Welcome

Robin Burgess is a Professor of Economics, Co-Founder and Director of the International Growth Centre and Director of the Economics of Environment and Energy Research Programme, all at the LSE. He is Co-Director (with Michael Greenstone) of the Coase Project on the Economics of Climate, Energy and Environment, was the past President of BREAD, serves on the Board of Voxdev and CEGA and is an Affiliate of J-PAL and Y-RISE, a Research Fellow in CEPR and CESifo and a Fellow of the British Academy and the Econometric Society. His main interests are in the areas of environmental economics, development economics and political economy and he is currently working in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, South Korea and Uganda.

 

AFFILIATIONS

Recent Highlights

For all Research highlights, click here.

LSE Environment Week 2024

The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (EEE), International Growth Centre (IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID) within the LSE Department of Economics is convening the third Environment Week at LSE. Working with partners at the school and across the world, we want to use Environment Week to encourage economists from all fields of economics to work on environmental issues and to connect this work to policy change.

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LSE Environment Camp 2024

The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (EEE), International Growth Centre (IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID) in the LSE Economics Department are organising Environment Camp on May 2-3rd 2024 at the London School of Economics. LSE Environment Camp will be a two-day conference designed to provide PhD students from all fields of economics the opportunity present new research on environmental issues, interact with future colleagues, and receive valuable feedback.

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European Research Council (ERC)

Robin Burgess was awarded the ERC Advanced Grant.

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Econometric Society

Robin Burgess elected as a fellow of the Econometric Society in 2023.

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IZA/FCDO ONLINE Development Economics Course

The biggest puzzle in economics is why fundamentally equal humans living in different countries enjoy very different standards of living. The aim of this course is to bring together the very latest research in development economics that tries to answer this puzzle.

We will follow the arc of development, which starts with small subsistence entrepreneurs (normally in agriculture) and ends in large complex multinational enterprises. We will analyze how man-made organizations trade with one another, how they affect the environment in which they live and how the environment affects them in return. We will finally analyze the role of the state in regulating markets, coordinating economic activity and containing externalities.

Course Information

 

LSE Environment Week 2023

The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (EEE), International Growth Centre (IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID) within the LSE Department of Economics is convening the second Environment Week at LSE on 11-14 September 2023. Working with partners at the School and across the world we want to use Environment Week to encourage economists from all fields of economics to work on environmental issues and to connect this work to policy change.

link

 

LSE Environment Camp 2023

The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (EEE), International Growth Centre (IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID) in the LSE Economics Department are organising Environment Camp at the London School of Economics. LSE Environment Camp will be a two-day conference designed to provide PhD students from all fields of economics the opportunity present new research on environmental issues, interact with future colleagues, and receive valuable feedback.

link

 

EC330 Environmental Economics

with Clare Balboni, a new undergraduate environmental economics course is available at LSE.

 

Tropical deforestation survey

Tropical deforestation is a major driver of global emissions. With Allan Hsiao, we survey the literature and discuss next steps for researchers and policymakers.

Slides

 

 

Environment Week 2022

Robin Burgess organized the first LSE environment week, co-chaired by Clare Balboni, Tim Dobermann, Pol Simpson and John Van Reenen, with more than 40 papers, 30 public events, 3 master classes and 4 policy round tables.

The details of the programme and recordings from public lectures are available at: https://www.lse-environment-week.com/

 

 

Bureaucracy and Development

With Timothy J. Besley, Adnan Khan and Guo Xu

The Annual Review of Economics, 2022, 14: 397-424.

Published version

 

Abstract
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in whether and how bureaucratic effectiveness contributes to development. Just what makes for an effective bureaucracy and what are the building blocks of state capacity remain subject to debate. This article reviews the arguments connecting contemporary research using administrative data and field experiments to wider discussions of the origins of state capacity. Most current research has focused on understanding specific features of the environment in which bureaucrats operate. We connect this to discussions of bureaucratic systems, specifically the relationship to politics, citizens, firms, and nongovernmental organizations. Read more...
 

The Economics of Tropical Deforestation

With Clare Balboni, Aaron Berman and Benjamin A. Olken

Forthcoming, The Annual Review of Economics

PDF Online appendix  



Abstract
Two factors have elevated recent academic and policy interest in tropical deforestation: first, the realization that it is a major contributor to climate change; and second, a revolution in satellite-based measurement that has revealed that it is proceeding at a rapid rate. We begin by reviewing the methodological advances that have enabled measurement of forest loss at a fine spatial resolution across the globe. We then develop a simple benchmark model of deforestation based on classic models of natural resource extraction. Extending this approach to incorporate features that characterize deforestation in developing countries—pressure for land use change, significant local and global externalities, weak property rights, and political economy constraints—provides us with a framework for reviewing the fast-growing empirical literature on the economics of deforestation in the tropics. This combination of theory and empirics provides insights not only into the economic drivers and impacts of tropical deforestation but also into policies that may affect its progression. We conclude by identifying areas where more work is needed in this important body of research. Read more...
 

Why Do People Stay Poor?

With Oriana Bandiera, Clare Balboni, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2022, 137(2) 785-844

Published version   Oriana's Slides  

Press Coverage: VoxDev (Clare's Video),   Of Dollars and Data,   VoxDev (Maitreesh's Video),   LSE Research for the World Magazine  

Abstract
There are two broad views as to why people stay poor. One emphasizes differences in fundamentals, such as ability, talent or motivation. The other, the poverty traps view, differences in opportunities which stem from access to wealth. To test between these two views, we exploit a large-scale, randomized asset transfer and an 11-year panel on 6000 households who begin in extreme poverty. The setting is rural Bangladesh and the asset is cows. The data supports the poverty traps view - we identify a threshold level of initial assets above which households accumulate assets, take on better occupations (from casual labor in agriculture or domestic services to running small livestock businesses) and grow out of poverty. The reverse happens for those below the threshold. Structural estimation of an occupational choice model reveals that almost all beneficiaries are misallocated in the work they do at baseline and that the gains arising from eliminating misallocation would far exceed the program costs. Our findings imply that large transfers which create better jobs for the poor are an effective means of getting people out of poverty traps and reducing global poverty. Read more...
econimate video
Conference Presentation
 

The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics

With Clare Balboni and Ben Olken

Resubmitted, The Review of Economic Studies

Manuscript Online Appendix  


Abstract
Environmental externalities – uncompensated damages imposed on others – lie at the root of climate change, pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Empirical evidence is limited, however, as to how externalities drive private decision making. We study one such behavior, illegal tropical forest fires, using 15 years of daily satellite data covering over 107,000 fires across Indonesia. Weather-induced variation in fire spread risk and variation in who owns surrounding land allow us to identify how far externalities influence the decision to use fire. Relative to when all spread risks are internalized, we find that firms overuse fire when surrounded by unleased government lands where property rights are weak. In contrast, and consistent with Coase, firms treat risks to nearby private concessions similarly to risks to their own land. Government sanctions, concentrated on fires spreading to populated areas, also deter fires, consistent with Pigouvian deterrence. Read more...
 

Electricity Demand and Supply on the Global Electrification Frontier

With Michael Greenstone, Nicholas Ryan and Anant Sudarshan

Resubmitted, American Economic Review

Draft

Press Coverage: The Economist, IGC Blog, Forbes

Abstract
"Falling off-grid solar prices and grid expansion now give many households in developing countries a choice between electricity sources. We experimentally estimate demand over all sources in Bihar, India and find that: (i) no one source of electricity dominates, as households substitute freely between sources; (ii) both solar and the grid boost electrification rates, but households value the grid more; (iii) as households get wealthier the grid dominates. We apply the demand model to eight African countries to show that the lower surplus from electrification and higher solar take-up in Africa are due to policyinduced differences in supply, not demand." Read more...
Short Video
Full Documentary
 

The Search for Good Jobs: Evidence from a Six-Year Experiment in Uganda

With Oriana Bandiera, Vittorio Bassi, Imran Rasul, Munshi Sulaiman and Anna Vitali

Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Labor Economics

Draft  

Press Coverage: J-PAL blog    


Abstract
Developing countries face the challenge of aiding large cohorts of labor market entrants find good jobs. How to do so is complicated by job seekers differing in their skills, information and traits. We present results from a six-year field experiment studying job search behavior among youth in urban labor markets in Uganda, who at baseline, are unskilled yet optimistic over their job prospects. We engineer heterogeneity across workers through the offer of vocational training, and job assistance to meet with potential employers. Vocational training leads to measurable improvements in skills, while job assistance alters information workers have on their prospects, as call back rates from employers are low. Search behavior varies across the skills distribution: relative to controls, skilled youth become even more optimistic, search more intensively, and direct search towards better firms. The additional provision of job assistance to skilled youth causes them to revise down their beliefs, search less intensively and over lower quality firms. These differential search strategies impact long run outcomes: skilled workers without job assistance have higher employment rates and spell durations, and match to higher quality jobs and firms. Fixed traits across workers such as their cognitive ability and self-evaluation determine search strategies and outcomes because they interlink with how youth respond to the low call back rates from job assistance. Overall, our study provides insights on sources of worker heterogeneity driving labor market inequalities and inefficiencies, and on the design and targeting of labor market programs. Read more...
 

Engage

Robin Burgess, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Ta-Chung Liu Distinguished Visitor at BFI, discusses his work on development econ...

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