Halefom Yigzaw Nigus

I am currently a research fellow at the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute (PSI). I hold a Ph.D. in Development Economics from UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Before joining PSI, I worked as a Consultant within the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department at the World Bank Group (WBG), where I significantly contributed to a large-scale Randomized Controlled Trial study focusing on the impact of reducing information frictions on labor market outcomes in Ethiopia. I have also worked as a consultant on the University of Oxford's Refugee Economies project and as a lecturer and head of the Department of Economics at Dilla University, Ethiopia. Recently, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Global Poverty Research Lab, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. I have published in several reputable international peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, the Journal of Risk and Insurance,  Review of Behavioral Economics,and Health Policy and Technology. My skills include extensive experience in conducting lab-in-the-field experiments, managing rural and urban household surveys, firm surveys, and utilizing microeconometric methods. My research interests lie at the intersection between behavioral, development, and environmental economics, with a focus on impact evaluations, rural development, socio-economic and behavioral implications of climate and violent conflict shocks, climate change perception and adaptation, economics of religion, mental health, and behavioral and experimental economics.

Projects