Yale Economic Growth Center

Registration for our 2026 Firms, Trade, and Development conference, co-hosted with International Growth Centre is open!
Sept 10-11 in New Haven, please join us.

Firms, Trade, and Development Conference 2026

From EGC affiliate and Director of the Economic History Program, Leah Boustan, with Abramitzky, Gulek & Hainmueller:

"Using a novel cross-industry design and the 1999–2003 expansion of the H-1B visa cap for identification, we find that H-1B exposure raised incomes for natives and pre-existing immigrants, with gains concentrated in non-STEM occupations. Income gains propagate forward through supply chains to downstream industries but not backward to upstream industries, consistent with a productivity shock rather than a labor supply shock. We find no direct effect on patenting, suggesting that productivity gains arise from better task ex*****on rather than patentable invention."

(paper link in replies):

Affiliate Mushfiq Mobarak on how one of the deadliest disasters in history led to independence for Bangladesh, and what leaders can learn about responding to climate-caused crises.
(Paper link in replies)

The birth of Bangladesh: How the Bhola cyclone fostered revolution Did one of history's deadliest natural disasters help shape the bir...

Please join us, registration now open!

Firms, Trade, and Development Conference 2026 Attend the Firms, Trade, and Development conference at Yale University on September 10–11, 2026, hosted by IGC and Yale EGC, in person or online.

How rebel governance helped build an inclusive democracy in Nepal Parallel governance institutions built by Maoist rebels during Nepal's civil war led to lasting improvements in political participation among historically excluded groups, more representative candidate selection across parties, and greater local government capacity.

In a new working paper (ungated EGC link in comments), Patrick Agte, Daniel R. Morales, PhD, EGC affiliate Christopher Neilson, Sebastián Otero & Gautam Rao ask what factors influence a national scale-up of an effective program.

In a national experiment in the Dominican Republic scaling an effective education program with school principals: "We find precise null effects of sharing research evidence, providing modest financial incentives, or offering implementation assistance to principals. In contrast, additional reminder calls increased implementation by 20 percentage points."

Testing what gets bureaucrats to implement mandated programs. Incentives, evidence, support: zero effect. Reminder phone calls: +20 percentage points. Attention matters, from Patrick Agte, Daniel R. Morales, Christopher Neilson, Sebastián Otero, and Gautam Rao https://www.nber.org/papers/w35291

Come work with us & Yale Inclusion Economics (please share with interested colleagues!):

US-based:
(Predoctoral) Research Fellow in Development and Experimental Economics: https://ie.yale.edu/opportunities/development-and-experimental-economics-research-fellow

Kenya-Based:
Research Associate/Predoctoral Fellow:
https://ie.yale.edu/opportunities/research-associatepredoctoral-fellow-yale-inclusion-economics

Research Scientist (postdoctoral):
https://egc.yale.edu/opportunities/inclusion-economics-research-scientist

And see all of Inclusion Economics' current job opportunities, including in India and Nepal, here:
https://ie.yale.edu/opportunities-ie

Explore Opportunities Explore the current job openings at Yale, as well as Inclusion Economics India Centre at IFMR and Inclusion Economics Nepal at Governance Lab.

In 1974, Yale students staged hunger strikes and teach-ins to raise awareness of global hunger. One of the lasting effects was the return of farmer-turned-economist Robert Evenson to Yale University & Yale Department of Economics, where he would spent the next 30 years working to help feed the world.

Read about his work bringing empirical approaches to agricultural economics 👇

https://egc.yale.edu/news/260603/robert-evenson-farmer-scholar-who-brought-agricultural-economics-yale

📣 New working paper! Do the impacts of revolutionary governments persist in post-conflict institutions?

Bhishma K. Bhusal, Michael Callen, Rohini Pande, Soledad Artiz Prillaman, Deepak Singhania & Apurva Subedi found that in Nepal's transition out of two decades of conflict, areas that were previously exposed to more minority-inclusive rebel governance were more inclusive and better able to deliver services under the new national democratic system.

A new paper in the Cowles Econ Yale working paper series.

https://cowles.yale.edu/research/cfdp-2529-peoples-war-peoples-rule-rebel-governance-and-foundations-inclusive-democracy

🎓 Meet the class of 2026 and please join us in congratulating them! 🎉

EGC Celebrates the Class of 2026, their achievements and future plans A diverse group of students passionate about international development – Economics PhDs, IDE masters students, and our own Postgraduate Associates and Interns – are moving on. The Economic Growth Center community congratulates them on their achievements and looks forward to their next steps.