Edward Miguel
Encyclopedia
Edward Miguel is an American economist and is currently Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley
. He is founder and faculty director of the Center of Evaluation for Global Action
at U.C. Berkeley.
His work focuses on African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective action; and interactions between health, education, and productivity for the poor. Along with colleagues, such as Michael Kremer
, Esther Duflo
, Dean Karlan
and Abhijit Banerjee
, he has pioneered the use of randomized controlled trials and other rigorous evaluation methods to test the impact of development interventions in the field.
in 1996, where he was a Truman Scholar. In 2000 he completed a PhD in economics at Harvard University
, where he was a National Science Foundation
Graduate Fellow.
and a visiting fellow at Princeton University
.
Edward Miguel and Michael Kremer
published groundbreaking research in 2004 on school-based mass deworming
in Kenya using rigorous evaluation methods to test the impact of poverty reduction programs. Their findings that deworming was a cost-effective way to improve school attendance and community health led to the establishment of Deworm the World, a non-profit that works directly with governments and other partners to expand school-based deworming worldwide. The efforts of Deworm the World, together with the results of Miguel and Kremer’s research, were instrumental in the creation of a Kenyan national deworming program in 2009. That year the program reached more than 3.6 million children at 8,200 schools across the country, making it one of the first evidence-based, national deworming programs in sub-Saharan Africa.
This research has been covered multiple times by the New York Times, as well as by the Boston Globe, and the Chicago Tribune. In May 2011, Miguel and Kremer’s work was featured in a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof on the importance of impact evaluation.
Miguel and co-authors Shankar Satyanath and Ernest Sergenti published a seminal 2004 research article that used annual variation in rainfall to estimate the impact of economic conditions on civil war in sub-Saharan Africa. The study shows that a 5% drop in economic growth increases the likelihood of a civil conflict the following year by more than one half, suggesting that adverse economic conditions can trigger civil conflict.
Miguel and Raymond Fisman published a study in 2006 comparing the number of parking violations per UN diplomat in New York to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. The results, which were covered in the Economist and Forbes, found a strong correlation between political corruption and parking tickets, highlighting the role of cultural norms and legal enforcement in corruption.
Miguel is the author, together with Fisman, of the 2008 book “Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence and the Poverty of Nations” (Princeton University Press), which was released in paperback in 2010 and has been published in translation in Chinese, Farsi and German.
His research has been funded through grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, among other agencies.
In 2008, Miguel founded the Center of Evaluation for Global Action
(CEGA), a network of researchers from across the University of California
who evaluate solutions to global development challenges. Miguel currently serves as CEGA’s faculty director.
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He is founder and faculty director of the Center of Evaluation for Global Action
Center of Evaluation for Global Action
The Center of Evaluation for Global Action is a research network at the University of California that advances global health and development through impact evaluation and economic analysis...
at U.C. Berkeley.
His work focuses on African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective action; and interactions between health, education, and productivity for the poor. Along with colleagues, such as Michael Kremer
Michael Kremer
Michael Robert Kremer is a development economist and is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global...
, Esther Duflo
Esther Duflo
Esther Duflo is a French economist, currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also co-founder and the Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab...
, Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan is a Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Research Fellow at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
and Abhijit Banerjee
Abhijit Banerjee
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian economist. He is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
, he has pioneered the use of randomized controlled trials and other rigorous evaluation methods to test the impact of development interventions in the field.
Education
Miguel earned degrees in Economics and Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1996, where he was a Truman Scholar. In 2000 he completed a PhD in economics at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he was a National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Graduate Fellow.
Career
Miguel is currently professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 2000. Previously he was a visiting professor at Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and a visiting fellow at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
Edward Miguel and Michael Kremer
Michael Kremer
Michael Robert Kremer is a development economist and is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global...
published groundbreaking research in 2004 on school-based mass deworming
Deworming
Deworming is the giving of an anthelmintic drug to an animal to rid it of intestinal parasites, such as roundworm and tapeworm...
in Kenya using rigorous evaluation methods to test the impact of poverty reduction programs. Their findings that deworming was a cost-effective way to improve school attendance and community health led to the establishment of Deworm the World, a non-profit that works directly with governments and other partners to expand school-based deworming worldwide. The efforts of Deworm the World, together with the results of Miguel and Kremer’s research, were instrumental in the creation of a Kenyan national deworming program in 2009. That year the program reached more than 3.6 million children at 8,200 schools across the country, making it one of the first evidence-based, national deworming programs in sub-Saharan Africa.
This research has been covered multiple times by the New York Times, as well as by the Boston Globe, and the Chicago Tribune. In May 2011, Miguel and Kremer’s work was featured in a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof on the importance of impact evaluation.
Miguel and co-authors Shankar Satyanath and Ernest Sergenti published a seminal 2004 research article that used annual variation in rainfall to estimate the impact of economic conditions on civil war in sub-Saharan Africa. The study shows that a 5% drop in economic growth increases the likelihood of a civil conflict the following year by more than one half, suggesting that adverse economic conditions can trigger civil conflict.
Miguel and Raymond Fisman published a study in 2006 comparing the number of parking violations per UN diplomat in New York to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. The results, which were covered in the Economist and Forbes, found a strong correlation between political corruption and parking tickets, highlighting the role of cultural norms and legal enforcement in corruption.
Miguel is the author, together with Fisman, of the 2008 book “Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence and the Poverty of Nations” (Princeton University Press), which was released in paperback in 2010 and has been published in translation in Chinese, Farsi and German.
His research has been funded through grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, among other agencies.
In 2008, Miguel founded the Center of Evaluation for Global Action
Center of Evaluation for Global Action
The Center of Evaluation for Global Action is a research network at the University of California that advances global health and development through impact evaluation and economic analysis...
(CEGA), a network of researchers from across the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
who evaluate solutions to global development challenges. Miguel currently serves as CEGA’s faculty director.
Awards
- 2010 Kiel Institute Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs
- 2005 Kenneth J. Arrow Award for the best paper in health economics (entitled “Worms: Identifying impacts on education and health in the presence of treatment externalities”), presented by the International Health Economics Association
- 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
- 2003-04 UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, Social Sciences Division
Select Publications
- Miguel, Edward, Michael Kremer, Jessica Leino, and Alix Zwane. Spring Cleaning: Rural Water Impacts, Valuation, and Property Rights Institutions. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2011, 126(1), 145-205.
- Miguel, Edward, and Chris Blattman. Civil War. Journal of Economic Literature, 2010, 48(1), 3-57
- Miguel, Edward. Africa’s Turn?. Boston Review Books, 2009.
- Miguel, Edward and Raymond Fisman. Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations, Princeton University Press, 2008.
- Miguel, Edward and Michael Kremer. The Illusion of Sustainability. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007, 112(3), 1007-1065.
- Miguel, Edward and Raymond Fisman. Corruption, Norms and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets. Journal of Political Economy, 2007, 115(6), 1020–1048
- Miguel, Edward. Poverty and Witch Killing. Review of Economic Studies, 2005, 72(4), 1153–1172
- Miguel, Edward and Michael Kremer. Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities. Econometrica, 2004, 72 (1), 159-217.
- Miguel, Edward, Shanker Satyanath and Ernest Sergent. Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach. Journal of Political Economy, 2004, 112(4), 725-753