comes through migration from rural to urban areas. ( Hsiao ) #DID

· Phone call tutorials during COVID-19 were effective at boosting learning in India, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, and Uganda, whether implemented by government teachers or non-government organization instructors. ( Angrist et al. ) #RCT

· An affirmative action policy in Brazil was effective at redistributing university spots to low-income students, with little drop in average achievement. "The policy also reduced the gap in applications to selective majors" between poor and rich students by more than 50 percent, but note that those are applications: many of those major-choice changes were among students unlikely to be accepted into a highly selective major. The policy worked, but it could work even better. ( Melo ) #DID

· Peru shut down a bunch of low-quality universities in 2015. Graduates from surviving universities experienced an increase in wages and higher employment rates. ( Vivar, Flor-Toro, and Magnaricotte ) #DID

· An influx of Syrian refugees in Jordan reduced school enrollment among Jordanians, particularly boys and kids with less-educated parents. More young Jordanians went to work instead. ( Almuhaisen ) #DID

· An edutainment program in Bangladeshi schools to trace school-to-home transmission of handwashing find that children are induced to wash more at school but less at home, yielding a net negative effect of the program ( Hussam and Oh ) #RCT

· Removing English language study from pubic primary schools in West Bengal, India, increased private school enrollment and---for those still in public schools---increased private tutoring among the richest households. ( Nandwani and Sen ) #FE

· In utero exposure to high ocean salinity levels (induced by climate change) reduces a child’s height-for-age z-score in Bangladesh, and increased prevalence of stunting and severe stunting due to nutritional deficiencies by age five. ( Guimbeau et al. ) #FE

· In Indonesia, “remittances increase household consumption, reduce poverty, and stimulate growth. Households send more children to school, and district governments increase public schools at the primary and junior secondary levels.” ( Hilmy ) #FE

· The tariff reduction from the U.S-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement decreased school attendance and increased children’s work, mainly in non-wage and household business jobs. Effects were stronger for boys, older children and households where the head had little education. ( Nguyen ) #DID

· Giving a widely known award "to top performers on a mandatory nationwide exam in Colombia" boosts their earnings by between 7 and 12 percent, and the effect endures for 5 years after graduation. It helps students graduating from low-reputation colleges the most. ( Busso, Montaño, Muñoz-Morales ) #RD

Health (including mental health)

· A national vaccine program in Burkina Faso in 1984 boosted the country’s child vaccination rate (against measles, yellow fever, and meningitis) from 17 percent to 77 percent in a few months. Child mortality fell, primary school completion rose, and—when the children reached adulthood—employment and agricultural productivity rose. ( Daramola et al. ) #DID

· School-based deworming in western Kenya—nearly a quarter of a century later—reduced under-5 mortality of the beneficiaries’ children by 24 percent! ( Walker et al. ) #RCT

· In Ecuador, letting employees use work time to get a flu vaccine boosted vaccination rates, but employees got sick about as much. Why? Some evidence suggests that employees engaged in “riskier health behaviors after getting vaccinated.” ( Hoffman, Mosquera, and Chadi ) #RCT

· In Kenya, “both patient subsidies and pharmacy incentives for diagnostic testing significantly increase usage of testing and may encourage malaria positive individuals to purchase high quality antimalarials.” ( Dieci ) #RCT

· Women who were babies in utero during a cholera epidemic in Peru in the 1990s were nearly 20 percent more likely to die of COVID-19. ( Ritter and Sanchez ) #DID

· After four years of using iron and iodine fortified salt in school lunches in India, children have lower likelihood of anemia, higher hemoglobin levels, but no differences in cognitive or educational outcomes. ( Grafenstein et al. ) #RCT

· Gold mining in the Philippines created new bodies of stagnant water, which boosted malaria cases by nearly a third (relative to provinces without gold deposits). ( Pagel ) #DID

· Giving households a flyer about mobile health services in rural Bangladesh didn't get them to use it more, but offering to save the access numbers in the participants' phone boosted take-up by 22 percent in the succeeding 2 months and reduced health expenditure, since households were less likely to go to "informal providers who usually overprescribe medicines." ( Sardar ) #RCT

· A drug procurement program in China "brought down the prices of 10 chronic condition drugs by an average of 78" percent. As a result, "drug adherence was improved for the uninsured who had poorer adherence" before the price reduction. ( He and Yang ) #DID

· In Dakar, Senegal, it can be hard to find someone to desludge your septic pit. Providing subsidies to use a government run call center to connect households with desludgers increases use, and that use continues for a while after the subsidies end. Later, a city-wide subsidy increased adoption most in those communities that had received subsidies earlier. ( Deutschmann ) #RCT

Fertility and family planning

· "Learning about government mistreatment of citizens undermines trust in institutions. In Perú, “disclosure of information about illegal sterilization reduced usage of contraceptive methods, prenatal and delivery services, and the demand for medical services, resulting in worsened child health."" ( León-Ciliotta, Zejcirovic, and Fernandez ) #DID

· During the colonial period in the Congo, greater exposure to Catholic nuns increased women’s fertility (as opposed to exposure to Protestant or male Catholic missionaries). Catholic nuns likely promoted the image of an ideal Christian woman which explains the results. ( Guirkinger and Villar ) #DID

Households and marriage

· Households in Bangladesh reduced their monthly residential electricity use by 15.8 percent (≈37 kWh) when they switched from postpaid electricity metering system to prepaid metering. ( Das ) #IV

· A new method to infer causal effects on choices that exploits relationships between choices and hypothetical evaluations “can recover treatment effects even if the treatment is assigned endogenously and standard estimation methods are poorly suited, or if the treatment does not vary.” ( Bernheim, et al. ) #Other

· In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 73 percent of households provided with access to childcare centers use them. Both parents “increase their engagement in commercial activities, leading to gains in agricultural productivity, household income and women’s subjective well-being." Women reported increases in their concentration and sense of control. Using the centers also led to significant gains in early childhood development outcomes, particularly for younger children. ( Donald and Vaillant ) #RCT

· Can commitment-saving ahead of a lean season alter consumption downfalls among the ultra-poor? In Bangladesh, a temporary savings subsidy doubled formal savings, and resulted in increased food and non-food expenditure by 8.6-12.6 percent during the lean season, with no lasting post-lean season impact. ( Takahashi et al. ) #RCT

· An “edutainment” intervention designed to reduce child marriage in rural Pakistan, significantly reduces marriage of girl adolescents. Targeting men alone reduced child marriage in sample households, while targeting women or men & women jointly reduces child marriage at the village level. ( Cassidy et al. ) #RCT

· In Kenya, workshops and couples’ therapy sessions to decrease alcohol consumption lowered prevalence of sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) by 0.21 standard deviations, with smaller or no effects on physical and emotional IPV. ( Castilla, Aqeel, and Murphy ) #RCT

Migration and refugees

· Can temporary foreign work permits “throttle human smugglers’ businesses? “Combining internal and external controls with a regulated market for temporary visas alleviates the policy trade-off between migration control and ending human smuggling.” Data from migration between Senegal & Spain and the Democratic Republic of the Congo & South Africa. ( Auriol, Mesnard, and Perrault ) #Other

· Massive exodus of Venezuelans in Colombia had a larger negative effect on the lower tail of the natives’ wage distribution, increasing inequality in the host economy. Due to formal restrictions, immigrants ended up working in more routine and low-paying jobs. “A large-scale amnesty program reduced the magnitude of downgrading, mitigating the unequalizing impact of the exodus.” ( Lombardo et al. ) #IV

· In Mexico, children in households with return migrants (from the U.S.) “benefit from an increase in school attendance and a decrease in the probability of schooling delay relative to children in non-migrant households.” However, females in return migrant households are likely to complete a lower grade relative to non-migrant households. ( Chakraborty, Bucheli, and Fontenla ) #IV

· An evaluation of a large-scale migration loan program in Bangladesh revealed that capacity constraints at scale lead effort to be directed toward those already planning to migrate without a loan. ( Mitchell et al. ) #RCT

· A Zambian fertilizer subsidy program led to “some households to intensify their agricultural activity, and others to out-migrate.” The subsidy increased the share of households with outmigrants by 40 percentage points and doubled the number of outmigrants net of in-migrants. ( Diop ) #DID

· Clearance of slums in Santiago, Chile, and families’ relocation to public housing in low-income areas led to displaced children having 10 percent lower earnings and 0.5 fewer years of education as adults than non-displaced. ( Rojas-Ampuero and Carrera ) #FE

· In refugee camps and surrounding communities in Uganda and Kenya, refugee children can be up to three times more likely to be poor than adults. Child’s age, household composition, and access to sanitation and clean water, predict child poverty in refugee settlements well, often better than per-capita household expenditure. ( Beltramo et al. ) #ML

· During WWII, nine ethnic groups were entirely deported from the Soviet Union to Central Asia. In the 50s, five returned to their former homeland, while the other four remained marginalized in internal exile. Locals in host regions had significantly higher levels of education two generations later. “A strong positive effect on higher education is found among returnees to origin regions, suggesting that these ethnic groups hedged against further negative shocks.” ( Zimmermann ) #IV

· Pairing employers in Uganda with a refugee and providing an incentive to offer a free internship to that refugee "improves employers’ beliefs about refugees’ skills, but it does not change their willingness to hire new refugees," but certain types of matches (depending on employer and refugee characteristics) do result in more refugee hires. ( Loiacono and Silva-Vargas ) #RCT

· In India, Hindu women are subject to caste “purity” norms, while Adivasi, or Indigenous, women are not. “Having more Adivasi neighbors leads to: (i) higher rates of Hindu women’s paid work and lower perceived stigma of such work; and (ii) lesser adherence to a range of purity norms, including the practice of untouchability towards Adivasis.” ( Agte and Bernhardt ) #FE

· Does free childcare improve mothers’ careers? Yes. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, mothers in sub-districts with above median childcare availability have a persistent increase of 8 percent in earnings, driven by 1 percentage point higher labor force participation and 4 percent longer hours. ( Garcia, Latham-Proença, and Mello ) #FE

· Can cash transfers influence gender roles? In Chad, cash transfers increased women’s business profits (0.6 SD) as well as marital separation. The program also “led to large improvements (0.3-0.7 SD) in a broad set of women’s subjective well-being, including self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, and perceived social status.” ( Kandpal, Schnitzer, and Dayé ) #RD

· In Nigeria, women prefer to defer budget allocation decisions to their husband even when deferral is costly and is not observed by the husband; the reverse is true for husbands. A randomized cash transfer receipt increases women’s demand for agency: if the decision is hidden from the husband, women want to make their own budget decisions, even if it is the same as their husband’s. ( Bakhtiar et al. ) #LIF

· Showing teachers in Pakistan a pro-women’s rights award-winning movie (the 2011 film Bol) increased their own and students’ support for women’s rights, being unbiased in gender Implicit Association Tests, and willingness to petition parliament for greater gender equality. ( Mehmood, Naseer, and Chen ) #RCT

· Profiles for women who signal on an online Indian matchmaking site that they want to work after marriage receive up to 22 percent less interest from men than those of women who have never worked. Women willing to give up work after marriage face a lower penalty. ( Dhar ) #RCT

· In Chile, informing outstanding students in mathematics and science about their relative performance and presenting STEM majors as a feasible option, led to women applying more, but only in health-related majors, and not in STEM majors. ( Ramirez-Espinosa ) #RCT

· In Brazil, union bargaining that prioritized women’s needs increased female-centric amenities (like longer maternity leave with job protection) at work. These led to women queueing for jobs at treated establishments and separating from them less, which are both indicators of firm value. ( Corradini, Lagos, and Sharma ) #DID

· While both gender barriers to occupational choices and wage penalties persist across countries, the “reduction in wage gaps between 1980-2000 was primarily driven by economic channels while the more recent decline between 2000-2015 was driven by changes in gender barriers.” ( Chiplunkar and Kleineberg ) #Other

· “A program targeting ultra-poor women in Uganda” paired “business and entrepreneurship skills development with psychological empowerment.” It increased profits by 105 percent. ( Lang and Seither ) #RCT

· Expansion of the coffee mills in Rwanda led to increased “women’s paid employment, women’s and their husbands’ earnings and decreases domestic violence.” Decline in violence is driven by women’s increased bargaining power and their contribution to household earnings, not exposure reduction between couples. ( Sanin ) #DID

· Sharing a hyperlocal digital job search platform with couples as well as the wives' social networks in Delhi, India, increased husband's labor market outcomes (including working hours and total earnings), but only home-based self-employment among the women, potentially due to social norms. ( Afridi et al. ) #RCT

· New data from more than 90 countries demonstrates three things: (1) the shift out of agriculture that happens as countries grow richer is driven by whole households (not just individuals within households), (2) "in the poorest countries, the gap between female and male market employment is only large for married urban women," and (3) "countries where employment rates of urban married women are low relative to their rural counterparts also see low urbanization rates of married men." ( Doss et al. ) #Other

Working and saving

Banking and credit

· In India "delinquent borrowers who are offered a debt moratorium by their lender are 4 percentage points (6.9 percent) less likely to default on their loan, while forbearance has no effect on repayment if it is granted by the regulator.” ( Fiorin, Hall, and Kanz ) #RCT

· What are the household welfare gains from financial inclusion? Applying a new approach using demand estimates from three RCTs (on retirement savings in the United States, commitment savings in the Philippines, and microfinance in Mexico) , welfare gains per dollar lent or saved are small as compensated demand elasticities are large, but still correspond to large aggregate welfare gains from financial inclusion. ( Loeser ) #Other

· In Ghana, microenterprises receiving joint liability loans reported higher profits six to ten months after borrowing. Effects are driven by borrowers whose applications were not endorsed by political party operatives. ( Boso, Burlando, and Abdul-Rahaman ) #FE

· A self-help group lending program in rural Bihar, India, “significantly improved risk-sharing in regions where the program had greater institutional capacity and was better implemented.” ( Attanasio et al. ) #FE #IV

· In Kenya, “performance-contingent microfinance contracts can encourage investment and increase profits – and, as a result, increase household consumption.” ( Cordaro et al. ) #RCT

· In India, “plants exposed to banking shocks redistribute this liquidity through the supply chain. As a result, firms extending trade credit can increase their own sales as their customers are able to purchase on credit. Downstream firms are able to increase their own sales, employment, and productivity.” ( Chakraborty et al. ) #DID

· In India, “risk pooling creates a distortion in consumption such that food consumption is better protected from aggregate village shocks than nonfood consumption.” ( Fafchamps and Shrinivas ) #Other

Cash transfers

· Can cash transfers influence gender roles? In Chad, cash transfers increased women’s business profits (0.6 SD), and marital separation. The program also “led to large improvements (0.3-0.7 SD) in a broad set of women’s subjective well-being, including self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, and perceived social status.” ( Kandpal, Schnitzer, and Dayé ) #RD *

Firms and microenterprises

· In India, “larger cultural proximity [by way of caste and religion] between a pair of firms reduces prices and fosters trade at both the intensive and extensive margins.” ( Fujiy, Khanna, and Toma ) #FE

· After close elections in India, entrepreneurs from the same social group as the winning candidate are more likely to start businesses. ( Bhalla et al. ) #FE

· Politically connected firms in India were more likely to get access to short-term credit from banks and to be able to delay short-term payments to suppliers and creditors during the surprise demonetization of 2016. ( Chen et al. ) #Other

· Variation of COVID lockdowns over time and across parts of India reveal that inputs delivered by suppliers within the same industry are complements (rather than substitutes), which means that "shocks propagate through supply chains," increasing the shock to overall GDP. ( Fujiy, Ghose, and Khanna ) #FE

· "Starting in 1997, India dismantled its policy of product reservation whereby hundreds of products had been reserved for exclusive production by small firms." The effect? "entry in the downstream product market increases with no observable decline in quality of entrants." ( Rastogi ) #Other

· Inviting Zambian farmers to participate in a simple budgeting exercise (i.e., think through their budget and formulate a spending plan) increased how much they expected to spend for the coming year by 20-60 percent and lowered their willingness to pay for a nonessential item of clothing by 34 percent. By the end of the year, farmers decreased their expenditures by 15 percent and ended up with one additional month of savings. ( Augenblick et al. ) #RCT

· A new way to measure productivity of retailers in low- or middle-income countries captures their three-fold need to attract customers, manage a storefront, and maintain inventory across many products. In Malawi, "the three dimensions of productivity are correlated with one another" but not perfectly, so that a training that focuses on just one may fail to boost overall productivity. ( Huntington ) #Other

· In Mexico, a rise in gas prices led to an increase in mom-and-pop shops but "their average size and quality fell." ( Ramos-Menchelli and Sverdlin-Lisker ) #IV

· Waiving competitive bidding for small-value purchases in Brazil led to 23 percent more expensive purchased products. At least half of this overpricing is explained by discretion allowing agencies to purchase higher-quality products. ( Fazio ) #FE

Labor (including child labor)

· A late 1990s labor market reform in China led to tens of millions of layoffs in a short period. That led to a drop in employment for workers who did not finish high school—by 20 percent in the industrial sector—and a 5 percent increase in the high school completion rate. ( Zhao ) #DID

· “A 2014 Bolivian law that recognized the work of children as young as 10 years old, whose age placed them below the minimum working age of 14 years old, enabling them to legally work (subject to a work permit) while simultaneously extending benefits and protections to child workers” (such as adult minimum wages) actually decreased work for children under 14. ( Lakdawala, Martínez Heredia, and Vera-Cossio ) #Other

· A federal policy that set minimum fares for drivers of motorcycle taxis on a ridesharing app in Indonesia led to higher trip prices but not driver earnings, both because more drivers signed on for any given day AND drivers logged onto the app for more hours, meaning that each driver got fewer rides. ( Nakamura and Siregar ) #DID #SC

· Providing mentorship to vocational students in Uganda to help with their training-to-work transition increased their likelihood of working a few months later by more than a quarter and also boosted their incomes after a year. Why? It's mostly through info about how the entry-level job market works (not through referrals): As a result, mentored youth "turn down fewer job offers." ( Alfonsi, Namubiru, and Spaziani ) #RCT

· College students in Mumbai, India, were less likely to share information about jobs if they knew they'd have to compete for them, and the men in particular tended not to share the information with the peers they viewed as having high abilities. ( Chiplunkar, Kelley, and Lane ) #RCT

· Why do "workers in richer countries experience faster rates of wage growth over their lifetimes than workers in poorer countries"? Cross-country data suggest that workers in rich countries received more training from the firms they work for, and that this is a major component of workers' skills. "Firm-provided training accounts for 38% of cross-country wage growth differences." ( Ma, Nakab, Vidart ) #Other

· Many interventions help workers with job searches. Doing that without increasing the number of jobs could limit the effectiveness of those interventions. On the other hand, "making it easier for firms to find qualified workers could reduce the cost of hiring" and generate more jobs. With an intervention to subsidize job searches for people in Ethiopia, the lack of jobs ends up limiting the effectiveness. ( Van Vuren ) #RCT

· A survey in Accra, Ghana, showed that lots of job vacancies were not widely circulated, and---as a result---many employers are unable to find qualified workers during six months. But publishing detailed advertisements on a state-operated online portal increases both the likelihood of finding workers and of those workers being suitable for the jobs. ( Lambon-Quayefio et al. ) #RCT

· The timing of when auctions for public procurement contracts end in Brazil is random, which permits comparison of winners and runners-up. "Winning a government contract increases wages." ( Carvalho, Galindo da Fonseca, and Santarrosa ) #IV

· In rural Kenya, a “future orientation” workshop that teaches participants techniques to imagine a positive future, lay out concrete short-term steps to achieve their vision, and plan for obstacles, lifted aspirations and expectations. It led to increased labour supply and spending on productive inputs. The “intervention is at least twice as cost-effective as an (unconditional) cash transfer.” ( Orkin et al. ) #RCT

· Does free childcare improve mothers’ careers? Yes. In Sao Paulo, mothers in sub-districts with above median childcare availability have a persistent increase of 8 percent in earnings, driven by 1 percentage point higher labor force participation and 4 percent longer hours. ( Garcia, Latham-Proença, and Mello ) #FE *

Poverty Measurement

· Poverty is often measured using annual income. But using monthly data from India shows that “experiences of poverty are substantially more common than annual measures suggest; entry into and exit from poverty are much less clear than typically assumed;” and the use of monthly poverty measures “is a stronger predictor of development outcomes – child weight and height – than conventional” annual measures. ( Merfeld and Morduch ) #Other

· Are poverty lines real? This study articulates social and theoretical underpinnings for such a distinction between the poor and the nonpoor. ( Dutta et al. )

· Many social programs identify their beneficiaries collaboratively with multiple community members together. Comparing the judgments that the same individuals make about who to target when they’re deciding collaboratively versus individually in Indonesia suggests that gains from collaborative targeting are negligible. “These results suggest that policymakers should think carefully before asking community members to invest valuable time in participating in [community-based targeting] exercises.” ( Trachtman ) #Other

Governments, institutions, and conflict

Conflict and crime

· A national-level electoral reform in Mexico that increased politicians’ cost of accepting bribes decreased the number of suspicious financial reports by around 4 percent ( ∼ 650 fewer reports), while the number of attacks by violent groups increased by approximately 2 percent ( ∼ 44 more attacks), in places with the presence of criminal organizations. ( Rámon Enríquez ) #DID

· How does ethnic violence and subsequent segregation shape children’s lives? In India, Muslims perform better in cities that were more susceptible to (Hindu) communal violence in terms of early education outcomes. ( Kalra ) #PSM

· In India, judges are more likely to convict offenders in cases of sexual crimes (excluding rape) if they are exposed to more media coverage about sexual crimes that are unrelated to the case on trial. A central mechanism behind this result is heightened judicial scrutiny in response to greater media coverage. ( Vasishth ) #DID

· In Colombia, close family connections in the public administration are pervasive and they weaken performance. “Connected bureaucrats receive higher salaries and are more likely to be hierarchically promoted but are negatively selected in terms of public sector experience, education, and records of misconduct.” A 2015 anti-nepotism legislation had limited effectiveness. ( Riaño ) #RCT

· In China, after a high-profile corruption inspection, labor “strikes experienced a twofold increase within six months and a threefold increase in two years.” ( Chen ) #Other

· Reducing corruption in China "induces positive selection for integrity and public-mindedness into the state sector, which remains present even when conditioning on ability and family background." ( Hong ) #DID

· Do autocrats favor their supporters during economic shocks? The Maduro regime was more likely to exempt regime-supporting regions affected by the Venezuelan blackout from later power rationing. In Sub-Saharan Africa, “droughts magnify differences in development, protests and state-coercion outcomes in favor of leaders’ home regions.” ( Morales-Arilla ) #FE

· In Brazil, a 1 percentage point increase in the share of Pentecostals increased Evangelical and far-right candidates’ vote share by 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively. These effects are larger in municipalities with less educated, poorer, and more rural populations. ( Solá Cámpora ) #DID

· During a social media ban at the climax of the Uganda 2021 election campaign, those maintaining access through the use of virtual private networks (VPNs)—who are more likely to be opposition partisans—came to view the dominant National Resistance Mmovement party relatively positively. This is driven by an increase in pro-NRM social media content during the ban. ( Bowles, Marshall, and Raffler ) #DID

Taxes and subsidies

· Simulations suggest that removing subsidies for electric vehicles in China would raise the effective marginal costs of vehicle production, reducing total welfare by 7.4 billion yuan (RMB) per quarter, amounting to 13.9 percent of the total subsidy expenditure. ( Kwon ) #IV

· In South Africa, "firms with paid tax practitioners exhibit sharper bunching, driven primarily by a lower lumpiness parameter rather than by a different income elasticity." ( Anagol et al. ) #Other

· In Liberia, creating a new property database and including identifying information from it (the name of the owner and a property photograph) in tax bills more than quadruples the tax payment rate, from 2 percent to almost 10 percent, when the notice also includes details on the penalties for noncompliance. Compliance goes up even more when the tax bill warns delinquent property owners that they’re in the “next batch” of properties designated for “intensive follow-up.” ( Okunogbe ) #RCT

· An increase in the subsidy for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in India leads to a surprising decrease in LNG purchases by poor households. Why? The subsidy goes up when the market price rises—i.e., the government keeps the price to consumers stable—but consumers only receive the subsidy as a refund a few days after they purchase the LNG, and “poor households may find it difficult to pay the higher unsubsidized price upfront.” ( Afridi, Barnwal, and Sarkar ) #FE

Regulation and government

· In Argentina, “serving in the military leads to stronger national identity and openness to fellow countrymen several decades after serving.” ( Ronconi and Ramos-Toro ) #FE

· In Pakistan, policymakers who received a special training in econometrics are twice as likely to actually choose policies for which there is evidence from randomized controlled trials. They triple the funding for those same policies. ( Mehmood, Naseer, and Chen ) #RCT

· In Brazil, state judges with higher grades on admission examinations perform better than their lower-ranked peers. ( Dahis, Schiavon, and Scot ) #FE

· In India, improving the maintenance of fee-funded community toilets improved delivery and reduced free riding, but excludes a share of residents from using the service. ( Armand et al. ) #RCT

· In, Kenya’s nationwide electrification program, imposing audits improved network size, voltage, household connectivity, and electricity usage at African Development Bank (AfDB) sites. (World Bank sites already had lots of inspections, so random audits didn’t affect those.) The World Bank’s procedures delayed construction at the average site by 9.6 months relative to AfDB sites but improved construction quality by 0.6 standard deviations. ( Wolfram et al. ) #RCT

· In Bihar, India, instituting a complaint filing system for politicians who run into bureaucratic obstacles in the implementation of their projects led to a 26 percent rise in the implementation of public projects in constituencies run by low-caste local politicians. ( Kumar and Sharan ) #RCT

· Informing government agents about illegal (gold) mining in Colombia, reduced illegal mining by 11 percent in the disclosed locations and surrounding areas. ( Saavedra ) #ML

· In India, switching the approving authority of economic development projects that require forest diversion from central to state government “leads to a modestly adverse impact on forest conservation while approving lower quality development work.” ( Chiplunkar and Das ) #DID

· When two districts in India share groundwater resources, extraction is more likely to be unsustainable and districts are more likely to have defunct wells. ( Bhogale and Khedgikar ) #DID

Agriculture, infrastructure, and the environment

Agriculture and land

· In Mozambique, contract farming has spillover effects: “both contracted farmers and non-contracted farmers from villages with contracted farmers earn approximately 11 percent more in price per kilogram of maize” than farmers in areas without contract farming. ( Ingram ) #FE

· The vanilla price boom in Madagascar led to increased asset accumulation and higher informal savings, improved performance on cognitive tests, well-being, and optimism. There were positive effects for smallholder vanilla farmers, but without spillover benefits on non-producing households. ( Boone, Kaila, and Sahn ) #FE

· In Rwanda, using text messages to remind agricultural extension workers of their self-set goals increased their performance by 0.08 SD. ( Abel et al. ) #RCT

· How do rural marketplaces shape local development? In Kenya, “while rural population quadrupled, two thirds of weekly markets operating in 1970 no longer do so today.” Population concentrated around markets that were active in 1970, and markets further from large cities saw the most population concentration. ( von Carnap ) #FE

· If you rely on farmer reports on what seeds they’re using in Ethiopia, you’ll see apparently small, negative returns to using new seed varieties. But that’s because farmers are including “older and genetically diluted varieties, for which” they “may be paying a premium.” If you just look at seed varieties with “higher-purity germplasm, drought-tolerant maize, and newly released varieties,” you do see positive returns. ( Michuda et al. ) #Other

· How much is one farmer in Uganda willing to pay for their neighbor to use a pest-control technology? A “novel incentive-compatible elicitation mechanism” finds that “a farmer’s willingness-to-pay for one other farmer [to use the technology] is equal to two days’ wage on average, about half the willingness-to-pay for self.” ( Lerva ) #RCT

· Maybe farmers don’t train their workers in modern planting technologies because they know they won’t get all the benefits of that training: the workers may go and use it somewhere else. In Burundi, providing a contract that guaranteed farmers the benefit from training their workers increased farmers’ willingness to train their workers by about 90 percentage points! ( Cefala et al. ) #RCT

· In Odisha, India, villages with more variation in castes have lower adoption of flood-resistant seeds. Adoption is more likely to spread within castes and less likely to spread to castes with lower status. ( de Janvry, Rao, and Sadoulet ) #RCT

· In India, bureaucrats who are assigned to their home states decrease protests or riots in opposition to land acquisition projects by 9-12 percent. ( Tóth ) #DID #RD

· Lake Chad shrunk by 90 percent between the 1960s and the late 1980s: the reduced water supply had negative effects for neighboring communities in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger—25 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population—on fishing, in addition to farming and herding which outweighed any positive land supply effects. ( Jedwab et al. ) #DID

Climate and pollution

· Households from heavily damaged communities in Indonesia after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami saw a 75 percent decline in real wealth immediately after the tsunami. The large adverse effects persisted 10 years after the tsunami. ( Lombardo et al.) #FE

· In India and Pakistan, the incidence of fires from crop burning drops by 10 percent when air pollution is likely to be borne by the bureaucrats’ own constituents. “Reduction in fires is present or larger when bureaucrats can better monitor (due to road proximity) or manage fires (due to changes in experience during a turnover), and when they have incentives to act (e.g., when pollution is most visible).” ( Dipoppa and Gulzar ) #DID

Infrastructure

· In Kenya and Ethiopia, the “impact of bundled road and electricity investments on reducing the sectoral employment share in agriculture is … 2.5 times larger than the impact of roads alone.” ( Dappe and Lebrand ) #FE #IV

· Aerial bundled cables (an infrastructure improvement) in Karachi, Pakistan, reduced utility losses and increased revenue recovery, with the greatest gains in the worst-performing areas pre-intervention. Gains come via two channels: the formalization of customers previously informally (illegally) connected and the improvement in payment behaviors among existing, formal consumers. ( Ahmad et al. ) #DID

· A large-scale roll-out of electric transmission infrastructure in Nigeria from 2009 to 2015 increased individuals’ likelihood of migrating by 6 percent and reduced household size by 0.8 individuals, mainly driven by young adults and older teenagers. ( Budjan ) #DID #IV

· How does transportation infrastructure investment affect spatial inequality of opportunity in Benin, Cameroon, and Mali? “On average only 6 of the top 10 aggregate opportunity-increasing roads also decrease inequality of opportunity.” ( Milsom ) #IV

Macroeconomics

Growth and inequality

· Gaining subnational capital status leads to an influx of public investments, an increased population, skilled migration and foreign investments, with positive spillovers to nearby cities. ( Bluhm, Lessmann, and Schaudt ) #FE #DID

· In China, state-level special economic zones (SEZs)—"geographically delimited areas targeted by governments to implement” policies like tax incentives, government innovation grants, and policies that favor human capital mobility—"have a positive and significant impact on patent output,” but SEZs established at geographic areas smaller than the state don’t have significant impacts. ( Wu, Lu, and Zhao ) #DID

· Initial foreign direct investment into China “was mainly driven by the Chinese diaspora,” particularly to prefectures in China that members of the diaspora came from. Later, foreign investment that didn’t come from the diaspora was more likely to enter those same prefectures. ( Chen, Xiong, and Zhang ) #DID

· “Countries are more likely to enter ‘nearby’ industries, i.e., industries that require fewer new occupations.” Also, “countries are more likely to diversify into products that require fewer new inputs,” which means that countries can get stuck on particular paths in their quest toward industrial development, “with certain routes leading to stagnation and others on a pathway to prosperity.” ( Diodato, Hausmann, and Schetter ) #Other

· “The construction process of many residential buildings in African cities proceeds very slowly and may take over a decade.” Data from Nairobi plus a new theoretical model suggest that “improvements in credit provision can (a) substantially speed up the expansion of the aggregate housing stock which facilitates rural-urban migration, and (b) increase the city’s density by enabling the construction of taller buildings.” ( Gomtsyan ) #Other

· Giving information about market prices and official border costs to traders in Kenya increases switches across markets and routes, leading to a large improvement in traders’ profits and significant formalization of trade. ( Wiseman ) #RCT

· Can temporary trade disruptions lead to a persistent change in domestic trade? Yes. In India, COVID-19 induced lockdowns led to a collapse in trade across states, driven by plants reorienting “trade towards their home states to ... insure against any future disruptions.” ( Chakrabati, Mahajan, and Tomar ) #DID

· The 2001 US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement reduced US import tariffs from Vietnam, leading to rapid Vietnamese export growth with “entry responses, driven by foreign and Vietnamese private firms. Entrants—rather than incumbents—drive the tariff-induced employment growth, particularly foreign entrants.” ( McCaig, Pavcnik, and Wong ) #FE

The order of authors on this blog was determined by a virtual coin flip. This blog post benefited from research assistance from Amina Mendez Acosta .

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Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

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Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Economics » Development Economics » 99 Development Economics Research Topics | Dissertation Ideas

99 Development Economics Research Topics | Dissertation Ideas

By Adam Oct 8, 2023 in Development Economics , Economics | No Comments

Economic activity varies widely from region to region and is a crucial focus in development economics. Research topics in development economics cover a range of aspects related to income generation in developing nations, making it an essential area of study in academia. Whether you’re an undergraduate, master’s student or doctoral candidate, selecting a dissertation topic […]

Development Economics Dissertation Topics

This Development Economics explores the complexities of economic progress, poverty reduction, and sustainable development and is often referred to as “Economic Growth,” “Global Development,” or “Economic Transformation.” This post provides a comprehensive overview of Development Economics, including many dissertation topics to inspire your research journey. So, let’s delve into this dynamic field and discover the numerous opportunities for academic exploration.

Download Development Economics Dissertation Sample

A list of development economics research topics:

The following is a list of research topics in development economics to help the learner choose a relevant topic and write his paper.

The role of foreign aid in fostering economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The effect of infrastructure development on regional economic disparities.

The impact of trade preferences on export diversification in developing countries.

National policies to promote specific regions and impact national development- China’s perspectives.

The effect of natural disasters on economic development in vulnerable regions.

The impact of agricultural policies on food security in developing nations.

The influence of natural resource abundance on economic diversification in resource-rich countries.

Investigating the relationship between healthcare expenditure and health outcomes.

Post-COVID healthcare system resilience and its effects on economic development.

The impact of trade preferences on agricultural exports from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Understanding the mechanics of budgeting and decision-making in poor households in emerging economies.

Investigating the influence of foreign aid on income inequality in Latin America.

Analyzing the impact of globalization on income distribution in emerging economies.

Evaluating the role of access to credit in entrepreneurship development.

A review of the economic consequences of natural resource mismanagement.

A review of the economic consequences of refugee crises.

The debate for development economics within higher education.

A review of the relationship between environmental sustainability and economic growth.

Investigating the role of infrastructure development in promoting economic growth.

Examining the impact of population ageing on economic development.

The role of foreign aid allocation strategies in achieving development goals.

Evaluating the impact of trade facilitation measures on export growth.

Investigating the relationship between financial development and economic stability.

The influence of trade liberalization on income inequality in emerging markets.

The influence of trade agreements on agricultural trade in the UK.

The determinants of high-performing institutions in a development economics context.

A review of the economic consequences of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction.

Examining the relationship between corruption and economic development.

The influence of political stability on foreign direct investment inflows.

Investigating the impact of transnational commodity trading through the development economic perspective.

A review of the economic implications of health epidemics.

Development economics- progress through field interventions or theoretical bases? An investigation.

The influence of institutional quality on foreign direct investment attraction.

The effect of climate change adaptation measures on economic resilience.

The impact of health system quality on healthcare access and outcomes.

Analyzing the effects of currency devaluation on export competitiveness.

Evaluating the effectiveness of public-private partnerships in infrastructure development.

Comparative economic patterns of villages across Europe- an investigation.

Post-COVID food security challenges and policy responses.

Post-COVID digitalization and its effects on financial inclusion.

Analyzing the role of foreign direct investment in technology transfer.

The impact of corporate governance on stakeholders’ firm valuation: A comparative review between developed and developing countries.

Measurement of poverty levels in the world- biased, random or concentrated efforts?

The effect of gender-based discrimination on economic development.

A review of the relationship between education and labour market outcomes.

The effect of land tenure systems on agricultural productivity.

The effect of education quality on human capital development in low-income countries.

Evaluating the effectiveness of poverty reduction programs in the UK.

The role of development aid in economic growth of developing economies- a review.

The impact of natural disasters on development economics in emerging economies.

Development economics- antecedents and current perspectives.

Post-COVID education system resilience and its impact on human capital.

Family planning, labour force and income fluctuations- investigating the relationship.

Examining the influence of trade openness on economic growth in East Asia.

The role of financial inclusion in poverty reduction: A case study in South America.

A review of the relationship between foreign aid and governance in Africa.

A comparative analysis of rural and urban development strategies in India.

The impact of globalization on income inequality in China.

Evaluating the effectiveness of microenterprise development programs.

Waste management through a socioeconomic perspective- review of the literature.

The impact of economic policies on financial integration in Europe- literature review.

The role of financial inclusion in economic development in the Middle East.

A review of the effectiveness of conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America.

Evaluating the influence of agricultural subsidies on food security.

Post-COVID healthcare infrastructure and its effects on healthcare access.

The influence of trade openness on industrialization in South Asia.

The impact of land reform policies on agricultural productivity.

The role of infrastructure investment in stimulating economic growth.

The role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in economic development.

Analyzing the role of women’s empowerment in economic development.

Labour migration and development economics- investigating the relationship.

The impact of regional integration on trade and economic development.

The impact of globalization on income distribution in the UK.

Analyzing the effects of trade protectionism on global supply chains.

Examining the effects of export-oriented industrialization on job creation.

The role of renewable energy adoption in sustainable economic growth.

Post-COVID digital financial services and their impact on financial inclusion.

Evaluating the effectiveness of microfinance programs in poverty alleviation: A case study in the UK.

Post-COVID economic recovery strategies: A comparative analysis of developed and developing economies.

The effect of international migration on economic development in origin countries.

Analyzing the role of entrepreneurship in fostering economic development.

A review of the economic consequences of climate change in vulnerable regions.

Analyzing the effects of financial sector development on economic growth.

The connection between national economic growth and the financial sector- an analytical approach.

Analyzing the role of labour market policies in reducing informality.

Examining the influence of social safety nets on economic resilience during crises.

A review of the role of remittances in improving livelihoods in migrant-sending countries.

Analyzing the impact of foreign direct investment on economic development in Southeast Asia.

How do American multinationals integrate with domestic institutions for the economic development of the host nation?

The effect of urbanization on income distribution in developing countries.

The impact of infrastructure investment on access to healthcare and education.

Evaluating the role of foreign direct investment in Africa’s industrialization.

Post-COVID labour market dynamics: Implications for employment policies.

Analyzing the role of education quality in reducing income inequality.

The impact of population growth on development economics – review of India.

The impact of trade agreements on agricultural exports from developing countries.

Post-COVID supply chain disruptions and their economic implications.

A review of the economic implications of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

A review of the relationship between population growth and economic development.

There you go. Use the list of development economics dissertation topics well and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions for our topics-related blog posts for the future or want to get help with dissertation writing; send us an email at [email protected] .

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Articles on Economic development

Displaying 1 - 20 of 132 articles.

topics for research in development economics

Industrialisation is still vital to economic development but some countries are struggling to reap its benefits

Jostein Hauge , University of Cambridge

Poor men south of Richmond? Why much of the rural South is in economic crisis

Peter A. Coclanis , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Louis M. Kyriakoudes , Middle Tennessee State University

India could soon be the world’s third biggest economy – NZ needs to build the trade relationship urgently

Rahul Sen , Auckland University of Technology

How Indigenous economic development corporations can support a just, low-carbon energy transition

Christina E. Hoicka , University of Victoria and Matthew Foss

Tribes in Maine left out of Native American resurgence by 40-year -old federal law denying their self-determination

Joseph Kalt , Harvard Kennedy School ; Amy Besaw Medford , Harvard Kennedy School , and Jonathan B. Taylor , Harvard Kennedy School

Community-based economic development is the key to a strong pandemic recovery

Audrey Jamal , University of Guelph

Expanded access to solar power in Africa can stimulate economic development – but there are risks

Ben Radley , University of Bath

Street traders in South Africa play a vital role: how their rights can be protected

Nonhlanhla Ngcobo , North-West University ; Anél du Plessis , North-West University , and Oliver Fuo , North-West University

What drives Chinese migrants to Ghana: it’s not just an economic decision

Jinpu Wang , Syracuse University

Small oil producers like Ghana, Guyana and Suriname could gain as buyers shun Russian crude

Jennapher Lunde Seefeldt , Augustana University

Got $1.2T to invest in roads and other infrastructure? Here’s how to figure out how to spend it wisely

Anna Nagurney , UMass Amherst

South African local government elections: why a great deal hangs on the outcome

Dirk Kotze , University of South Africa

Municipalities can play a key role in South Africa’s economic development. Here’s how

Johann Kirsten , Stellenbosch University and Helanya Fourie , Stellenbosch University

COVID: poorest countries should have stopped short of full workplace closures – economist

Mehdi Shiva , University of Oxford

If China’s middle class continues to thrive and grow, what will it mean for the rest of the world?

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal , Rochester Institute of Technology

Pandemic recovery will take more than soaring growth – to fuel a more equitable economy, countries need to measure the well-being of people, too

Bas van Bavel , Utrecht University and Auke Rijpma , Utrecht University

Many African countries had a surprise manufacturing surge in 2010s – it bodes well for the years ahead

Gaaitzen de Vries , United Nations University ; Emmanuel B Mensah , University of Groningen ; Hagen Kruse , University of Groningen , and Kunal Sen , United Nations University

Why the EU’s global fishing activities can’t be called sustainable yet

Andrew Frederick Johnson , Heriot-Watt University and Ingrid Kelling , Heriot-Watt University

The Indigenous people of Urat village in Lake Toba have been left out of rural tourism development

Ringkar Situmorang , Universitas Multimedia Nusantara ; Arnold Japutra , The University of Western Australia , and Teddy Trilaksono , Universitas Prasetiya Mulya

In changing urban neighborhoods, new food offerings can set the table for gentrification

Joshua Sbicca , Colorado State University ; Alison Alkon , University of the Pacific , and Yuki Kato , Georgetown University

Top contributors

Professor of Rural-Urban Policy, The Ohio State University

Assistant Professor in Development Studies, University of Cambridge

Associate Vice President (External Engagement); Chair Professor of Business Analytics;, University of Surrey

Senior Lecturer in International Business, Birkbeck, University of London

Professor and Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies, UMass Amherst

Research Fellow, The Australasian Centre for Resilience Implementation for Sustainable Communities, Charles Darwin University

Academic Director, School for International Training, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Environment and Society, University of Essex

Research Fellow New South Institute, Emeritus Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University

Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Arizona

Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Lecturer and Researcher, School of Social Sciences, Monash University

Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy, SKEMA Business School

Emertius Professor, University of Tasmania

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Development economics, lecture 1: introduction to development economics.

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Home » 500+ Economics Research Topics

500+ Economics Research Topics

Economics is a vast and fascinating field that explores how individuals, businesses, and governments make decisions about the allocation of resources. As such, it provides a wealth of research opportunities for those interested in understanding and analyzing the complexities of modern society. From macroeconomic issues such as globalization and monetary policy, to microeconomic topics such as consumer behavior and market competition, there are numerous research topics that economists can investigate. In this post, we will explore some of the most interesting and relevant economics research topics that are shaping our world today.

Economics Research Topics

Economics Research Topics are as follows:

The impact of technological change on income inequality.
An analysis of the relationship between exchange rates and foreign direct investment.
The effects of tax incentives on small business growth and development.
The determinants of economic growth in developing countries.
The impact of globalization on economic growth and development.
An analysis of the effects of the minimum wage on employment and poverty.
The role of central banks in managing inflation and economic stability.
An investigation into the factors influencing consumer behavior and spending.
An analysis of the impact of trade liberalization on economic growth.
The effects of income inequality on social welfare and economic stability.
The role of international trade in economic development.
An investigation into the relationship between education and economic growth.
An analysis of the effects of corruption on economic growth and development.
The impact of the gig economy on employment and wages.
An investigation into the causes and consequences of financial crises.
The role of innovation in economic growth and development.
An analysis of the impact of government spending on economic growth.
The effects of globalization on the environment.
The impact of climate change on economic growth and development.
An investigation into the determinants of poverty and inequality.
The role of entrepreneurship in economic growth and development.
An analysis of the effects of monetary policy on economic growth and stability.
The impact of immigration on labor markets and economic growth.
An investigation into the factors influencing international trade flows.
An analysis of the effects of foreign aid on economic development.
The role of financial intermediaries in economic development.
An investigation into the causes and consequences of income inequality.
The impact of trade agreements on economic growth and development.
An analysis of the effects of government regulation on business and economic growth.
The role of technology transfer in economic development.
An investigation into the effects of economic sanctions on trade and economic growth.
The impact of population growth on economic development.
An analysis of the effects of infrastructure investment on economic growth.
The role of natural resources in economic development.
An investigation into the effects of labor market policies on economic growth and employment.
The impact of financial innovation on economic growth and stability.
An analysis of the effects of income tax policy on economic growth and income distribution.
The role of social capital in economic development.
An investigation into the impact of economic policies on international trade.
The effects of financial liberalization on economic growth and stability.
The impact of urbanization on economic development.
An analysis of the effects of international migration on labor markets and economic growth.
The role of institutions in economic development.
An investigation into the effects of exchange rate volatility on international trade.
The impact of demographic change on economic growth and development.
An analysis of the effects of government debt on economic growth and stability.
The role of foreign investment in economic development.
An investigation into the effects of labor market flexibility on economic growth and employment.
The impact of intellectual property rights on innovation and economic growth.
An analysis of the effects of economic inequality on social mobility and economic growth.
The impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
The role of financial markets in economic growth.
The effectiveness of monetary policy in stabilizing the economy.
The relationship between income inequality and economic growth.
The impact of government regulations on business activity.
The role of technology in shaping the future of the economy.
The effect of globalization on the labor market.
The impact of trade policy on economic growth.
The relationship between education and economic growth.
The effectiveness of fiscal policy in stimulating economic growth.
The impact of immigration on the labor market.
The effect of tax policy on economic growth.
The role of entrepreneurship in economic development.
The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth.
The effect of international capital flows on the economy.
The relationship between innovation and economic growth.
The impact of demographic changes on the economy.
The role of infrastructure investment in economic growth.
The effect of monetary policy on income inequality.
The impact of government debt on economic growth.
The relationship between corruption and economic growth.
The effect of globalization on income inequality.
The impact of education on income inequality.
The role of social welfare programs in reducing poverty.
The effect of minimum wage laws on the labor market.
The impact of health care policy on economic growth.
The relationship between energy prices and economic growth.
The effect of government subsidies on business activity.
The impact of exchange rate fluctuations on trade.
The role of financial innovation in economic development.
The effect of social media on consumer behavior.
The impact of consumer confidence on economic growth.
The relationship between economic growth and political stability.
The effect of demographic changes on income inequality.
The impact of government spending on economic growth.
The role of labor unions in the labor market.
The effect of natural disasters on the economy.
The relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability.
The effect of corporate social responsibility on business activity.
The impact of intellectual property rights on innovation.
The effect of cultural differences on business activity.
The impact of financial crises on the economy.
The relationship between economic growth and health outcomes.
The effect of government corruption on economic growth.
The impact of demographic changes on the labor market.
The effect of foreign aid on economic growth.
The impact of technological change on the labor market.
The effect of monetary policy on income distribution.
The impact of trade agreements on economic growth
The effect of corruption on economic development
The relationship between financial development and economic growth
The impact of foreign aid on economic growth in developing countries
The role of innovation in promoting economic growth
The impact of globalization on income inequality
The relationship between inflation and economic growth
The role of natural resources in economic development
The impact of government expenditure on economic growth
The relationship between income distribution and economic growth
The impact of monetary policy on economic growth
The role of education in promoting economic growth
The impact of entrepreneurship on economic development
The relationship between taxation and economic growth
The impact of infrastructure on economic growth
The role of international trade in economic development
The impact of fiscal policy on economic growth
The relationship between financial liberalization and economic growth
The impact of economic integration on economic growth
The role of institutions in promoting economic development
The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth
The relationship between inequality and economic growth
The impact of social welfare programs on economic growth
The role of technology in promoting economic growth
The impact of political instability on economic growth
The relationship between corruption and economic growth
The impact of labor market policies on economic growth
The role of human capital in promoting economic development
The impact of health care on economic growth
The relationship between exchange rates and economic growth
The impact of foreign trade on income distribution
The role of entrepreneurship in economic development
The impact of environmental policies on economic growth
The relationship between foreign aid and poverty reduction
The impact of financial sector reforms on economic growth
The role of social capital in promoting economic development
The impact of regional integration on economic growth
The relationship between public investment and economic growth
The impact of monetary policy on income distribution
The role of international migration in economic development
The impact of labor market flexibility on economic growth
The relationship between trade and technology transfer
The impact of institutional quality on economic growth
The role of financial sector development in promoting economic growth
The impact of regional inequality on economic growth
The relationship between education and poverty reduction
The impact of foreign debt on economic growth
The role of social protection in promoting economic development
The impact of energy policies on economic growth
The relationship between foreign trade and environmental sustainability
The impact of international trade on income inequality.
The relationship between public debt and economic growth.
The effect of tax policy on international capital flows.
The impact of government subsidies on technological innovation.
The role of financial development in reducing poverty.
The effect of regulation on market structure.
The impact of globalization on financial stability.
The relationship between financial development and income inequality.
The effect of fiscal policy on long-term economic growth.
The impact of financial frictions on business cycles.
The role of international capital flows in financial crises.
The effect of natural resource abundance on economic growth.
The impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth.
The relationship between institutions and economic growth.
The effect of financial innovation on market efficiency.
The impact of international migration on the labor market.
The role of corporate governance in firm performance.
The effect of monetary policy on the housing market.
The impact of environmental policy on the energy sector.
The effect of competition policy on market outcomes.
The impact of technology adoption on productivity.
The effect of regulation on consumer welfare.
The impact of trade policy on export performance.
The relationship between social capital and economic growth.
The effect of labor market institutions on the gender wage gap.
The impact of financial liberalization on economic growth.
The role of human capital in technological innovation.
The effect of trade openness on innovation.
The impact of natural disasters on economic growth.
The relationship between inequality and economic growth.
The effect of exchange rate volatility on international trade.
The impact of banking regulation on financial stability.
The role of venture capital in financing innovation.
The effect of regional trade agreements on economic growth.
The impact of financial development on economic growth in emerging markets.
The relationship between government spending and economic growth.
The effect of monetary policy on credit markets.
The impact of innovation on firm performance.
The role of social networks in job search and labor market outcomes.
The effect of international capital flows on income inequality.
The impact of natural resource dependence on political instability.
The relationship between financial development and income mobility.
The effect of tax competition on fiscal policy.
The impact of labor market institutions on unemployment.
The role of infrastructure investment in economic development.
The effect of monetary policy on financial market volatility.
The impact of fiscal policy on income redistribution.
The role of digital currencies in the future of finance.
The effects of the gig economy on labor markets.
The impact of artificial intelligence on economic growth.
The relationship between climate change and economic growth.
The role of blockchain technology in supply chain management.
The effects of automation on the labor market.
The impact of E-commerce on traditional retail industries.
The relationship between social media and consumer behavior.
The role of data analytics in business decision-making.
The effects of globalization on income inequality.
The impact of digital platforms on the sharing economy.
The relationship between education and economic growth in the digital age.
The role of fintech in financial inclusion.
The effects of trade policies on global supply chains.
The impact of corporate social responsibility on business performance.
The relationship between immigration and economic growth.
The role of venture capital in stimulating innovation and economic growth.
The effects of the circular economy on sustainable development.
The impact of cybersecurity threats on the global economy.
The relationship between gender inequality and economic growth.
The role of green finance in promoting sustainable development.
The effects of automation on income inequality.
The impact of the sharing economy on traditional business models.
The relationship between human capital and economic growth.
The role of technology transfer in international trade.
The effects of regulatory frameworks on innovation.
The impact of government policies on the growth of start-up companies.
The role of venture philanthropy in social entrepreneurship.
The effects of digital disruption on the financial services industry.
The impact of the circular economy on job creation.
The relationship between health outcomes and economic growth.
The role of impact investing in social and environmental sustainability.
The effects of trade agreements on the global economy.
The impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth.
The relationship between innovation and income inequality.
The role of corporate governance in sustainable business practices.
The effects of immigration policies on labor market outcomes.
The impact of international capital flows on economic development.
The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance.
The role of innovation clusters in regional economic development.
The effects of digitalization on productivity.
The impact of the sharing economy on urban development.
The relationship between social entrepreneurship and economic growth.
The role of government policies in promoting sustainable development.
The effects of demographic changes on the economy.
The impact of digitalization on economic development in developing countries.
The relationship between consumer behavior and sustainability.
The role of private equity in stimulating economic growth.
The impact of government spending on economic growth
The effects of minimum wage laws on employment and poverty rates
The role of government subsidies in promoting renewable energy adoption
The impact of trade liberalization on economic growth and income inequality
The effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and unemployment
The determinants of foreign direct investment flows in emerging markets
The role of financial markets in economic development
The impact of globalization on the labor market
The effects of tax policies on economic growth and income distribution
The role of human capital in economic growth and development
The economics of climate change and the environment
The effects of population aging on economic growth and social welfare
The impact of social safety net programs on poverty reduction
The effects of corruption on economic development and political stability
The impact of technological innovation on labor market outcomes
The economics of healthcare policy and healthcare markets
The determinants of entrepreneurship and small business success
The effects of income inequality on economic growth and social welfare
The economics of urbanization and regional development
The role of foreign aid in promoting economic development
The impact of fiscal policy on economic growth and government debt
The effects of financial regulation on economic stability and growth
The economics of education policy and school choice
The determinants of consumer behavior and market outcomes
The role of multinational corporations in the global economy
The effects of immigration on labor markets and economic growth
The impact of monetary policy on financial markets and stability
The economics of natural resource management and conservation
The determinants of industrial competitiveness and productivity
The effects of trade policies on economic growth and regional integration
The role of institutional quality in economic development
The impact of technological change on income inequality
The economics of innovation and intellectual property rights
The effects of financial globalization on emerging markets
The role of infrastructure investment in promoting economic development
The impact of exchange rate policies on international trade and investment
The determinants of consumer credit and debt behavior
The effects of social media and online platforms on market competition
The role of international organizations in global economic governance
The impact of natural disasters on economic development and poverty
The economics of gender inequality and discrimination
The effects of government regulation on business behavior and market outcomes
The role of behavioral economics in understanding market behavior
The impact of public investment on economic growth and social welfare
The determinants of household saving and investment behavior
The economics of renewable energy and clean technology adoption
The effects of economic sanctions on international trade and investment
The role of information and communication technologies in economic development
The impact of globalization on income distribution and poverty
The economics of international migration and remittances.
The effects of income inequality on economic development
An analysis of the efficiency of market structures in different industries
The role of technology in economic growth and development
The impact of international trade on economic development
An investigation into the determinants of inflation
The effects of labor market regulations on employment and productivity
An analysis of the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability
The role of institutions in economic development
The impact of foreign aid on economic development
The effects of taxation on economic growth
An investigation into the factors that contribute to economic fluctuations
The effects of globalization on income distribution
The impact of education on economic growth and development
The role of infrastructure in economic development
The effects of trade liberalization on economic growth
An analysis of the impact of exchange rates on trade and investment
The relationship between innovation and economic growth
The impact of government policies on the agricultural sector
The effects of corruption on economic development
An investigation into the effects of demographic changes on economic growth
The impact of financial crisis on economic growth
The effects of foreign direct investment on economic growth
An analysis of the effects of natural resources on economic development
The impact of healthcare on economic growth
The effects of international migration on the economy
The relationship between poverty and economic development
The role of infrastructure in promoting economic growth
An investigation into the effects of regional economic integration
The impact of foreign trade on economic development
The effects of government regulation on economic growth
An analysis of the role of technology in improving economic efficiency
The impact of population growth on economic development
The effects of government spending on income inequality
The role of the financial system in economic growth
The impact of energy policies on economic development
An investigation into the effects of intellectual property rights on economic growth
The effects of trade on labor markets
The role of social capital in economic development
The effects of regional inequality on economic development
An analysis of the impact of financial market development on economic growth
The impact of international trade on technological progress
The effects of financial regulation on economic growth
The role of institutions in promoting entrepreneurship
The impact of healthcare policies on economic growth
An investigation into the effects of income redistribution on economic growth.

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Welcome to our latest blog post on economics research topics! Whether you are an academic seeking inspiration or a student looking for a starting point for your next assignment, you've come to the right place.

With so many areas to explore in economics, it can be difficult to know where to begin. But don't worry, we've got your back. In this post, our online paper writers have shared some of the most interesting and hot economics research paper topics. So, grab a cup of coffee and let's dive in!

What Are Economics Research Topics?

Economics is a social science that studies how people, businesses, and governments make decisions about how to use resources. It deals with issues like production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

As a student, you might be given to write a research paper on research topics in economics. These types of social science topics can cover a wide range of subjects, including:

Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
International economics
Behavioral economics, and more.

Whether you are interested in exploring current trends, global markets or history, or taxes, we collected a bunch of economics topics for a research paper to choose from. Stay with our service to spot the best idea for your upcoming project.

Characteristics of Good Economics Research Paper Topics

When it comes to selecting a research topic related to economics, it is important to decide on a subject that is not only interesting but also appropriate for your academic level. Consider these fundamental characteristics of good economics paper topics to make a wise choice:

Select a title that is both relevant and is intended to solve a current issue.
Choose a unique topic that has not been explored too much by other researchers.
Make sure you can easily access the data or sources needed to create your paper.
Consider if the topic has the potential to be of practical or social importance.
Pick an area that genuinely interests you and will keep you motivated throughout your project.

How to Choose an Economics Research Paper Topic?

Choosing between this selection of economics project ideas can be really difficult especially if you are first to this. However, with a little bit of guidance, you will see that there is nothing challenging about picking a proper topic for a research paper in economics. Take a look at these step-by-step instructions to make the right decision:

Brainstorm potential economics research topics that sound interesting to you in the first place. After all, you don’t want to work with boring aspects.
Narrow your list down and consider whether there are enough resources to back up your research.
Carry out preliminary investigation to see what you can write about. Use academic journals, newspapers, and other reputable sources to gather information.
Check if the topic complies with your instructor’s guidelines.
Based on your research and requirements alter a title to create a focused research question.

Remember to choose a topic that you are passionate about and that aligns with your academic and professional goals.

Economics Research Topics List

Economics is a vast field that encompasses a wide range of topics and issues. If you're looking for inspiration for your next research paper, consider exploring one of these top research paper topics in economics:

What is the impact of trade policies on international trade patterns?
How does income inequality affect economic growth?
What role does entrepreneurship play in economic development?
How do government regulations affect market efficiency?
What are the economic implications of climate change and environmental policy?
How do automation and artificial intelligence affect the labor market?
What are the effects of healthcare policies on the economy and society?
How does education influence economic outcomes?
What are some economic aspects of taxation and fiscal policy?
How does globalization impact domestic economies and societies?

Interesting Research Topics in Economics

Are you searching for interesting topics in economics? Look no further than these cptivting economic paper topics ideas.

How do government policies impact income mobility?
What role do financial institutions play in economic growth?
Economics of housing and homelessness.
How do immigration policies shape the labor market?
Impact of gender inequality on economic growth.
Sustainable development and renewable energy.
What are some effects of globalization on income distribution?
How do minimum wage policies impact employment and poverty?
Economics of crime and punishment.
How does corruption relate to economic growth?
Effects of social welfare policies on income inequality.
Healthcare markets and insurance systems.
How does technology influence income distribution and employment?
Education financing and student loan debt.
How do economic sanctions affect international trade and diplomacy?

Good Topics for Economic Research Papers

Economics research topics are diverse and can be approached from various angles. Below are some great economic topics to write about:

What are some effects of social media on consumer behavior and advertising?
What is the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability?
Sharing economy and its impact on traditional industries.
How does climate change affect the tourism industry economically?
Economics of healthcare systems and policies in developing countries.
How does population aging influence labor markets and retirement policies?
How does artificial intelligence impact business and employment?
What factors are involved in energy transition and the shift to renewable energy?
Income inequality and political polarization.
How do digital streaming services and the music industry intersect economically?
How does cultural diversity contribute to growth and innovation?
Effects of trade agreements on income distribution.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
How does globalization impact labor standards and working conditions?
Natural disasters and economic growth.

Best Economics Research Topics

Want to take your project to the next level? Don’t skip these hot economic research questions. They suit any academic level and can be supported by credible evidence.

Big data and its role in economic forecasting.
How does public debt impact economic growth?
The economics of international migration.
What is the impact of technological innovation on income inequality?
The role of infrastructure investment in fostering economic growth.
The economics of the gig economy and freelance work.
How does foreign aid affect economic development?
The economics of natural resource management and sustainability.
What is the impact of urbanization on economic growth and development?
The economics of the entertainment industry and streaming services.
How do exchange rate fluctuations influence trade and investment?
The economics of food production and distribution systems.
How do government regulations affect small businesses economically?
The study of behavioral finance and decision-making in economics.
What is the impact of monetary policy on financial markets and inflation?

Unique Economics Research Topics

Economics is a constantly evolving field that offers endless possibilities for research and analysis. That’s why choosing unique economic research ideas shouldn’t be a big deal. Below we added a list of authentic topics you most likely won’t be able to find anywhere else.

How does mobile banking contribute to financial inclusion in emerging economies?
How do natural disasters affect supply chains?
What are some effects of gender bias in venture capital funding decisions?
How does population density influence the demand for public transportation in urban areas?
Virtual currencies and their potential as an alternative to traditional currencies.
How do government subsidies influence the adoption of renewable energy?
How do industrial policies shape innovation and contribute to economic growth?
Alternative meat and its potential impact on the food industry.
What is the relationship between public transit availability and property values in urban areas?
How does corruption impact economic growth and development?
Renewable energy storage systems and their impact on grid stability.
What are some effects of automation on job displacement and income inequality?
Blockchain technology in the banking industry and financial transactions.
International trade in cultural goods and services.
How does income inequality relate to health outcomes from an economic standpoint?

Economics Research Paper Topics for Students

As a student, picking decent economic topics for research papers can be a challenging task. It's important to focus on relevant and interesting aspects. Below you will find some economic research paper topics specifically geared toward students of all levels.

Economics Research Topics for College Students

College students majoring in economics have a range of choices when it comes to research topics. Below are some inspiring economic paper topics you can use as inspiration for your project in college:

Effects of gig economy on labor markets.
Economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Impact of sharing economy on traditional industries.
Housing affordability and homelessness.
How does trade liberalization affect domestic industries and consumers?
How does public policy influence small business growth?
Food waste and its impact on sustainability.
Income inequality and access to education.
Impact of automation on the future of work.
Online advertising and consumer behavior.
How does fiscal policy influence income distribution and poverty reduction?
How does tax reform impact business investment?
Economics of international tourism and its impact on local economies.
Effects of financial regulation on consumer behavior and investor confidence.
Demographic shifts and labor force participation.

Economics Research Topics for Undergraduates

Are you an undergraduate student looking for topics related to economics? Here are some amazing ideas you can pick from:

Financial implications of space exploration and commercial space travel.
Role of urban farming in city development for sustainability.
Impact of genetic engineering and biotechnology on the agricultural sector.
Financial consequences of digital privacy.
Implications of mass surveillance on consumer spending patterns.
How do remittances influence growth in developing countries?
Fiscal consequences of cybercrime and cybersecurity breaches.
Role of microfinance in alleviating poverty.
Potential financial implications of quantum computing.
Water scarcity and its worldwide financial implications.
Monetary consequences of epidemics, pandemics, and public health crises.
Transformation of markets by virtual and augmented reality.
Effect of corporate governance on shareholder value.
Financial aspects of aging societies and pension reform.
Role of intellectual property rights in promoting innovation and growth.

Economics Research Topics for Grad Students

Graduate students in economics are expected to delve deeper into economic theories, models, and concepts. They are also required to contribute new insights to the field. We suggest that you choose these economics topics for research to earn a high grade:

How does drug legalization influence national economies?
Impact of universal basic income on poverty levels and unemployment rates.
Financial implications of political instability and conflict.
Impact of cultural heritage sites on local and national finances.
Financial repercussions of biodiversity loss and species extinction.
Role of venture capital in fostering startups and growth.
Disaster risk management and its relevance to financial resilience.
Potential fiscal impacts of deep-sea mining.
Financial consequences of single-use plastics and transition to a circular economy.
Business aspects of the digital gaming industry and eSports.
Impact of the maker movement and DIY culture on traditional manufacturing.
How can nanotechnology shape future market economies?
Impact of drone technology on supply chain operations.
Financial aspects of mental health in the workplace.
Role of public-private partnerships in fostering growth and infrastructure development.

Research Topics in Economics by Subject

Economics paper topics ideas will also depend on your area of expertise. This block will offer topics by subject, so that you can choose a theme that fits your special needs. Whether you are interested in exploring the economics of renewable energy or the effects of globalization on income distribution,you will surely spot an idea or two right below.

World Economics Research Paper Topics

The global economy is a complex and interconnected system, and there are many world economics research paper topics that can shed light on global aspects. Between them are these ideas:

Evolving landscape of international trade in the post-COVID era.
Role of Special Economic Zones in boosting global competitiveness.
Impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence on global financial markets.
How do social impact bonds contribute to global development goals?
Cybersecurity risks in global financial institutions: Are we prepared?
Influence of social entrepreneurship on worldwide poverty reduction.
Green bonds and their role in global sustainable finance.
Economic prospects of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Role of global remittance flows in socioeconomic development.
Impact of climate change on global supply chains: What can we do?
Global consequences of a cashless society: Are we ready?
How does geopolitics affect global energy markets?
Repercussions of cryptocurrency adoption on global financial stability.
Economies of scale in global manufacturing: A new era?
Role of international development assistance in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

>> More ideas: Politics Research Topics

Microeconomics Research Paper Topics

Microeconomics studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of resources. If you need microeconomics topics for research paper, we collected great ideas below:

How do consumer ethics shape purchasing decisions?
What influences price elasticity of demand in luxury goods markets?
How does the gig economy affect individual financial stability?
What are the key economic factors determining college major choices?
How do credit scores influence personal finance management?
What impacts have peer-to-peer lending platforms had on traditional banking?
What drives consumer decisions between online and brick-and-mortar shopping?
How do economic considerations play into personal retirement planning?
What market dynamics and pricing strategies dominate the smartphone industry?
How does behavioral economics impact personal savings habits?
How significantly does brand loyalty influence consumer spending?
What strategies help businesses survive during economic downturns?
How does corporate social responsibility influence consumer choice?
What role does digital marketing play in shaping consumer behavior?
What are some economic impacts of identity theft on individuals and businesses?

Macroeconomics Research Paper Topics

Unlike microeconomics, macroeconomics explores the behavior and performance of entire economies. Below are some awesome macroeconomics research paper topics:

Exploring connections between inflation and unemployment.
Impact of quantitative easing on long-term economic growth.
How does fiscal deficit affect a country's economic stability?
The role of central banks in managing economic downturns.
Effects of government debt on interest rates and investment.
What factors contribute to business cycles and economic fluctuations?
Examination of macroeconomic factors influencing foreign direct investment.
How do monetary policies impact inflation and unemployment rates?
Role of technology advancements in macroeconomic productivity.
Impact of demographic changes on long-term economic growth.
Can green investment stimulate economic recovery?
What role do exchange rates play in a country's trade balance?
Comparative analysis of economic growth models.
Macroeconomic challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
How does income inequality affect economic growth at a macro level?

Economics Research Paper Topics on International Trade

International trade is a vital part of the global economy and has a significant impact on development, and international relations. Here are unique topics for an economic research paper focusing on international trade:

Impact of Brexit on international trade relations.
How do currency fluctuations affect international trade?
Economic consequences of trade wars: A case study of U.S.-China relations.
Role of World Trade Organization in shaping international trade norms.
How does international trade contribute to economic growth?
Evaluation of free trade agreements and their economic implications.
Role of emerging markets in shaping the future of international trade.
How do trade barriers influence domestic industries?
Fair trade vs. free trade: An economic analysis.
Global supply chain disruptions: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effects of international trade on income distribution within countries.
Economic impact of sanctions on international trade.
How do intellectual property rights issues affect international trade?
Role of e-commerce in transforming international trade.
What are the economic consequences of offshore outsourcing on international trade?

Financial Economics Research Topics

Financial economics is a subfield of economics that focuses on financial markets, institutions, and instruments. Here are outstanding financial economic topics for a paper:

Role of FinTech in shaping the future of banking.
Analysis of risk management strategies in investment banking.
How do hedge funds contribute to financial market stability?
Impact of regulatory changes on financial market competitiveness.
How does financial literacy influence individual investment decisions?
Examination of financial derivatives and their role in financial risk management.
Role of central banks in maintaining financial stability.
Analysis of market efficiency in cryptocurrency markets.
How do financial crises affect economies in the long term?
Financial inclusion and the role of mobile banking.
Impact of corporate governance on financial performance.
Examination of the link between financial markets and economic growth.
High-frequency trading: Impact on financial market stability.
Effect of algorithmic trading on financial market efficiency.
How do interest rate changes impact financial markets.

Development Economics Research Topics

Development economics studies the economic and social development of low-income countries. With this branch in mind, we prepared a list of development economic research paper topics ideas:

Role of microfinance in economic empowerment in developing countries.
How do infrastructure projects affect economic development?
How do cultural factors shape economic progress in developing countries?
Impact of corruption on resource allocation in developing nations.
Impact of foreign aid on economic growth in recipient countries.
Evaluation of agricultural policies on rural development.
How do commodity price fluctuations affect developing economies?
Implications of population growth on resource management in emerging economies.
How does political stability influence economic growth in developing countries?
Impact of public health initiatives on economic development.
Analysis of sustainable development strategies in emerging economies.
How do migration patterns affect economic development?
How does technological adoption improve productivity in developing economies?
Role of social entrepreneurship in sustainable economic development.
How does tourism influence the economic development of low-income countries?

Behavioral Economics Research Paper Topics

Behavioral economics combines insights from psychology and economics to understand how people make financial decisions. Below you can find behavioral economics research topics:

Impact of cognitive biases on economic decision making.
Role of emotions in consumer purchasing behavior.
How does social influence shape spending habits?
What are the economic implications of procrastination?
Nudging for good: Can behavioral economics promote healthier lifestyles?
How does framing influence consumers' perception of price and value?
Role of incentives in shaping individual and collective behavior.
Examination of loss aversion in investment decisions.
Analysis of irrational behaviors in financial markets.
Behavioral economics in policy design: What works and why?
How does choice overload affect consumer decision making?
The effect of anchoring bias in pricing strategies.
Role of behavioral economics in promoting sustainable consumption.
How does scarcity mindset affect economic decisions?
Behavioral economics and personal finance: How to avoid common pitfalls?

>> Read more: Psychology Topics to Research

Environmental Economics Research Topics

Environmental economics investigates the interaction between economic systems and the natural environment. This subfield also offers multiple perspectives for exploration. Here are some examples of project topics on economics with emphasis on environment:

Examining the economic impacts of biodiversity loss.
Impact of environmental policies on manufacturing industries.
Role of renewable energy investments in economic growth.
Does a carbon tax impact economic competitiveness?
Economic analysis of water resource management.
How do natural disasters affect economic performance?
The economic value of ecosystem services.
Cost-effectiveness of different strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Role of environmental economics in climate change mitigation.
How does waste management contribute to sustainable economic growth?
The effects of air pollution on economic productivity.
What is the economic impact of deforestation?
Evaluation of economic tools for managing plastic waste.
Economics of transitioning to a circular economy.
How does sustainable agriculture contribute to economic development?

>> View more: Environmental Research Topics

Health Economics Research Topics

Health economics examines how health care practices affect the health outcomes of individuals and whole populations. Take a glance at these health economics research paper topics:

Economic impact of pandemics on healthcare systems.
Role of telemedicine in healthcare cost reduction.
How do health insurance policies influence medical spending?
Economic analysis of mental health issues and treatment access.
The cost-effectiveness of preventative healthcare measures.
Evaluating the economic burden of chronic diseases.
Economic implications of antibiotic resistance.
How does socioeconomic status influence health outcomes?
Impact of aging populations on healthcare costs.
Evaluation of the economic benefits of vaccination programs.
The effect of medical technology advancements on healthcare costs.
Role of behavioral economics in health promotion and disease prevention.
How does health literacy influence healthcare utilization and costs?
Economic analysis of substance abuse treatment.
Evaluating the economic impacts of health policy reforms.

>> Read more: Public Health Topics for Research

Extra Research Topics for Economics

Sometimes, finding the right idea can be a challenging task. However, there are numerous resources available to help you find unique angles. Also, don't be afraid to ask your professors or research paper writer team for suggestions on the selection process. But if you don’t have enough time, we gathered some supplementary economics research topics.

Economics Essay Topics

An economics essay can cover a broad range of topics, from macroeconomic issues such as international trade and monetary policy to microeconomic aspects such as consumer behavior and market structure.

Can an increase in minimum wage curb poverty?
What are the potential economic effects of Brexit?
Impact of income inequality on societal cohesion.
How does the rise of remote work influence economic structures?
Examination of the economic benefits of public libraries.
Role of the informal economy in urban development.
Economic implications of increasing life expectancy.
How does piracy impact the music and film industry economically?
Impact of subsidies on agricultural economies.
Exploration of the economic factors influencing the housing market.
Analysis of the economic costs of obesity.
Role of child labor in global supply chains.
Examination of the economic implications of internet censorship.
Impact of single-use plastics on local and global economies.
Economic effects of urban green spaces.

Economics Topics for a Short Project

If you need to complete a short assignment, you may want to consider project topics in economics that can be analyzed within a limited timeframe. Don’t worry. We’ve added some simple ideas as well:

Examining the economic impacts of online privacy breaches.
Role of advertising in shaping consumer behavior.
Analysis of the economic effects of natural disasters.
Economic implications of self-driving cars.
Role of cooperatives in the economy.
Impact of e-waste on developing economies.
The role of micro-credit in alleviating poverty.
Examining the economic impacts of space exploration.
How do online reviews influence consumer purchasing decisions?
Economics of disaster recovery: Case studies.
Examination of the economic implications of cybercrime.
Impact of nutritional labeling on consumer behavior and market outcomes.
Economic analysis of the craft beer industry.
Examining the economic effects of animal agriculture.
How do tax incentives influence corporate behavior and economic outcomes?

Economics Research Questions

Formulating a research question is a crucial step in conducting an economics research project. A good research question should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the topic under study. Here are some economics research questions to consider:

How does widespread adoption of digital currencies impact traditional banking?
To what extent do economic factors contribute to obesity rates?
What are the consequences of large-scale solar power adoption?
How do parental leave policies shape labor markets?
What impacts do large-scale data breaches have on corporations?
Does green urban planning significantly contribute to city development?
How much does mental health contribute to workplace productivity?
What effects do fair trade agreements have on farmers in low-income countries?
How valuable are clean oceans for global trade?
How does political stability of a country influence foreign investments?
What are the consequences of patent wars in the tech industry?
How does the rise of freelancing shape labor laws?
What economic implications does the rise of eSports have?
How does nutrition education impact economic health?
What are some benefits and drawbacks of commercial space tourism?

Economics Research Topics for Exams

If you're preparing for an exam, it's important to have a good understanding of the concepts and theories that you'll be tested on. To help you prepare, we offer these economics research topics for exams to study:

Implications of autonomous vehicles on transportation.
Role of trade unions in contemporary job markets.
Analysis of gender disparities in retirement savings.
Influence of corporate social responsibility on brand reputation.
How do plant-based diets influence the global meat industry.
Evaluating efficiency of ride-sharing platforms.
Role of drones in shaping future commercial landscapes.
How public health initiatives influence workplace productivity.
Exploring the potential economic impact of asteroid mining.
How does fashion industry affect global economy and environmental sustainability?
Impact of video-on-demand services on traditional film industries.
Role of social entrepreneurship in poverty alleviation.
Role of energy-efficient appliances in electricity markets.
Influence of shifting demographics on global trends.
How does celebrity endorsement influence consumer buying behavior?

Economics Research Paper Topics for Experts

For those who are already experts in the field of economics, finding 100% original economics research topics can be an uphill struggle. But not with ideas attached below:

How does quantum computing pose an economic challenge to cybersecurity firms?
How do gene editing technologies affect agricultural markets?
In what ways does space commercialization affect global economies?
How does increased lifespan influence retirement and pension systems?
Financial viability of carbon capture and storage.
Influence of ethical consumerism on global supply chains.
How have nanotechnologies impacted manufacturing sectors?
Impact of rising sea levels on coastal economies.
Role of predictive analytics in preventing financial fraud.
Examining the economic consequences of major oil spills.
How does deep face technology pose an economic challenge to film industries?
Economic impacts of large-scale reforestation.
Implications of extensive antibiotic resistance.
Impacts of geopolitical tensions on global oil prices.
Universal basic income as a solution for automation-induced job loss.

Bottom Line on Economics Papers Topics

Hopefully, by now you have found a perfect economics research paper topic. Make sure you can find enough evidence to back up your points. But if you have any difficulties with the research or writing process, consider to buy coursework or any other project from academic experts.

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The Study Blog : Research topics

50+ Economics research Topics and Topic Ideas for dissertation

The ultimate goal of economic science is to improve the living conditions of people in everyday lives. Economists study how to utilize the available scarce resources to maximize value and thus profits. The concerns of economics today are largely focused on issues such as opportunity cost, consumption and production, borrowing, saving, investments, occupations and employment, trades markets, pricing and human behavior concerning making economic decisions.

Are tight deadlines, clashing assignments, and unclear tasks giving you sleepless nights?

Do not panic, hire a professional essay writer today.

Given that economics covers a lot of issues in society today coupled with the multitude of research studies within the existing literature, many economics students find it difficult to find the most suitable economic research topic for their undergraduate project, master’s thesis, and dissertations. Technological advancement has also increased the pace of transformation and globalization creating new areas in economics that are worth research. Our economics experts have curated a list of research paper topics in economics that you can use to get the perfect research paper topic.

Micro-Economics Research Topics

Microeconomics deals with the economic behavior of individual isolated units of the economy like an individual, a household, a company, and industry. Micro-economists study factors that influence economic choices, markets and their key elements such as demand and supply and analyze markets and determine the prices for goods and services that best allocate the available limited resources. Some of the best research topics in microeconomics that you can use for your thesis or dissertation include:

1. The effect of income changes on consumer choices

2. The effect of labor force participation on the economy and budget – A comparison

3. The impact of marital status on the labor force composition: A case of [your country] economy

4. The difference in the consumption attitude in [your country] over the last decade – Critical analysis of consumer behavior trends

5. The relationship between salary levels and ‘economic convergence’ in [your country]?

6. Analyzing salary inequalities in [your country] and the forces behind such inequalities.

7. The evolution of consumption in [your country] over the last 10 years: Trends and consumer behavior.

8. Dynamics of the Gini index as a reflection of the problem of inequality in income

9. Cashless economy: The impact of demonetization on small and medium businesses

10 Privatization of Public Enterprises and its implications on economic policy and development

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Macroeconomics Research Topics

1. The relationship between economic growth and unemployment in [your country]

2. Global recession and factors that contribute to it.

3. Impact of government expenditure on economic growth in [country]

4. The impact of company income tax revenue on the developing economies- A comparative analysis of Kenya, India, and Nigeria

5. The relationship between common stock prices and inflation in [your country]

6. The relationship between inflation and government spending in [your country] economy.

7. The effect of currency devaluation on small and medium firms- A case study of selected multinationals in [your country]

8. The relationship between internet connectivity and productivity in the workplace

9. The evolution of the stock market in [your country]: Causes and consequences

10 Unemployment and regional mobility of labor in [your country]

11 A comparison of the United States unemployment to the rest of the world

Research Topics on International Trade

1. The relationship between economic growth and international trade

2. To what extent does a currency union affect trade: A case of the United States

3. What are the gains and losses of international trade for developing countries?

4. Foreign direct investment in the United States: Determinants and impact

5. The effects of the banana crisis on the Jamaican and British economies

6. The impact of Brexit on small and middle businesses in the UK

7. The relationship between foreign direct investment and wages- A comparative analysis of USA and China

8. The roles of exchange rate and exchange rate regime in the US export

9. The importance of international trade in developing countries

10 To what extent are the gains of less developed countries from tradeliberalization exaggerated?

Environmental economics research paper topics

Economic activities such as production have a significant impact on the environment such as pollution and depletion of natural resources. Environmental economics studies these impacts and other environmental issues. Below are some of the best research paper topics in environmental economics.

1. An economic examination of waste disposal programs in the United States

2. Man-made environmental disasters: who bears the economic liability?

3. The economics of land- a comparative analysis of land sharing and land sparing in the United States

4. The impact of waste disposal programs to America’s Environmental Policy: An economic evaluation

5. Water management and conservation policies in the United States and the UK- a comparative analysis

6. The economic implications of climate policy changes because of different climate change assessment mechanisms

7. Investigating the cost of organizational environmental analysis in the United States

8. What are the determinants of climate policy formulation in the United States? An economic scrutiny

9. The economic perspectives of distribution of natural resources across boundaries

10 The impact of technological innovation for clean and green products on the environment

11 The impact of work-life balance on social eco-systems: perspectives from the United States

12 The relationship between financial subsidies and generation of eco-friendly products

Research Paper Topics on Behavioral Economics

Behavioral economics examines the psychology behind economic activities and economic decision making. It examines the limitation of the assumption that individuals are perfectly normal. Good behavioral economics topics cover subjects such as bounded rationality, irrational exuberance, and choice architecture.

1. Inducing choice paralysis: how retailers bury customers in an avalanche of options

2. The behavioral economics of discounting- A case study of amazon

3. Pricing and the decoy effect; how corporations ‘nudge’ consumers to spend more

4. Big data and implications for behavioral economics

5. A study of how the United States market benefitted from behavioral economics theory

6. How has behavioral economics influenced the real-world context? A case of online purchase behavior

7. Weight management through behavioral economics: use of incentives

8. What motivates consumers? A behavioral economics perspective

9. Using behavioral economics to help in reducing substance abuse

10 Addressing lifestyle management for diabetes through behavioral analysis- insights from the US healthcare sector

You may also like: The little secret why your friends are earning better grades

Development Economics research paper topics

1. The impact of multinational commodity trading through the development economic perspective

2. The impact of globalization on income distribution in emerging economies

3. Investigating the relationship between migration and development economics

4. Budgeting and decision making by low-income earners in emerging economics

5. Investigating the relationship between family planning, labor force, and income fluctuations

6. The impact of natural disasters on development in emerging economies

7. The impact of population growth on development economics- review of India

8. The determinants of high performing institutions in emerging economies

9. Comparative economic patterns of villages across Virginia

10 Aid and economic growth of developing economies- a review

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130 Excellent Economics Research Topics To Consider

Table of Contents

Are you an economics student searching for good topics for your research paper? If yes, then keep on reading this blog. To make the topic selection process easier for you, here we have suggested a list of the best economics research topics on various areas associated with the subject. In addition to that, we have also presented a brief overview of economics research paper topic selection and writing.

Quickly explore the entire list and choose any ideal topic for composing your economics thesis or dissertation.

Economics Research Paper Topic Selection and Writing

Have your professor asked you to submit an economics research paper? If yes, then topic selection is the first step you should do. In case, your supervisors had not suggested any research ideas, make sure to choose a unique economics research topic that you are interested in. The topic you choose should be understandable for you and your readers, and it should also have a wide research scope with the necessary information for crafting a comprehensive research paper or essay.

After you have selected a research topic for your economics assignment, sketch an outline with the research ideas that you have gathered. Then, with the help of the essay outline you have prepared, draft the research paper in a well-structured manner by including the essential elements such as the introduction, body, and conclusion.

The introduction paragraph of your research paper should have a catchy opening sentence, brief background information on the topic, and a strong thesis statement addressing the purpose of your research paper. After the introduction, in the body paragraphs, you should include innovative topic sentences and explain your arguments with supporting evidence in a way to persuade your reader. Then, you should finally close your research paper with an engaging conclusion that contains a brief summary of the main points.

List of the Best Economics Research Paper Topics

You may think that it is easy to choose a research topic for your economics research paper. But actually, it is not. As economics is a complex and broad subject, choosing a perfect research topic from it is a daunting task.

If you are asked to write an economics research paper or essay, then you can prefer to choose a topic from economics research areas such as macroeconomics, microeconomics, behavioral economics, agricultural economics, development economics, financial economics, and so on.

Here, we have sorted different categories of economics topics and have recommended a list of excellent economics research topic ideas for you to consider. Go through the entire list and pick a topic that is ideal for writing academic papers as per your instructor’s requirements.

Agricultural Economics Research Topics

Farmer’s contribution to agricultural social capital.
Agricultural economics and agribusiness.
An analysis of economic efficiency in agriculture.
Agricultural and resource economics.
Agricultural economics and environmental considerations of biofuels.
Analysis of food security and poverty status among households in Ehime Mbano
Role of bank loans and credit facility in financing Nigerian agriculture sector: a case study of Nigeria agricultural cooperative and rural development bank
Evaluation of the impact of micro-finance banks on the South African agriculture sector
How poultry farming is becoming a veritable tool for the economic empowerment of South Africa?
Critical analysis of the problems and prospects of agriculture financing in rural India

Behavioral Economics Research Paper Topics

What does the economy of trust mean?
How does the brain change when a person is striking a great deal?
The impact of economic stability on the social life of a person
The buying capacity and gender
How does race relate to economic power?
Big data and its implications for behavioral economics
The impact of behavioral finance on investment decisions.
Cognitive and behavioral theories in economics.
Behavior implications of wealth and inequality.
Using behavioral economics to help in reducing substance abuse

Development Economics Research Topics

The relation between development and incentive for migration.
The economic consequences of population growth in developing countries.
The determinants of high-performing institutions in emerging economies
The impact of globalization on income distribution in emerging economies
The problems of tax and taxation in connection with economic growth.
The economic impact of terrorism on developing markets.
Investigate the relationship between family planning, labor force, and income fluctuations.
The impact of natural disasters on the economy and political stability of emerging markets.
Budgeting and decision-making by low-income earners in emerging economics
The impact of multinational commodity trading through the development of economic perspective.
Compare and contrast the impact of demand-pull inflation and cost-push inflation on a country’s economy
Discuss the impact of multinational commodity trading through the perspective of development economics
Discuss the concepts of mercantilism, linear stages of growth model, economic nationalism, and structural-change theory
Investigate the relationship between unemployment and fluctuations in national income
Compare and contrast the economic patterns of villages across Papua New Guinea

Environmental Economics Research Paper Topics

Explain the energy markets’ economic potential.
How does global warming affect economic growth?
How technological advancement leads to economic growth
Evolution of economic institutions concerning climate change
Cost-benefit analysis of the regulation of the environment
The economic perspectives of the distribution of natural resources across boundaries
The relationship between financial subsidies and the generation of eco-friendly products
Detailed analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System
Why it’s important to analyze the economics of clean drinking water
How wildlife protection affects the economy

Read more: Outstanding Environmental Science Topics for You to Consider

Financial Economics Research Topics

Risk-taking by mutual funds as a response to incentives.
Financial economics for infrastructure and fiscal policy.
Managerial economics and financial accounting as a basis for business
The analysis of the global financial crisis of 2020
Stock market overreaction.

Health Economics Research Ideas

How do chronic diseases affect the workforce and the economy?
How can public hospitals optimize their revenue collection?
The economics of the pharmaceutical industry
How an unhealthy country translates into a poor country
Is the world’s hunger affected by economics?
How does perfect competition work in the pharmaceutical world?
How does an infectious disease outbreak affect the economy?
Is health insurance important?
How is the economy affected by a smoking ban?

Research Paper Topics on International Trade

What are the gains and losses of international trade for developing countries?
The importance of international trade in developing countries
The relationship between economic growth and international trade
The impact of Brexit on small and middle businesses in the UK
To what extent does a currency union affect trade?
The roles of exchange rate and exchange rate regime in the US export.
To what extent are the gains of less developed countries from trade liberalization exaggerated?
Foreign direct investment in the United States: Determinants and impact
The relationship between foreign direct investment and wages
The effects of the banana crisis on the Jamaican and British economies

Macroeconomics Research Topics

Global recession and factors that contribute to it.
The relationship between Internet connectivity and productivity in the workplace.
The relationship between economic growth and unemployment in your country.
Income Dynamics and demographic economics.
What should our government do to minimize the risks of future default?
The connection between politics and economics.
The world problems through macroeconomic analysis .
US Market Liquidity and Macroeconomics.
The structure, history, and activities of the World Bank.
Economics of education in developing markets.
Public policies and socio-economic disparities.
Banks and their role in the economy.
Problems and possible solutions for Japan macroeconomics.
State regulation of the economy in foreign countries: main models of regulation.
The effect of currency devaluation on small and medium firms
A comparison of the United States unemployment to the rest of the world
The relationship between common stock prices and inflation in your country.
Macroeconomics and self-correction of the economy.
Analysis of Africa’s macroeconomics and its performance.
The implications of Internet banking on bank profitability.

Read more: Best Macroeconomics Research Topics and Ideas for Students

Microeconomics Research Topics

Explain how competition influences the price.
Opportunity costs explained from a microeconomics perspective
Inflation sources and consequences explained
The impact of demonetization on small and medium businesses
The connection between the minimum wage and market equilibrium.
Perfect competition in microeconomics
Theories in microeconomics
The effect of labor force participation on the economy and budget
Economic inequality as a result of globalization.
Explain the balance between supply and demand in microeconomics
Dynamics of the Gini index as a reflection of the problem of inequality in income
Privatization of Public Enterprises and its implications on economic policy and development
How does the stock market work?
The impact of game theory on economic development.
The changes in oil prices: causes and solutions.
Marketing uses in microeconomics.
The economic explanation of political dishonesty.
How company mergers and dissolutions impact the economy
The role of tax collection agencies in microeconomics
Different microeconomic models and how they face the effect of industry conditions

A Few More Microeconomics Research Ideas

How exactly does Uber fit into the economy of trust?
How does a person’s brain alter when they hit a big deal?
missing practical human insights from big data and how this affects the economy.
explaining how supply and demand are balanced in microeconomics
Changes in economic institutions with regard to climate change
Effects of greenhouses on economic growth
Effects of climate change on economic growth
Analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System in great detail
Is resource management for waste scarce? A microeconomics explanation of opportunity costs
Effects of wildlife protection on the economy

Interesting Economics Research Topics

What role does entrepreneurship play in economic development?
How do automation and artificial intelligence affect the labor market?
Discuss the Economics of healthcare systems and policies in developing countries.
Explain the effects of trade agreements on income distribution.
How does foreign aid affect economic development?
Explain the impact of monetary policy on financial markets and inflation.
Discuss the effects of income inequality on social mobility.
How does tax reform impact business investment?
Explain the role of microfinance in alleviating poverty.
How does behavioral economics impact personal savings habits?

Final Words

From the list of economics research topics recommended in this blog, choose any topic of your choice and craft a top-quality research paper or essay. It is not necessary that you need to use the suggested topic as it is, you can also modify the research topic and write your academic paper. In case, you are unsure how to select the right topic and write a persuasive economics research paper, get in touch with us immediately.

We have a team of professional writers who are experts in the field of economics to assist you in drafting a plagiarism-free economics research paper on the best topics as per your requirements on time. Moreover, by taking our economics assignment help service online, you can also submit flawless and well-structured research papers deserving of an A+ grade.

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10 Popular Posts on Economic Topics in 2021

What did people most want to know about the economy in 2021?

Inflation and COVID-19’s effects on the economy were top of mind, judging by the popularity of posts on those topics in our On the Economy blog, which offers frequent commentary, analysis and data from our economists and other St. Louis Fed experts. But examinations of longer-run trends, such as employment growth over 20 years, also attracted attention.

For readers of our Open Vault blog, which explains everyday economics and the Fed, the nuts and bolts of topical subjects like central bank digital currency and Fed “tapering” struck a chord, as did a post about the economic concept of externalities, explained with canine and pandemic examples.

Here’s a look at a few of the posts that were among the favorites published from January through Nov. 30.

Inflation Trends

How covid-19 may be affecting inflation.

The changing of U.S. consumer spending patterns during the pandemic may have affected the measurement of inflation, according to an On the Economy post published in February. The Bureau of Labor Statistics gathers information about prices in the U.S., weights the prices and aggregates them for the consumer price index, or CPI. Inflation is measured as the CPI’s rate of growth over a certain period.

But what happens if a certain category of goods or services becomes a bigger, or smaller, part of consumer spending? Based on spending habits in prior years, the official weights might not be the “true” weights in 2020, when social distancing led to more eating at home and less spending in restaurants.

What Are Risks for Future Inflation?

As U.S. inflation surged in 2021, an October On the Economy post identified some upside and downside risks for future inflation. A follow-up post examined whether higher inflation could “be attributed to a small group of goods and services or whether it is a more generalized event.” Looking at the overall price change over the period of the pandemic, “the role of outliers is greatly diminished, revealing that higher inflation is perhaps a broader phenomenon,” the post said.

Economic and Monetary Policy Explainers

Externalities: it’s what pandemics, pollution and puppies have in common.

Externalities are costs and benefits that impact or spill over to someone other than the producer or the consumer of a good or a service. As a June Open Vault post explained, that applies to everything from pandemics to puppies. In a pandemic, a lack of social distancing by one person creates an externality that is negative: a higher risk of infection for everyone. Puppies that only bark at strangers, meanwhile, could provide a positive externality for neighbors as a warning system.

A June Open Vault blog post highlighted the Economic Lowdown series video “Externalities.” What makes pollution a negative externality is explained in this clip.

Here’s What the Fed Means by Tapering

As anticipation built this fall for a Federal Open Market Committee decision to “taper,” so did curiosity about what tapering is. An Open Vault post answered that question: The Fed can turn to large-scale asset purchases when economic conditions warrant, and tapering means reducing the pace of those purchases. The post, published a week after the Nov. 3 announcement of the FOMC’s decision to start tapering, also explained how tapering works.

What Is the Federal Open Market Committee?

Readers curious about what tapering is could have learned earlier in the year about the committee that makes that and other monetary policy decisions. As a February Open Vault post explained, the FOMC is the main monetary policymaking body of the Federal Reserve and is comprised of leaders from around the Federal Reserve System.

People and Places

Older workers accounted for all net employment growth in past 20 years.

Before there was the “Great Resignation,” there was an employment increase: A February On the Economy post said that a rise in employment of people age 60 and older was responsible for U.S. employment growth of 11.8 million from December 2000 to December 2020. (See chart.) Among those workers, the increase in employment is attributed to the group’s population growth and increased employment-to-population ratio.

Cumulative Net Change in the Number of Employed People since December 2000

Line chart from December 2000 to December 2020 shows employment rising more for people age 60 and older than for those under 60.

House Prices Surpass Housing-Bubble Peak on One Key Measure of Value

The steady increase of a house price-to-rent ratio “would imply increasing overvaluation” of houses, a May On the Economy post said. That was the case in early 2021 (using data available through March), when an index measuring the ratio of house prices to rent in the U.S. had risen rapidly over the course of a year and reached its highest level since at least 1975.

Sign up now for the free symposium, which has the theme, “Leading the Way in Challenging Times.” The event will run 6 to 8 p.m. CT on Feb. 23-24. Participants will hear insights from leading economists.

Inspiring Young Women to Pursue Economics

A January Open Vault post previewed a February 2021 event that is “designed to inspire young women and underrepresented minorities who may be interested in econ—and to encourage those pursuing a degree to persist.” The next Women in Economics Symposium is set for Feb. 23-24, 2022.

Money and Finance

Wealth gaps between white, black and hispanic families in 2019.

Across education, family structure and generations, gaps persist between the wealth of white families and that of Black and Hispanic families, the authors of a January On the Economy post found.

For instance, they wrote: “More education was associated with more wealth for all the racial and ethnic groups considered. However, wide gaps remain at every education level, with Black and Hispanic families having less median family wealth than white families with the same education.”

And Black and Hispanic families are less likely than white families to have financial and other assets like homes and businesses, and when they do, those assets were more likely to have lower values.

Navigating the ABCs of CBDCs—Central Bank Digital Currencies

“You’ve likely heard of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even Dogecoin, but you may not have heard of ‘Fedcoin,’ an informal name some have used for the idea of a digital currency tied to a central bank, namely the Federal Reserve,” a June Open Vault post said. The post highlighted short videos in which a St. Louis Fed economist answered questions on central bank digital currencies, including about possible effects on privacy and bank lending.

Heather Hennerich is a senior editor with the St. Louis Fed External Engagement and Corporate Communications Division.

134 Economics Thesis Topics: Ideas for Outstanding Writing

Writing a thesis is not an easy task. For most of the students, it can be even intimidating, especially when you do not know where to start your research.

Here, we have provided an economics thesis topics list. After all, everyone knows that choosing the right idea is crucial when writing an academic paper. In economics, it can combine history, math, social studies, politics, and numerous other subjects. You should also have solid foundations and a sound factual basis for a thesis. Without these elements, you won’t be able to master your research paper.

The issue is:

It is not always clear what could be seen as an excellent economics thesis topic. Our experts can assist you with this challenge. This list contains some outstanding examples to get you started.

⭐ Thesis in Economics
🔥 Supreme Thesis Topics
👍 Bachelor’s Thesis
😲 Master’s Thesis

📊 Microeconomics

📈 macroeconomics.

🤔 Developmental
👨‍💼 Behavioral
💼 Financial
🌱 Agricultural
🤝‍ Sociology
📚 Ph.D. Topics
📝 How to Pick a Topic

⭐ What Does a Thesis in Economics Look Like?

A good thesis in economics is a blend between an empirical paper and a theoretical one. One of the essential steps in choosing a topic in economics is to decide which one you will write.

You may write, research, analyze statistical data and other information. Or build and study a specific economic model.

Or why not both!

Here are some questions you can ask when deciding what topic to choose:

What has already been written on this topic?
What economic variables will my paper study?
Where should I look for the data?
What econometrics techniques should I use?
What type of model will I study?

The best way to understand what type of research you have to do is to write a thesis proposal. You will most probably be required to submit it anyway. Your thesis supervisor will examine your ideas, methods, list of secondary and primary sources. At some universities, the proposal will be graded.

Master’s thesis and Bachelor’s thesis have three main differences.

After you get the initial feedback, you will have a clear idea of what to adjust before writing your thesis. Only then, you’ll be able to start.

🔥 Supreme Economics Thesis Topics List

Fast fashion in India.
The UK housing prices.
Brexit and European trade.
Behavioral economics.
Healthcare macroeconomics.
COVID-19’s economic impact.
Global gender wage gap.
Commodity dependence in Africa.
International trade – developing countries.
Climate change and business development.

👍 Economics Bachelor’s Thesis Topics

At the U.S. Universities, an undergraduate thesis is very uncommon. However, it depends on the Department Policy.

The biggest challenge with the Bachelor’s Thesis in economics concerns its originality. Even though you are not required to conduct entirely unique research, you have to lack redundant ideas.

You can easily avoid making this mistake by simply choosing one of these topics. Also, consider visiting IvyPanda essays database. It’s a perfect palce to conduct a brainstorming session and come up with fresh ideas for a paper, as well as get tons of inspiration.

The impact of the oil industry on the economic development of Nigeria. The oil industry is vital for the economic development of Nigeria. In this thesis, students can discuss the notion of the resource curse. Analyze the reasons why general people are not benefiting from the oil industry. Why did it produce very little change in the social and economic growth of the country?
Sports Marketing and Advertising: the impact it has on the consumers.
Economic opportunities and challenges of investing in Kenya .
Economic Development in the Tourism Industry in Africa. Since the early 1990s, tourism significantly contributed to the economic growth of African countries. In this thesis, students can talk about the characteristics of the tourist sector in Africa. Or elaborate on specific countries and how their national development plans look like.
Globalization and its significance to business worldwide .
Economic risks connected to investing in Turkey .
The decline in employment rates as the biggest American economy challenge .
The economics of alcohol abuse problems. In this thesis, students can develop several essential issues. First, they can examine how poverty is connected to alcohol abuse. Second, they can see the link between alcohol consumption and productivity. To sum up, students can elaborate on the economic costs of alcohol abuse.
Causes and solutions for unemployment in Great Britain.
Parallel perspective on Global Economic Order: China and America. This thesis can bring a comparative analysis of the economies to a new level. China and The US are the world’s two largest economies. These two countries have a significant impact on the global economic order. So, looking at the set of institutions, policies, rules can be constructive.
The new international economic order after COVID-19
Financial stability of the banking sector in China.
New Electronic Payment Services in Russia.
The influence of culture on different entrepreneurial behaviors.
The impact of natural cultural practices on entrepreneurial activity.
The relationships between national culture and individual behavior.
The main reasons for salary inequalities in different parts of the U.S.

😲 Economics Master’s Thesis Topics

Student life can be fascinating, but it comes with its challenges. One of which is selecting your Master’s thesis topic.

Here is a list of topics for a Master’s thesis in economics. Are you pursuing MPhil in Economics and writing a thesis? Use the following ideas as an inspiration for that. They can also be helpful if you are working on a Master’s thesis in financial economics.

The impact of visual aid in teaching home economics.
The effect of income changes in consumer behaviors in America.
Forces behind socio-economic inequalities in the United States. This thesis can explore three critical factors for socio-economic differences in the United States. In the past 30 years, social disparities increased in the United States. Some of the main reasons are technology, trade, and institutions.
The relationships between economic growth and international development.
Technological innovations and their influence on green and environmental products.
The economics of non-solar renewable energy .

Renewable energy is beneficial for various economic reasons.

The economic consequences of terrorism . Terrorism not only takes away lives and destroys property but also widely affects the economy. It creates uncertainty in the market, increases insurance claims, slows down investment projects, and tourism. This thesis can address all of the ways in which terrorism can affect economies.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implementation in the Oil and Gas Industry in Africa.
Use of incentives in behavioral economics.
Economic opportunities and challenges of sustainable communities .
Economics of nuclear power plants.
Aid and financial help for emerging markets. This topic is very versatile. Students can look at both the positive and the adverse effects that funding has on the development. There are plenty of excellent examples. Besides, some theories call international help a form of neocolonialism.
Multinational firms impact on economic growth in America .
The effect of natural disasters on economic development in Asia.
The influence of globalization on emerging markets and economic development.

📑 More Economics Thesis Topics: Theme

For some students, it makes more sense to center their search around a certain subject. Sometimes you have an econ area that interests you. You may have an idea about what you want to write, but you did not decide what it will be.

If that’s the case with you, then these economics thesis topics ideas are for you.

An analysis of the energy market in Russia.
The impact of game theory on economic development.
The connection between minimum wage and market equilibrium.
Gender differences in the labor market in the United States. This topic can shed light on gender differences in the labor market in the United States. In the past years, the overall inequality in labor in the markets decreased. However, there is still a lot of work that can be done.
Economic reasons that influence the prices of oil .
Relationship between the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient.
Challenges of small businesses in the market economy.
The changes in oil prices: causes and solutions . Universal economic principles do not always apply to the sale and purchase of the oil. The same happens with its cost. In the thesis, talk about what affects the prices. What are the solutions that can be implemented?
The economic analysis of the impact of immigration on the American economy.

Immigration has a little long-run effect on Americans’ wages.

Economic inequality as a result of globalization . Economic inequality becomes even more apparent on the global level. There is a common belief that globalization is the cause of that. Discuss what can be the solutions to these problems. This topic is vital to minimize the gap between the rich and the poor.
The economic explanation of political dishonesty .
Effect of Increasing Interest rates costs in Africa .
The connection between game theory and microeconomics.
Marketing uses in microeconomics.
Financial liability in human-made environmental disasters.
Banks and their role in the economy. Banks are crucial elements of any economy, and this topic covers why. You can explain how banks allow the goods and services to be exchanged. Talk about why banks are so essential for economic growth and stability.
Inflation in the US and ways to reduce its impact.
The connection between politics and economics.
Income Dynamics and demographic economics.
US Market Liquidity and macroeconomics.
Macroeconomics and self-correction of the economy .
The American economy, monetary policy, and monopolies .
The importance of control in macroeconomics. One of the central topics in macroeconomics is grouped around the issue of control. It is quite reasonable that control over money and resources should become a topic of discussion.
Analysis of Africa’s macroeconomics and its performance.
Economics of education in developing markets.
Problems and possible solutions for Japan macroeconomics .
Comparative analysis of British macroeconomics concerning the US .
Public policies and socio-economic disparities.
The world problems through macroeconomic analysis. Indeed, macroeconomics is very complicated. There are many influences, details, and intricacies in it. However, it allows economists to use this complex set of tools to examine the world’s leading problems today.

There are four main problems in macroeconomics.

The connection between employment interest and money.

🤔 Development Economics

Economics of development . This topic is very rich in content. First, explain what it is. Then pay particular attention to domestic and international policies that affect development, income distribution, and economic growth.
The relation between development and incentive for migration.
The impact of natural disasters on the economy and political stability of emerging markets.
The economic consequences of population growth in developing countries.
The role of industrialization in developing countries . The industrialization has been connected with the development. It promotes capital formation and catalyzes economic growth in emerging markets. In this thesis, you can talk about this correlation.
Latin American economic development.
Gender inequality and socio-economic development .
Problems of tax and taxation in connection with economic growth.
The economic impact of terrorism on developing markets.
Religious decline as a key to economic development. Not everyone knows, but a lot of research has been done in the past years on the topic. It argues that decreased religious activity is connected with increased economic growth. This topic is quite controversial. Students who decide to write about it should be extra careful and polite.

👨‍💼 Behavioral Economics

Risk Preferences in Rural South Africa.
Behavioral Economics and Finance .
Applied behavioral economics in marketing strategies. If you want to focus your attention on marketing, this topic is for you. Behavioral economics provides a peculiar lens to look at marketing strategies. It allows marketers to identify common behaviors and adapt their marketing strategies.
The impact of behavioral finance on investment decisions.
Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs in North Texas.
Guidelines for Behavioral Economics in Healthcare Sector.
Cognitive and behavioral theories in economics .
Cross-cultural consumer behavior and marketing communication. Consumers are not only affected by personal characteristics, but also by the culture they are living in. This topic focuses on the extent it should determine marketing strategy and communication.
Behavior implications of wealth and inequality.

The richest population holds a huge portion of the national income.

Optimism and pessimism for future behavior.

💼 Financial Economics

Financial Economics for Infrastructure and Fiscal Policy .
The use of the economic concept of human capital. Students can focus on the dichotomy between human and nonhuman capital. Many economists believe that human capital is the most crucial of all. Some approach this issue differently. Therefore, students should do their research and find where they stand on this issue.
The analysis of the global financial crisis of 2020s. Share your thoughts, predictions, ideas. Analyze the economic situation that affects almost everyone in the world. This thesis topic will be fresh and original. It can help to start a good and fruitful conversation.
The big data economic challenges for Volvo car.
The connection between finance, economics, and accounting.
Financial economics: Banks competition in the UK .
Risk-Taking by mutual funds as a response to incentives.
Managerial economics and financial accounting as a basis for business decisions.
Stock market overreaction.

🌱 Agricultural Economics

Agricultural economics and agribusiness.
The vulnerability of agricultural business in African countries.
Agricultural economics and environmental considerations of biofuels .
Farmer’s contribution to agricultural social capital.
Agricultural and resource economics. Agricultural and resource economics plays a huge role in development. They are subdivided into four main characteristics which in this topic, students can talk about: – mineral and energy resources; – soil resources, water resources; – biological resources. One or even all of them can be a focus of the thesis.
Water as an economic good in irrigated agriculture.
Agriculture in the economic development of Iran.
The US Agricultural Food Policy and Production .
Pesticides usage on agricultural products in California.

The region of greatest pesticide use was San Joaquin Valley.

An analysis of economic efficiency in agriculture. A lot of research has been done on the question of economic efficiency in agriculture. However, it does not mean there is no place for your study. You have to read a lot of secondary sources to see where your arguments can fit.

🤝‍Economic Sociology

Theory, approach, and method in economics sociology.
Economic sociology of capitalism. While economists believe in the positive effect capitalism has on the economy, the social effect is quite different. The “economic” part of the issue has been studied a lot. However, the sociology of it has been not. This thesis can be very intriguing to read.
Political Economy and Economic Sociology.
Gender and economic sociology .
Progress, sociology, and economics.
Data analysis in economics, sociology, environment .
Economic sociology as a way to understand the human mind.
Economic sociology of money.
Economics, sociology, and psychology of security.
Major principles of economic sociology. In the past decade, economic sociology became an increasingly popular field. Mainly due to it giving a new view on economics, human mind, and behavior. Besides, it explores relationships between politics, law, culture, and gender.

📚 The List of Ph.D. Topics in Economics

If you decide to go to grad school to do your Masters, you will likely end up getting a Ph.D. as well. So, with this plan in mind, think about a field that interests you enough during your Masters. Working with the same topic for both graduate degrees is easier and more effective.

This list of Ph.D. Topics in Economics can help you identify the areas you can work on.

Occupational injuries in Pakistan and its effect on the economy. Injuries are the leading cause of the global burden of disability. Globally, Pakistan was ranked 9th populated country with a large number of unskilled workers. In this dissertation, consider the link between occupational injuries and their effects on the economy.
The study of the Philippines’ economic development.

The Philippine economy is projected to continue on its expansionary path.

Financial derivatives and climate change .
Econometric Analysis of Financial Markets.
Islamic Banking and Financial Markets .
Health economics and policy in the UK.
Health insurance: rationale and economic justification. In this dissertation, students can find different ways to explain and justify health insurance. Starting to philosophical to purely economic grounds. In the past years, there was a lot of discussion regarding the healthcare system for all. What are some of the economic benefits of that?
Colombian economy, economic growth, and inequality.
Benefits of mergers and acquisitions in agribusiness.
Methods to measure financial risks when investing in Africa.
The significance of financial economics in understanding the relationship between a country’s GDP and NDP.
Network effects in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are not new anymore. However, it is still an original subject for a dissertation. Students can decide to choose several crypto coins and evaluate the importance of the network effect. This effect is particularly significant for Bitcoin. Explain why.
The comparison of the Chinese growth model with the American growth model.
An economic justification versus political expediency.
Pollution Externalities Role in Management Economics .

📝 How to Select an Economics Thesis Topic

As your academic journey is coming to an end, it’s time to pick the right topic for your thesis. The whole academic life you were preparing to undertake this challenge.

Here is the list of six points that will help you to select an economics thesis topic:

Make sure it is something you are genuinely interested in. It is incredibly challenging to write something engaging if you are not interested in the topic. So, choose wisely and chose what excites you.
Draw inspiration from the previous student’s projects. A great place to start is by looking at what the previous students wrote. You can find some fresh ideas and a general direction.
Ask your thesis advisor for his feedback. Most probably, your thesis advisor supervised many students before. They can be a great help too because they know how to assess papers. Before meeting with your professor, do some basic research, and understand what topic is about.
Be original, but not too much. You do not want to spend your time writing about a project that many people wrote about. Your readers will not be interested in reading it, but your professors as well. However, make sure you do not pick anything too obscure. It will leave you with no secondary sources.
Choose a narrow and specific topic. Not only will it allow you to be more original, but also to master a topic. When the issue is too broad, there is just too much information to cover in one thesis.
Go interdisciplinary. If you find yourself interested in history, philosophy, or any other related topic, it can help you write an exceptional thesis in economics. Most of your peers may work on pure economics. Then, the interdisciplinary approach can help you to stand out among them.

Some universities ask their students to focus on topics from one discipline.

Thank you for reading the article to the end! We hope this list of economics thesis topics ideas could help you to gather your thoughts and get inspired. Share it with those who may find it useful. Let us know what you think about it in the comment section below.

🔗 References

Economics Thesis Topics List: Seminars Only
How To Pick A Topic For Your Economics Research Project Or Master’s Thesis: INOMICS, The Site for Economists
What Do Theses and Dissertations Look Like: KU Writing Center, the University of Kansas
Writing Economics: Robert Neugeboren with Mireille Jacobson, University of Harvard
Economics Ph.D. Theses: Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School, IDEAS_RePEc
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018: United Nations
Undergraduate Honors Theses: Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
Economics Department Dissertations Collection: Economics Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Topics for Master Theses: Department of Economics, NHH, Norwegian School of Economics
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A very well written, clear and easy-to-read article. It was highly helpful. Thank you!

Thanks for your kind words! We look forward to seeing you again!

For research

Excellent research

These are very helpful and concise research topics which I have spent days surfing the internet to get all this while. Thanks for making research life experience easier for me. Keep this good work up.

Glad to hear that! Thank you for your feedback, Idris!

Thank you, Idris!

I wants it for msc thesis

The dilemma I faced in getting Thesis proposal for my M Phil programme is taken away. Your article would be a useful guide to many more students.Thank you for your guidance.

Thanks for the feedback, John! Your opinion is very important for us!

The Long-Run Impacts of Public Industrial Investment on Local Development and Economic Mobility: Evidence from World War II

This paper studies the long-run effects of government-led construction of manufacturing plants on the regions where they were built and on individuals from those regions. Specifically, we examine publicly financed plants built in dispersed locations outside of major urban centers for security reasons during the United States' industrial mobilization for World War II. Wartime plant construction had large and persistent impacts on local development, characterized by an expansion of relatively high-wage manufacturing employment throughout the postwar era. These benefits were shared by incumbent residents; we find men born before WWII in counties where plants were built earned $1,200 (in 2020 dollars) or 2.5 percent more per year in adulthood relative to those born in counterfactual comparison regions, with larger benefits accruing to children of lower-income parents. The balance of evidence suggests that these individuals benefited primarily from the local expansion of higher-wage jobs to which they had access as adults, rather than because of developmental effects from exposure to better environments during childhood.

We are grateful to Anna Aizer, Daniel Bernhardt, Allison Ehrich Bernstein, Mark Borgschulte, Eric Chyn, James Feigenbaum, Claudia Goldin, Bhash Mazumder, Walker Hanlon, Edward Glaeser, Nathaniel Hendren, Taylor Jaworski, Réka Juhász, Lawrence Katz, Patrick Kline, Dmitri Koustas, Brian Kovak, James Lee, Trevon Logan, Robert Margo, Nathan Nunn, Lowell Taylor, and seminar participants at Harvard University, UIUC, Purdue, the Upjohn Institute, CEU, JKU-Linz, Marquette, UCL, Berkeley, Texas A&M, University de Montreal, UVA, MIT, NIU, UBC, Iowa, BEA, Pitt, ITAM, Colmex, the Bank of Mexico, and participants at workshops and conferences between 2016 and 2023 for helpful comments. We are grateful to Sunny Liu and Andrea Atencio De Leon for excellent research assistance. The authors are grateful for generous support from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the W.E. Upjohn Institute. This report is released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion. Any views expressed on statistical, methodological, technical, or operational issues are those of the author and not necessarily those of the US Census Bureau or the National Bureau of Economic Research. Results disclosed under DRB # CBDRB–FY24–0120.

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What’s the Latest Research in Development Economics? A Roundup from NEUDC 2023

Recommended.

This map draws on a sample of 139 studies from the NEUDC 2022 conference. Studies that covered more than three countries (often broad global or regional analyses) were excluded.

More from the series

Almedina Music and David Evans Latest Research in Development

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There are so many studies regarding so many aspects of development economics that it can be difficult to keep up. Last week was the North East Universities Development Consortium annual conference , often called NEUDC. Researchers presented more than 130 papers across a wide range of topics, from agriculture to education and from labor to climate; almost all of the studies are available for download . This is a great snapshot of the latest research in development economics.

Where the studies are from and what methods they use

The studies take place all over the world (Figure 1). India has more than twice as many studies (23) than the next highest country, Brazil (with 10 studies). Kenya has eight, Indonesia has six, and Bangladesh, Malawi, and Pakistan each have five. A total of 43 countries are represented (not even including regional or cross-country studies that include dozens of countries). If you examine the studies per country population, the top countries are Guinea-Bissau, Uruguay, Malawi, Chile, and Jordan. (Guinea-Bissau and Uruguay just have one study each but have smaller populations.)

Figure 1. Where are recent development economics studies focused?

Source: This map draws on a sample of more than 135 studies from the NEUDC 2023 conference. We categorized studies and excluded those that covered more than three countries (often broad global or regional analyses).

The research continues to draw on a wide range of empirical strategies—i.e., not just randomized controlled trials, or RCTs (Figure 2). RCTs are the single largest group, but there are still lots of studies using difference-in-differences, fixed effects, and regression discontinuity.

Figure 2. What empirical methods do recent development economics papers use?

Source: This figure draws on 124 studies for which we found it easy to ascertain and categorize the empirical strategy. Some studies used multiple methods, in which case we categorized the two main methods we found.

What we learned from 130+ NEUDC studies

We went through each study, and we provide a micro-summary below. Obviously these are just our quick takes. Many studies have more than one thing to teach us, so if our microsummary piques your interest, click the link to the study! Also, take these micro-summaries with a grain of salt: some of these studies are still preliminary (that’s indicated on the front page of the studies themselves), and we also largely take the studies’ claims at face value (we aren’t peer reviewers). Still, there’s a lot of exciting research here, teaching us more about both problems and solutions in low- and middle-income countries (and beyond). We hope you learn as much reading them as we did writing them!

Guide to the methodological hashtags:

Households and human capital, education and early childhood development.

Schools in Chile with more poor students tend to have lower test scores. A program that provides extra funding to those schools benefits disadvantaged students at both low and high levels of support. The results for advantaged students in the same schools are less consistent. (Cerda) #RD
A school voucher program in India benefits recipients, but because voucher amounts are linked to schools' tuition fees, schools have an incentive to raise their fees, which hurts non-beneficiary students. The net effect is still positive, but failing to account for the effect on non-beneficiaries would dramatically overstate the benefits. (Sahai) #DID
A ten-hour virtual training to help teachers in India better manage emotions, set goals, and solve problems led to a greater belief that they could boost students' learning and put more effort in their teaching. (Kaur) #RCT
Lots of families in western Kenya don't have books to read to their kids. When those storybooks were offered, the vast majority of families took them. The more expensive they were, the less likely people were to buy them; but even with a low subsidy, more than 90 percent of families bought them. But three months later, kids still didn't have stronger vocabularies. (Bonds, Hamory, and Ochieng) #RCT
In Tanzania, 10 percent more stagnant water increases diarrhea incidence among children by 30 percent and reduces test scores by 7 percent of a standard deviation. Access to improved sanitation and water sources mitigates the effect of stagnant water on these health and learning outcomes, but this effect increases with high temperatures and population density. (Berggreen and Mattisson) #DID
A “learning how to learn” approach in Uganda raised the pass rate in the national exam (progression from primary to secondary school) from 51 percent to 71 percent. The approach “trained teachers to teach students to learn like scientists: posing sharp questions, framing specific hypotheses, using evidence and data gathered from everyday life whenever possible.” (Ashraf, Banerjee, and Nourani) #RCT
In Chile, “classroom peers and older high school peers significantly shape students’ choices of college majors in male-dominated fields.” (Valdebenito) #RD
In Peru, a 20-minute interaction between engineering students and high school students increased students’ preferences towards engineering, especially among female students with high math aptitude. (Agurto et al.) #RCT
In India, primary students taught by college students scored 0.34 SD higher in math, 0.22 SD in science, and 0.15 SD in language higher than those taught by regular teachers. (Ganimian, Mbiti, and Mishra) #RCT
A country-wide effort to improve toilet access and other aspects of sanitation in India (the "Clean India Mission") boosted children's math—but not literacy—scores. Results are similar for boys and girls. (Karmakar and Villa) #DID #ES
Eleven months after introducing a program in India to encourage teachers to blend their teaching with high-quality videos, student math scores got worse, teachers taught less effectively (e.g., they gave worse feedback to students and monitored student learning less), and students had worse attitudes towards science and math. (de Barros) #RCT
In the Dominican Republic, all Major League Baseball teams run training academies for adolescent boys. Despite public perceptions that this leads youth to undervalue formal education, exposure to these academies has no measurable impact on school attendance. (Marein and Palsson) #DID
A common policy to get more underrepresented groups into college is to rank students within high schools (so that kids from poorer high schools have a shot). But in Chile, high school students switch schools to game the system, such that the current policy had a tiny impact, which would have been more than five times as large if students weren't switching schools. (Concha-Arriagada) #FE
With the introduction of a new bus line and a new train line in Lima (Peru), "a 17 percent reduction in commuting time to college increases enrollment rates by 6 percent," with that mostly driven by enrollment in private colleges. Boys are willing to travel 50 percent longer than girls to attend a better college. (Alba-Vivar) #DID
Study groups in Chinese primary schools boost student achievement. The effects are biggest for kids who were previously not doing so well in school but who are in high-achieving study groups. It also boosts those kids' level of motivation. (Gao et al.) #IV
An additional year of education for women in India led to "a 27% decrease in less severe physical domestic violence, a 9% decrease in sexual violence, and a 10% decrease in injuries due to domestic violence." This was likely due to women finding better partners, improved attitudes, and potentially a higher likelihood of reporting violence. (Bergonzoli, Bahure, and Agarwal) #RD
Higher export prices for crops grown by women in Peru reduce "domestic violence, including severe physical violence and female homicide... The effects are stronger in districts with more unequal gender norms." (Frankenthal) #FE
In India, short-term exposure to domestic violence doesn't seem to affect women's attitudes about violence, but over time, women who experience violence are more likely to tolerate violence—potentially as a coping mechanism. (Frezza) #RD
Girls' clubs for adolescents in Côte d'Ivoire alone boosted some girls' mental health but not employment outcomes. Adding separate clubs for husbands and future husbands boosted employment and sexual and reproductive health outcomes. (Boulhane et al.) #RCT
Women living in neighborhoods with low risk of harassment or assault on the streets are 8.5 percentage points more likely to participate in the labor market relative to women in higher risk neighborhoods—in Indonesia and India. (Cahill) #PSM
A successful school-expansion program in India “increased voter prioritization of leader competence over gender, boosting the share of women among candidates and state parliamentarians and the overall capability of elected officials.” (Anukriti, Calvo, and Charavarty) #RD
In Pakistan, providing correct information about support for women voting in society to men does not change the turnout of women, while providing the same information to women or both lowers female turnout. “This blow-back effect is caused by men discouraging women from political participation because they believe women will act according to their own (and different from men’s) preferences.” (Gulzar, Khan, and Sonnet) #FE
An anti-poverty program in Malawi improved households’ consumption, food security, and dietary diversity outcomes, regardless of whether men or women were targeted and whether a gender transformative training was incorporated in the program. (Bedi, King, and Vaillant) #RCT
A conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in Peru reinforced traditional gender-role attitudes among children, especially girls. Beneficiary mothers spent more time on home production, and this priority could be a channel for perpetuating traditional gender role attitudes. (Luong) #RD
Families historically exposed to higher levels of slavery in Guadeloupe and Martinique tend to be more matrifocal, with weaker fathers after emancipation. These families also face higher child mortality, stemming from poorer family environments rather than local conditions. (Beigelman) #FE
“On an online marriage market platform in India, ... working women are 14.5% less likely to receive interest from male suitors... Women employed in ‘masculine’ occupations are 3.2% less likely to elicit interest from suitors relative to those in ‘feminine’ occupations.” (Afridi et al.) #RCT
Providing "mentored girls' clubs, life skills, and vocational training" to adolescent girls in northern Nigeria reduced marriage two years after the intervention by 65 percentage points! A major reason is that it boosted girls' likelihood of staying in school. (Cohen, Abubakar, and Perlman) #RCT
A radio campaign against female genital cutting in Egypt reduced cutting by 13 percent. But those girls also saw their bride prices fall by nearly a quarter and child marriages rose. Across Africa, cutting is more common in settings with bride price. (Khalifa) #DID
Several years after the start of a cash transfer program in Malawi, those who benefited as adolescent girls were more likely to move longer distances for marriage, and those moves happened over a longer period of time, into young women's mid-twenties. (Ibrahim) #RCT
Parents in Pakistan prefer grooms who are relatives; they also prefer marriages where their daughters will have more freedom (e.g., to leave the house unaccompanied or to make health decisions independently). (Calvi, Farooqi, and Kandpal) #SurveyExperiment
In Lahore (Pakistan), women are more likely to sign up for a job search platform than they are to take a job. For less-educated job seekers, jobs with explicit gender requirements are more likely to exclude women. Women with more education are more selective about jobs, but the jobs themselves are less likely to be gender-restrictive. (Gentile et al.) #RCT
Offering women in West Bengal (India) the ability to multitask work with childcare and to work from home boosts labor market participation, especially for those from more traditional households. Flexible work also increases women's likelihood of accepting out-of-home work later. (Ho, Jalota, and Karandikar) #RCT
Increasing the minimum wage by nearly a quarter in Morocco narrowed the gender pay gap in the formal sector by about a quarter. But it also led a small fraction of women (but not men) to leave the formal labor market. (Paul-Delvaux) #DID
In India, horizontal communication between cisgender participants reduces discrimination against transgender people: when involved in a group discussion with two neighbors, there is no longer discrimination at all on average, even when making private choices. This effect is 1.7x larger than top-down communication that informs participants about the legal rights of transgender persons. (Webb) #RCT
In a lab in the field experiment in Bangladesh, the “less capable women are perceived compared to men, the less they are involved in decision-making. After the information treatment (on women’s abilities), individuals with the lowest perceptions about the wife’s skills are 20 percent more likely to make allocations in her favor.” (Nani) #RCT
Employers in Bangladesh discriminate paternalistically, i.e., they restrict women’s employment choices to protect them from what employers perceive as unsafe. Informing about safe worker transport at the end of the shift increases demand for female labor by 22 percent and female labor supply by 15 percent. (Buchmann, Meyer, and Sullivan) #RCT
Offering female entrepreneurs in Jordan access to virtual storefronts by (1) creating and managing Facebook pages for their businesses and (2) offering them digital marketing training created in collaboration with local influencers, increased business survival and revenues. Effects are driven by women with low physical mobility due to social norms at baseline. (Alhorr) #RCT

Health (including mental health)

Sharing information about either "the prevalence of mental health issues and the efficacy of treatment" or "the mental health struggles of a Nepali celebrity and how he benefited from treatment" boosted people's stated willingness to seek mental health treatment and to pay for counseling. The effects were biggest for those with "less severe symptoms of depression and anxiety." (Lacey et al.) #RCT
Sometimes people are uncertain about how risky a behavior is. In Malawi, people with greater uncertainty about how risky regular unprotected sex with an HIV-infected partner update their beliefs more drastically in response to new information. (Kerwin and Pandey) #RCT
Groups of friends among Syrian refugees in Jordan are good at identifying who needs mental health support. Sometimes friends don't want to share info about mental health services because of stigma, but if you nudge the sharers to disclose that they're being financially compensated for sharing the info, they're more likely to share it. (Smith) #RCT
Home visits inviting adults in Kenya to get vaccinated against COVID increased vaccine doses by ten percent, especially among women and people with less education or income. Announcing the home visit ahead of time (so people could either making a point of being home for the appointment or being out to avoid it) further boosted vaccinations. (Carney et al.) #RCT
Providing frontline health workers in Guinea-Bissau "with evidence of their program’s effectiveness in improving local health indicators" significantly boosted the effort of health workers, even six months later. (Fracchia) #RCT
A "mother and child health and family planning program in Bangladesh" boosted height in adulthood for those who participated as children (as well as education among the men). In the next generation, daughters of beneficiaries tend to be taller and have better cognitive development. (Barham et al.) #DID
Introducing “a competitive selection system for recruiting CEOs in public hospitals in Chile reduced hospital mortality by 8%”, driven by hospitals in which the new CEOs had managerial qualifications. “These CEOs improved operating room efficiency and reduced staff turnover.” (Otero and Muñoz) #DID
In Rajasthan (India), posting of a mid-level health care provider increased the monthly patient load by 68 percent. The number of patients diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes at treatment facilities increased as well. After one year, elderly deaths declined by 12 percent. (Agte and Soni) #DID

Migration and refugees

Mexican regions experiencing larger inflows of Mexican low-skilled deportees have higher rates of firm creation, firm survival, and revenue. (Osuna-Gomez and Medina-Cortina) #FE
In Vietnam, the Ho Khau reform, which reduced migration barriers, had more impact on reducing spatial inequality than place-based incentives. (Huynh) #DID
In Uganda, “landslides increase long-term displacement and migration, and affected households have substantially worse economic and mental health outcomes years afterward.” (Baseler and Hennig) #FE #DID
In the Philippines, typhoons increase international migration from affected municipalities, and incentivize migrants to leave for lower paying overseas jobs. (Murathanoglu) #FE
Municipalities from which more Moroccan soldiers were deployed to France before independence were more likely to send emigrants to France after independence. But this wasn’t true with those sent to Algeria. (Salem and Seck) #FE

Safety nets (including cash transfers and peer support)

How do you target disaster aid to households? In post-2015 earthquake Nepal, the “property damage criterion excludes many liquidity-constrained households that have high demand for aid, and it includes wealthy, well-insured households that have low demand.” Dividing aid equally among all affected households has larger welfare gains. (Gordon, Hashida, and Fenichel) #RD
In Mumbai (India), residents who received a subsidy that could only be used for rice or wheat spent less on packaged snacks. The effect was bigger in households with children. (Aouad, Ramdas, and Sungu) #RCT
With access to safety nets, middle-income households in Colombia are more likely to borrow from formal lenders, and in the long run, they substitute away from predatory loans toward formal loans when experiencing severe shocks. (Álvarez et al.) #RD
An unconditional grant to poor kids in South Africa reduced the likelihood that girls would be underweight or obese, but it boosted the likelihood that they'd be overweight. There were no substantive effects for boys on average. (Chakraborty and Villa) #RD
Peer groups in Nepal where most people know each other don't necessarily choose a peer monitor in lab games. But groups where few people are immediately connected do. (Iacobelli and Singh) #RCT #DID
Using data from six low- and middle-income countries, a proxy means test (PMT)—i.e., using a short list of household characteristics to decide if a household is poor—fails to accurately predict eligibility for social protection programs: “the accuracy of the PMT prediction algorithm decreases steadily over time, by roughly 1.7 percentage points per year,” even though the PMT model is updated only every 5-8 years. (Aiken, Ohlenburg, and Blumenstock)

Working and saving

Banking and credit.

Encouraging commercial banks in India to increase lending to minority borrowers in “minority concentration” districts in India increased minorities’ access to bank credit. (Khan and Ritadhi) #RD
In Kenya and Pakistan, equity-like contracts stimulate more profitable investments. Risk preferences play an important but nuanced role: loss-averse individuals prefer equity; however, individuals exhibiting non-linear probability weighting prefer debt. (Meki) #RCT
In Ghana, individual incentives increased adoption of a new technology; adding endorsement by a trusted peer doubles the impact of the individual subsidy. (Riley, Shonchoy, and Darko Osei) #RCT
Lots of people in urban India don't have access to credit for when there's a financial crunch or to professionals for mental health problems. Many would like to talk to the people they know, but—from a survey—68 percent underestimate others' willingness to engage on these topics. Helping people realize that boosts sign-ups for potential savings groups or for a potential program to get trained to be a volunteer to listen to other people's anxieties. (Jain and Khandelwal) #RCT

Firms and microenterprises

Fifteen years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesian business owners exposed to the tsunami had lower levels of capital and profits than those not exposed. These effects were biggest in rural areas. (Lombardo, Frankenberg, and Thomas) #FE
Providing firms in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with more information about candidates with college degrees led firms to hire faster, but they often hired candidates without college degrees and downgraded their expectations about college graduate productivity. (Wu and Wang) #RCT
For US firms, entering the whaling industry entails lots of sunk costs such that firms are slow to enter but also slow to leave the market. (Yun)
In Kenya, “informality is particularly prevalent in downstream economic activities and smaller regional markets.” (Wiedemann et al.) #DID #SC
Vendors in the Kolkata (India) vegetable market subsidized to sell additional produce earned over 60 percent higher profits, after excluding the value of the subsidy. And yet, “after the subsidy ended vendors largely stopped selling the additional produce” which may reflect “social or private preferences”. (Banerjee et al.) #RCT
In Tanzania, rural firms smooth both negative and positive input price shocks more than urban firms. Urban firms pass nearly 95 percent of input price increases to customers, while rural firms pass only 55 percent of input price increases. (Rudder) #FE
Some firms in Sri Lanka have much higher returns to inputs than others, and new econometric tools to test how much putting inputs into the wrong firms affects growth suggest that output could quadruple with better allocation of resources. (Hughes and Majerotvitz) #RCT
When steam power started replacing water power in the United States, water-powered mills shut down rather than transforming to steam mills, suggesting that shifting technologies is costly. (Hornbeck et al.) #FE
In Malawi, a survey of shopkeepers shows that they have widely varying strengths across different dimensions of productivity (like attracting customers, managing a storefront, and maintaining inventory across many products). So a one-size-fits-all management training intervention may have disappointing results. (Huntington, de la Parra, and Shenoy)

Labor (including child labor)

In Uganda, an experiment with job referrals reveals that gender discrimination exists in both directions (favoring the majority gender in a given sector) but that it's worse in male-dominated sectors. But when men can make referrals anonymously, they discriminate less. (Alfonsi and Ferreira) #RCT
A subsidy to help people find jobs in Ethiopia seems to have smaller effects when more people participate (i.e., general equilibrium effects). The net impact on people's wellbeing still seems to be positive. (Van Vuren) #RCT
If the unemployment rate is 1 percent higher at the time a person first starts looking for a job in Indonesia, that person is likely to have worse long-term economic prospects: 21 percent lower income and 7 percent lower likelihood of being employed. These effects are smaller than those in high-income settings. (Marshan) #FE
When farmers in Burundi train their workers, they don't capture all the benefits, since the workers often take those skills and work for others. A contract that keeps workers with the same employer boosts employers' willingness to train massively (by 50 percentage points). (Cefala et al.) #RCT
A comprehensive training and mentoring program targeted to youth at risk in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) boosts employment among men but it also—surprisingly—boosts fertility and subsequently welfare receipts among women. (Barros et al.) #RCT
How much a person is willing to work may in part just be driven by getting used to working. In Chennai (India), providing casual workers with incentives to work over a couple of months boosted how much they worked during that time (by 23 percent), and those same workers worked 16 percent in the following two months, after incentives were removed. (Cefala et al.) #RCT

Governments, institutions, and conflict

Conflict and crime.

Which connections do people value most in times of crisis? During social unrest in Haiti, daily contacts decrease but total talk time remains constant. Checking in on close friends, family, and others remains a priority. (Putman and Lybbert) #DID
Historical genocide violence of the Cambodian population impacts today’s household wealth and village-level poverty rates, driven by lower human capital, limited structural transformation, and restricted public goods provision. (Mehrotra) #IV
In Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), installing peacemaker units of police officers reduced crime rates, which boosted available credit, which in turn further reduced crime. (Tomkowski, Monteiro, and Caluz) #DID
Sanctioning public acts of repression, such as beating or arrests of protesters, can encourage a regime to prevent protest through less-public means, such as obstruction or harassment of organizers (based on data from 150 countries). (Andirin et al.) #FE
The political leaning of Brazilian players during the 2022 World Cup affected fans’ reactions depending on their political alignment. Celebrations after goals scored by a player were more intense among politically congruent fans. (Ajzenman, Ferman and Sant'Anna) #RCT
In southern Ethiopia, areas with more droughts also have more violent conflict. But when herders get and use insurance to protect against drought, it reduces conflict significantly (between 17 and 50 percent). (Sakketa, Maggio, and McPeak) #RCT
A law in Brazil requiring firms with more than a hundred workers to reserve at least two percent of their job openings for people with disabilities increased employment of people with disabilities. When firms got fined for not meeting the quota, nearby firms—even those not covered by the law—also boosted their disability employment. (Berlinski and Gagete-Miranda) #DID
In Uruguay, introducing individual retirement accounts as a complement to the traditional defined benefit pension led more people to work into their fifties. It also may have reduced tax evasion. In early old age, people had similar income levels across the two systems, but when people had the chance to go back to the defined benefit system, many did. (Lauletta and Bérgolo) #RD
If the government doesn't enforce people sticking to contracts, how do they work? Gamblers on horse races in Pakistan provide a window, since such betting is illegal and so the government doesn't enforce the contracts. "Even in the absence of legal enforcement authority, personal relationships, and violence, more than 70% of gamblers fulfill their contractual obligations." (Mehmood and Chen) #RCT
South African municipalities with higher historical exposure to post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commissions on media have lower levels of violence today. (Gautier, Horta-Saenz, and Russo) #FE
Losing a sibling during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide leads to more schooling and more siblings born after the genocide. (Gautier) #IV

Regulation, tax, and government

In Indonesia, “electoral defeats of the incumbent village head increase turnover in the village bureaucracy and reduce nepotism.” (Bazzi et al.) #RD
In India, after a bureaucrat is transferred to an important ministry with the power to make influential policies, the annual growth rate of the value of the bureaucrat’s assets is 10 percent higher, and it’s 4.4 percent higher for the number of their assets. (Chaudhury and Yuan) #DID
In China, “over 65% scoring auctions in public procurement show evidence of scoring rule manipulation.” (Chen) #FE
In Brazil, “high-ability students in (anti-corruption) audited municipalities are less likely to choose majors tailored toward public sector careers, such as business administration and law.” (Xun) #DID
In rural Bangladesh, the introduction of Village Courts more than doubled the share of disputes resolved in state-sanctioned courts, but the informal dispute resolution mechanism “shalish” remains most used. (Mattsson and Mobarak) #RCT
A comparative welfare analysis of 40 policies implemented in low- and middle-income countries since 1997 shows that the marginal value is low. (Morris)
Successful democratizations lead to substantial redistribution: the size of the public sector grows, income inequality falls, and the labor share of income rises, according to data from 90 countries. (Miller) #DID
In India, “local democracy aligns spending more closely with citizen preferences, but these gains accrue more to men, upper castes, and other advantaged social groups.” (Arora et al.) #FE #DID
In Brazil, “when a young politician is in office, there is a reduction in deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions without significant effects on local GDP.” (Dahis, de las Heras, Saavedra) #RD #DID
Appointing “a new city party secretary (PS), who serves as the leader of the local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization, is associated with a significant increase in the revealed comparative advantage in industries where the PS’s previous work location exhibited better performance.” (Lin et al.) #FE
Electoral turnovers improve country performance. “Electing new leaders leads to more policy change, it improves governance, and it reduces perceived corruption,” based on data from over 4,000 national elections since 1945. (Marx, Pons, and Rollet) #RD
In Senegal, bureaucrats with full discretion for building the lists of potential property tax payers tend to undervalue properties, and they do so even more for higher-value properties, resulting in a regressive tax profile. “In contrast, a rule-based system where bureaucrats record property characteristics (not values) that an algorithm then uses to compute values, significantly reduces this tax gap.” (Knebelmann, Pouliquen, and Sarr) #RCT
In Uzbekistan, mandating the use of online electronic fiscal devices, which provide regulators with real-time information on business transactions, increases company revenue reports to tax authorities by 13 percent. Adding a direct communication channel with citizens and financial rewards to act as enforcement agents increases firms’ reported revenues by an additional 34 percent. (Kobilov) #DID
Research projects developed in partnership with policymakers are 17 to 20 percentage points more likely to result in observed policy change. (Bonargent)
Do religions codify ecological principles? In Benin, a 1 SD increase in African Traditional Religions adherence has a 0.4 SD positive impact on forest cover change. (Deopa and Rinaldo) #IV
When Israel reduced child allowances to large families in 2003, Jewish families substituted by enrolling their young boys in ultra-Orthodox religious schools. In the long-term, fewer boys enrolled in high schools, without affecting families’ fertility or labor supply decisions. The reform led to a 13 percent decline in completed fertility among Arab families. (Gershoni et al.) #RD
In Brazil, exposure to a church-affiliated TV channel increases fertility rates, lowers female labor force participation, lowers schooling for young women in the next generation, and leads to more votes for Pentecostal candidates. (Mello and Buccione) #DID
In Brazil, the removal of progressive Catholic leaders halted the land invasion movement, a conflict in which poor and landless peasants invaded large landholdings to force land redistribution. (Martinez-Bravo, Solá, and Tuñón) #FE
Hate or fear? In the ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jos (Nigeria), fear explains 76 percent, and hate 24 percent of the non-cooperative behavior. (Ortiz) #RCT
Climate change leads to welfare losses of 4.8 percent of GDP across 271 regions in sub-Saharan Africa, with country-level losses as high as 43.8 percent of GDP. “Lowering trade costs can offset these losses by connecting deficit regions to surplus regions and the world market.” (Porteous)
In South Korea, under a better bureaucrat, exports increased by 40 percent. "In subsequent appointments, exports increase in products with greater bureaucrat experience." (Barteska and Lee) #FE
Giving information on tariff costs and local prices to traders (via a cell phone platform) at the Kenya-Uganda border increases switching across markets and routes, leading to large increases in traders’ profits and significant formalization of trade. (Wiseman) #RCT

Agriculture, infrastructure, and the environment

Agriculture and land.

In India, redistribution of land ownership led to an overall increase in durable asset ownership, nonfarm employment and years of schooling, including among lower-caste descendants of households that did not receive land. (Batra) #RD
Households’ agricultural production in Côte d’Ivoire improves during the agricultural season overlapping with oxen delivery, and increases in land holdings and input use in the subsequent season. (Brudevold-Newman, Donald, and Rouanet) #RCT
In Kenya, an information campaign (training farmers to identify hybrid maize seeds that are quality-verified) improved farmers' purchasing decisions and led to gains in maize yields. While improved information caused sellers to exit the market, there are no effects on prices or quality among stayers. (Hsu and Wambugu) #RCT
Increasing agricultural technologies cannot rely on market prices as a mechanism for targeting high-return farmers. In Bangladesh, when farmers receive a new wheat seed variety for free, they adopt it as much as farmers that chose to buy it at a subsidized price. (Mahmoud) #RCT
Improving the allocation of inputs (like land, labor, and credit) across farms in Thailand could boost productivity by more than a third. But improving allocation of multiple inputs is more productive than focusing entirely on improving allocation of just one input. (Silver)
A government program to subsidize the price of fertilizer encouraged farmers to specialize based on their comparative advantage: some boosted their agricultural yields; others left agriculture. (Diop) #DID
Social networks are key to people adopting new agricultural technology. But in Malawi (and a theoretical model predicts similar results elsewhere), using people with lots of connections to get farmers to adopt new seeds works best when lots of farmers in the network have similar farms (so that the seeds are similarly likely to work). (Chakraborty) #FE

Climate and pollution

Increasing water prices led to a decline in water use of richer households in Cape Town (South Africa). However, richer households substituted municipal water with privately drilled groundwater. (Cole et al.)
In Mozambique, “providing information on flood risk [such as physical damage and disease outbreaks] increased the implementation of suggested mitigation strategies.” (Leefers) #RCT
In the Philippines, large-scale tree planting reduced regional poverty and increased economic activity. (Pagel and Sileci) #DID
In Vietnam, rising temperatures lead more workers to move from agriculture into other industries, both in the short run and the long run. (Pham) #FE
Reducing localized emissions from vehicles within India’s 10 largest cities leads to a 3 times larger GDP gain than a policy controlling agricultural fires. “Further accounting for labor reallocation leads to a 6 times larger GDP gain.” (Tiwari)
In Colombia, “extreme temperature events increase the frequency of land sales and decrease the average farm size within municipalities.” (Arteaha et al.) #FE
In India, industrial water pollution does not seem to affect crop yields. Farmers respond to industrial water pollution by switching irrigation sources from surface water to (costly) groundwater and expanding irrigation. (Hagerty and Tiwari) #RD
To address sea level rise, the Indonesian government proposed a sea wall. Moral hazard generates severe lock-in and limits migration inland, even over the long run. (Hsiao) #RD
The 2009 tightening of environmental standards in the US shifted used lead-acid battery recycling, an industry that emits large amounts of lead pollution, to Mexico. Lead pollution exposure reduced students’ text scores by 0.05-0.09 standard deviations. (Litzow et al.) #DID
The Green Municipalities Program in the Brazilian Amazon (PMV) increased secondary forest cover (in places that have been previously deforested) by 9 percent. (Shinde et al.) #DID
In Nairobi (Kenya), improved stove ownership reduced high-frequency particulate matter (PM) exposure from 122 µg/m3 to 49 µg/m3, with a 0.24 SD reduction in self-reported respiratory health symptoms. (Berkouwer and Dean) #RCT
The beef cattle sector drives deforestation worldwide. In the Brazilian Amazon, large intermediaries drive down prices for farmer and cattle supply, but the deforestation frontier is largely competitive and thus emissions remain unaffected. (Barrozo) #IV

Infrastructure and transport

Chinese infrastructure projects significantly increased nighttime light in the African recipient regions, and the effects persist over time. World Bank projects, however, did not exhibit significant impacts on nighttime light. World Bank and Chinese infrastructure projects both positively influence women’s education attainment and health. (Chai and Tang)
Motortaxi drivers in Uganda admire other drivers who speed. Drivers are more likely to want financial incentives to limit speeding if those incentives are visible, so they can use them to justify their reduced speed to other drivers. (Raisaro) #RCT
In Mexico, urban localities that spent an additional month downwind from a 0.1 degree × 0.1 degree grid cell that has adopted conservation agriculture experience a 1.3 percent reduction in the number of infant deaths. (Ferguson and Govaerts) #ES #DID
Discontinuous incentives around the range thresholds of Chinese driving-range-based subsidies made low-end electric vehicle manufacturers’ invest in reducing the production costs of driving ranges by 30 percentage points. (Zhang) #FE
“Commuters in Jakarta (Indonesia) are 2-4 times more sensitive to wait time compared to time on the bus, and inattentive to long routes.” (Kreindler et al.) #DID
“Winning random lotteries for the ownership of condominium houses in Ethiopia leads to significant gains in educational attainment: educational enrollment increases by 4.5-11%, secondary school completion rates by 10.5% and post-secondary attendance rates by 16%.” (Agness and Getahun) #IV

The order of authors on this blog was determined by a virtual coin flip. This blog post benefited from research assistance by Amina Mendez Acosta and editing by Jeremy Gaines . A version of this post appears on the World Bank’s Development Impact blog .

CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise. CGD is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions.

View the discussion thread.

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Blog Research in focus – country profiles: Indonesia and Ecuador

Ecuador – a case of economic resilience and challenges.

Latin America

UNU-WIDER’s contributions and innovations through ECUAMOD

Overcoming hurdles

Linking research to development challenges

The research questions in Ecuador were intricately linked to the country’s development challenges, including high levels of income inequality and poverty, and the prevalence of informal employment. The studies contributed to an improved understanding of equity and efficiency in the design of tax-benefit policies, providing valuable insights for policymakers aiming to achieve redistribution and poverty reduction in Ecuador.

Indonesia – navigating sustainable development

Southeast Asia

Economic context and challenges

Unu-wider’s impact through specialization and focus .

Economic growth and its impact on the poor

Challenges and strategies for human capital development.

Turning to human capital, the research underscores the critical role of education and health in achieving sustainable development. A study by Idzalika and Lo Bue on educational opportunities reveals the persistent influence of socioeconomic conditions on educational outcomes , highlighting the limited impact of local education budget policies in leveling the playing field.

Collectively, these findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of Indonesia’s developmental challenges, providing actionable insights for policymakers, researchers, and the global community to address and overcome these challenges. UNU-WIDER’s research in Indonesia provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics of economic growth, poverty reduction, and human capital development.

This was a feature article in the 2023 UNU-WIDER Annual Report. Explore the full report here .

Tristan Reid is a Communications and Editorial Assistant at UNU-WIDER.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute or the United Nations University, nor the programme/project donors.

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Spring 2024 David Kinley Lecture in Economics: Stefan Dercon Presents "Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose"

The Economics Department is proud to announce Sefan Dercon as the Spring 2024 David Kinley Lecturer. Dr. Dercon will present "Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose" . The lecture will take place on Wednesday, April 3rd from 4:00-5:00 pm in 120 Architecture Building, with a reception to follow.

Join Stefan Dercon as he pulls from his latest book, Gambling on Development: Why some countries win and others lose. Drawing on his academic research as well as his policy experience across three decades and 40-odd countries, he will explore why some countries have managed to settle on elite bargains favoring growth and development, and others did not. The lecture will be followed by a reception with light refreshments.

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FALL 2023 MSPE CLASS This fall, we had 76 students begin their study in the MSPE Program. This class is represented by 11 different countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, Korea, Liberia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, and the USA. These students joined the 61 continuing students in the MSPE Program. Read full story
Register for Workshop "Causal Inference Current Trends and the Future of Research" The workshop "Causal Inference: Current Trends and the Future of Research" will be held on the 4th-5th of May 2023, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. The workshop is being organized by... Read full story
Register for Workshop "HDMetrics: Big Data, High-Dimensional Methods, and Machine Learning" The workshop "HDMetrics: Big Data, High-Dimensional Methods, and Machine Learning" will be held on the 21st-22nd of April 2023, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. The workshop is being organized by ... Read full story

Sierra Leone Records Progress in Human Capital Development - But Requires Sustained Investments to Drive Economic Growth and Reduce Poverty

FREETOWN, March 25, 2024 – Sierra Leone has made commendable strides in improving human capital development with the government demonstrating a strong commitment to enhancing the well-being and productivity of its population through significant investments in health and education, according to a new World Bank report launched today in Freetown. The report also highlights the prioritization of social protection interventions like cash transfers to extremely vulnerable groups as a notable intervention aimed at reducing poverty and building human capital.

The Sierra Leone Human Capital Review: Maximizing Human Potential for Resilience and Inclusive Development , provides critical insights into the country's efforts to foster human capital development and economic growth. The report examines the current state of health, education, and social protection systems in the country and offers recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of human capital investments.

"The future socio-economic stability and prosperity of Sierra Leone is intrinsically linked to the well-being of its people," said Abdu Muwonge, World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone . "This report provides a roadmap for the government and its partners to strengthen human capital, which is essential for Sierra Leone to achieve its full economic potential and improve the livelihoods of its citizens."

‘Human Capital Development’ is the first Policy Cluster in the Government of Sierra Leone’s Medium-term National Development Plan (MTNDP) 2019–2023 with increased financing of inputs in key human development sectors such as health and education. The new MTNDP (2024-2030) also prioritizes human capital development among its five key pillars, with food security as the main flagship. This increased commitment towards social sectors has resulted in improvements in health and education outcomes. For example, maternal and under-5 mortality rates, adult survival rates, as well as expected years of schooling have all improved since 2005. The Free Quality Education, launched in 2018, helped to reduce barriers to accessing education with the Education Sector Plan (2022–2026) laying out the core priorities and presenting a road map to achieving the country’s education goals. There have also been improvements in social protection coverage – the flagship social protection initiative, ‘Ep Fet Po’ cash transfer program, financed through the World Bank-supported Social Safety Net (SSN) Project, provides direct financial support to the most vulnerable populations, thereby contributing to the development of a more resilient and capable workforce.

However, Sierra Leone still faces challenges related to low human development outcomes, high poverty rates, and limited access to basic services, the report notes. The country ranks 151 out of 157 countries on the Human Capital Index (HCI). The HCI value is lower than the region’s average, indicating significant challenges in human capital development. The report highlights that only around two-thirds of today’s 15-year-olds can be expected to survive to the age of 60, and about one-quarter of the country’s children are stunted due to chronic malnutrition. Additionally, the HCI measure predicts that a child born today in Sierra Leone can be expected to be only 35% as productive when he or she grows up as the child could have been if he or she had enjoyed complete education and full health.

"The government of Sierra Leone has demonstrated a strong commitment to human capital. This report makes the case that one of the best investments a country can make is investing in its people,” said Ali Ansari, World Bank Senior Economist and one of the lead authors of the report. "A healthy, educated and skilled population is the cornerstone of Sierra Leone's journey towards a resilient, prosperous and inclusive future."

As policy priorities over the short to medium-term, the report emphasizes the need to: (i) prioritize investments in high-impact interventions for foundational learning, health, youth skills and employability; (ii) improve workforce management; (iii) prioritize investments in ensuring a minimum social protection floor for Sierra Leone; (iv) strengthen governance and implementation capacity; and (v) improve national and local level coordination in human capital development. The report also identifies several cross-cutting areas that should be prioritized, including: (i) building resilient and adaptive human development systems; (ii) improving food security; (iii) leveraging technology to enhance service delivery; and (iv) targeting human capital interventions to vulnerable groups, especially adolescent girls, women, youth and the poorest.

The Sierra Leone Human Capital Review is part of the World Bank's broader commitment to supporting countries in their efforts to build strong human capital as a foundation for inclusive growth. This is in line with WBG’s vision of creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet. The report's findings will serve as a valuable resource for policymakers, development partners, and stakeholders working towards a prosperous future for Sierra Leone.

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A List Of Potential Research Topics In Development Economics: Analyzing the role of social entrepreneurship in community development. Assessing the part of foreign aid in promoting economic development in low-income countries. Evaluating the impact of foreign debt on financial stability in Latin America.
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Our Institute's expansive international research contributions, consisting of over 800 WIDER Working Papers in the 2019-23 work programme, delve deep into the development challenges the world faces. In the following country profiles, we pivot our focus towards Ecuador and Indonesia, serving as examples of our unique collaborative approach to development.Utilizing our vast network of ...
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FREETOWN, March 25, 2024 - Sierra Leone has made commendable strides in improving human capital development with the government demonstrating a strong commitment to enhancing the well-being and productivity of its population through significant investments in health and education, according to a new World Bank report launched today in Freetown. The report also highlights the prioritization ...
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What’s the Latest Research in Development Economics? A Roundup from NEUDC 2022

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99 Development Economics Research Topics | Dissertation Ideas

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