27 Hillhouse Avenue, 203.432.3610, egc@yale.edu
https://egc.yale.edu

Director
Rohini Pande

A research center based in the Yale Department of Economics, the Economic Growth Center (EGC) is Yale’s hub for economics research and teaching on issues concerning lower-income countries and the advancement of their populations. It was founded in 1961 as the first research center in a major U.S. university focused on the quantitative study of lower-income economies. Additionally, it sought to provide a training ground for future development researchers and policy practitioners.

Today, EGC continues this agenda, examining not only the links between economic growth and poverty, but also how rising inequality and a changing climate affect individual well-being, especially among marginalized groups. Many research projects at EGC are conducted in collaboration with governments and other policy counterparts in developing countries, creating a direct channel through which research insights benefit the lives of millions of people. The center supports the wider research community by enabling open access to large-scale surveys conducted by its researchers. EGC aims to create channels for economic research and data-driven insights to inform and enable equitable development. It also hosts the master’s degree program in International and Development Economics (IDE), which brings together a focus on development and policy that offers a pipeline to top economics Ph.D. programs and quantitative policy and research positions.

EGC’s programming includes the annual Simon Kuznets Memorial Lecture, featuring prominent economists speaking on issues in economic development. The center holds weekly research seminars and co-hosts Yale Development Dialogues, a series of panel discussions that convene economists, historians, journalists, and policy makers to apply insights from history and economics to some of the most pressing policy issues confronting developing countries.

The center’s faculty affiliates hold appointments in the Department of Economics and other departments and schools at Yale. Current research areas include political economy of development, economic justice and issues of gender, migration, early childhood development, environment and climate change, and the relationship between trade and development. EGC provides fellowships and research grants to graduate students and faculty, and its internship program engages Yale students in events, communications, and data analysis.