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, shifting trade patterns, 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 low- and middle-income 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 survey data collected by its researchers.

EGC aims to create channels for economic research and data-driven insights to inform and enable equitable development, particularly through our research initiatives that include inclusion economics (jointly with the MacMillan Center), markets and development, and climate, energy, and growth. The Economic History program is housed at EGC. It also hosts the master’s degree program in International and Development Economics (IDE), which brings together a focus on quantitative methods, development questions, and policy analysis 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, followed by a mini-conference showcasing new research in areas related to the lecture. The center holds weekly research seminars and hosts a number of research conferences each year, both at Yale and in focal countries including India, Nepal, and Kenya. EGC also welcomes nominated scholars from around the world to Yale for one- to two-week stays through the Kuznets Visitors program. 

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; gender and labor; firms, markets, trade, and development; climate, energy, and growth; macro-development; and economic history. EGC provides fellowships and research grants to graduate students and faculty, and its internship program engages Yale students in events, communications, and data analysis.