We've been lucky to have Elisa Macchi from Brown University visiting the @princetondevo.bsky.social group this academic year. Read about Elisa's approach to research, including starting with very simple questions and seeing what emerges.

New research from @princetondevo.bsky.social affiliate Seema Jayachandran

Read about Abdou Cisse's path to economics and what he thinks makes a great econ paper. (We're lucky to have Abdou visiting @princetondevo.bsky.social this year.)

Check out our most recent conversation with Abdou Cisse, a Postdoc with us this year whose research focuses on energy markets in sub-Saharan Africa. It was a great conversation. Link below

Forthcoming in the JEL: "Women's Power in the Household" by Seema Jayachandran and Alessandra Voena. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

The Weiss Fund has a great new initiative for development economists on the PhD job market to support those taking up research positions in LMICs, offering supplementary income + research funds. Please share!

Reviewing how much power do women have in their households in developing countries and why household power matters, from @seema.bsky.social and Alessandra Voena www.nber.org/papers/w34605

New @princetondevo.bsky.social research

Nonprofits celebrate big grants, but @seema.bsky.social asks: how much new good did this funding create, & how much simply shifted between capable orgs?🤔 Her new blog shows how this type of counterfactual thinking can strengthen impact across the sector: https://go.cgdev.org/4oSvqXn

Our affiliate, Seema Jayachandran, argues in this blog post that, when fundraising, nonprofits shouldn't just care about how much they raise. They should value new funds they attract to the cause more than competitive grants they win that would have otherwise gone to an equally capable peer.

Professor Seema Jayachandran (@seema_econ) recently joined the Vox Dev Economics podcast with co-author Alessandra Voena to discuss their new new review paper, "Women’s Power in the Household." Listen: https://bit.ly/448YAdt

Resharing this VoxDev piece on women’s power in the household. A great synthesis of how economists measure agency, what shapes bargaining power, and why legal rights and norms matter. Worth a read!

And in related news: Pascaline Dupas was named to this year’s Future Perfect 25 for her leadership in evidence-based development! She's one of 6 'big thinkers reshaping foreign aid, masculinity, and development'. Link below to Vox...

New RPDE Faculty Snapshot: Pascaline Dupas shared insights on evidence-based development with African ambassadors in DC, drawing on her broader recent work in Benin and Guinea and across the regions. Details at the link below 👇

Check out our conversation with Nina Buchmann, visiting RPDE this year before she joins the economics faculty at UC Berkeley. We discuss her work at the intersection of gender and labor markets — and her reflections on where the field is heading. Link in the replies 👇👇

We’re HIRING! Great environment for early-career researchers in development economics. Read more by clicking on the post!

📢 RPDE at Princeton is hiring two Postdoctoral Research Associates for 2026–27. Details below: 👉 One-year term, no teaching load, active research + seminar community. 👉 PhD completion: Sept 2024–Aug 2026. 🔗 Apply via AEA JOE: www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.... #Postdoc #EconJobMarket #DevEcon

New research by @princetondevo.bsky.social visitor, Abdou Cisse

Check out this summary of research by Princeton faculty Pascaline Dupas and @seema.bsky.social and coauthors on encouraging verbal engagement with infants in Ghana. Showing new moms a 3-minute video was a cost-effective approach to boost engagement.

For econ JM candidates: @princetondevo.bsky.social is hiring for a 1-year postdoc with a start date in summer 2026. The only responsibility is to be an active participant in our Princeton development econ seminars and to continue pursuing your great independent research. Apply by Nov 24.

🚨🚨 Pre-doc Hiring! 🚨🚨 We are hiring pre-docs to start in Princeton in Summer 2026, supporting Pascaline Dupas, @thomasfujiwara.bsky.social @seema.bsky.social and Mica Sviatschi. This is a great opportunity to gain experience in development economics research before applying to PhD programs. Link 👇

We sat down with Jessica Goldberg (RPDE Spring '25 visiting faculty from UMD) this summer to pick her brain. Learn about the surprising journey that brought her back to Princeton 20 years after finishing her MPA. 👇 Link below in comments 👇

Check out our conversation with Miguel Ortiz, who visited us this year as a Postdoc after his PhD at UC Berkeley, starting at @ubcvse.bsky.social this fall. Learn about the economics of conflict & how an dissertation involved producing a 24 episode radio drama. Link in comments

🚨 FIELD JOB OPENING ALERT 🚨: @JohriTejal61310 is hiring a Senior Field Research Associate for a 3-month contract based in Uganda. See LinkedIn post linked below for more details and to apply!

Check out our conversation with Eric Verhoogen @ericverhoogen.bsky.social, who visited us this past year. Hear about his path from union organizer to development economist, how to optimally tile pentagons when making soccer balls, and more rpde.princeton.edu/news/2025/co...

I have a new review article w/ Alessandra Voena on women's power in the household in LMICs (just submitted to JEL). I've written ~6 review articles, and I think this is the best one. We make some useful conceptual points IMO. But you decide! Comments welcome! seemajayachandran.com/womens_power...

Work with me and my star coauthors (Patrick Agte & Pascaline Dupas) on AI & health! We're recruiting a full-time, Hindi-speaking field research associate to work on our project in Rajasthan. Please share and apply. jpalsouth.asia/jobsPage?ID=... #econtwitter #econsky #econra

If interested, details are below on how to participate in tomorrow's World Bank webinar on "Women's Voices and Choices" with RPDE faculty member @seema.bsky.social and others.

And a large thank you to Prof. Karthik Muralidharan for giving an insightful talk on his new book, "Accelerating India's Development" last week leading into the BREAD Conference, @karthik-econ.bsky.social

Thanks for all those who attended and presented at the BREAD Conference hosted by RPDE here in Princeton last week! It was a joy to welcome over 100 development economists to discuss their emerging work over the weekend.

BREAD Development Conference LIVE STREAM starting in 10 minutes! Hosted here in Princeton by RPDE. Tune-in today and tomorrow to hear author present some of the most exciting recent DevEcon paper #Economics #Development #Princeton LINK: princeton.zoom.us/j/93399992221

Check out our new Q&A with RPDE Professor Mica Sviatschi on her groundbreaking research on the economics of gangs! Part 1 of 2 <Link to full article below>

Citing Professor Seema Jayachandran's (@seema.bsky.social) research, @nytimes.com analyzes the potential impact of firing the staff at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/c...

Congratulations to Maria Micaela Sviatschi, recently named a 2025 Sloan Fellow! Sviatschi is a microeconomist who studies how the presence of non-state violence shapes individuals’ lives and well-being. Learn more about Sviatschi and her work: bit.ly/4bvU7nA

"Strong, independent academic institutions produce new technologies and insights that catalyze economic growth, save lives, improve well-being, and overcome injustices." — Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber writes in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

2/6 Breakthrough partnered with J-PAL affiliates @seema.bsky.social and @hyderabadi-chai.bsky.social and coauthor Diva Dhar, who found that the curriculum changed gender attitudes and behaviors for 7th and 8th graders. Boys did more household chores and encouraged their sisters to pursue college.

Our affiliate Pacaline Dupas' research in Ghana finds huge returns to secondary school for girls. You just need to look in the right place: The returns are in the form of better health outcomes (e.g., higher survival rate) for their children.

Subsidising secondary school had transformative impacts. Female recipients had ~15% fewer unplanned pregnancies, 15% fewer children + significantly delayed age at first childbirth & marriage. Over time, their offspring’s outcomes improved dramatically ⤵️

Now posted on VoxDev: RPDE's @seema.bsky.social and coauthors summarize their research on Payments for Ecosystem Services in Mexico. Redesigning the PES contract increased cost-effectiveness 5-fold.

Using the results shown below and others, we estimate that couples in Germany act as if they value women's earnings at 48 cents on the Euro, compared to men's earnings. In Sweden, it's 80 cents on the Euro. Full paper here: bit.ly/MTO-T

Featured in the latest Digest: "Designing Cost-Effective Forest Conservation Programs" https://www.nber.org/digest/202411/designing-cost-effective-forest-conservation-programs

An intervention within schools in Mozambique aimed at reducing gender-based violence mitigated violence by deterring potential perpetrators and fostering a proactive stance among victims, from Amaral, Garcia-Ramos, Gulesci, Ramos, Ore-Quispe, and Sviatschi https://www.nber.org/papers/w33203

It's a treat to have a paper highlighted in the NBER Digest! Couples' choices about when to relocate offer a lens into how they value each person's career success. In both Sweden and Germany, they seem to prioritize men's careers, even when the woman has similar earning potential. bit.ly/MTO-T

Thanks for highlighting our faculty affiliate Pascaline Dupas' important work on the intergenerational effects of secondary school. A big component of the returns to secondary school for women in Ghana was lower infant mortality among their children.

Inspired by @dmckenzie.bsky.social's World Bank Researchers starter pack. I've created a starter pack for researchers within the J-PAL, IPA, and CEGA networks go.bsky.app/GXq3VE5 As the name suggests, it's just a start. Space to add more!

*HIRING* Come work with RPDE! The development econ group at Princeton is hiring 2 postdocs for 2025-26 to spend the year with us before starting their regular academic positions. Details here: aeaweb.org/joe/listing.... @seema.bsky.social

The Research Coordinator/Manager position with @seema.bsky.social and Pascaline Dupas is also open to candidates with only BA and strong work experience including fieldwork/RCTs (but cannot sponsor visa for only BA candidates) -- apply here if interested: main-princeton.icims.com/jobs/19858/p...

RPDE is hiring! We are looking for a Research Coordinator to work at RPDE with our senior faculty Seema Jayachandran @seema.bsky.social and Pascaline Dupas! The position is based in Princeton, NJ. Apply here: shorturl.at/gDsFW. Share widely!

RPDE is hiring! We are looking for: 1) Research and Policy Manager (rb.gy/84ejll) and 2) Research Coordinator (rb.gy/zd280v). Both are based in Princeton & involve supporting RPDE senior faculty @seema.bsky.social and Pascaline Dupas. Apply and and share widely!

When home heating prices are lower, fewer people die each winter, particularly in high-poverty communities. That's the punchline of my paper with Janjala Chirakijja and Pinchuan Ong on heating prices and mortality in the US, just published in the Economic Journal. 📉📈 academic.oup.com/ej/advance-a...