On Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, 2024, we held the MDev Conference in Ann Arbor. This was a development economics conference for University of Michigan researchers, students, and alumni. 

The list of presenters and papers is here and the list of confirmed participants is at the bottom of this page. 

The conference was held in Lorch Hall. It consisted of a mix of 30-minute presentations and shorter (10-minute) presentations.

Please enjoy our official conference photos, courtesy of Go Blue Photos.

A Program Committee of esteemed U-M alumni decided on the conference program: Kate Ambler (chair), James Allen, Emily Beam, Jessica Goldberg, Caroline Theoharides, and Hang Yu.

Conference funding is from the University of Michigan’s Department of Economics, Population Studies Center (Institute for Social Research), and International Policy Center (Ford School of Public Policy). 

Questions? Please write to the MDev email address, [email protected], or reach out to any of us on the organizing committee.

MDev Organizing Committee: James Allen, Kate Ambler, Emily Beam, Kevin Carney, Jessica Goldberg, Yusuf Neggers, Emma Riley, Caroline Theoharides, Dean Yang, and Hang Yu

MDev Administrative Coordinators: Rachael Hamilton (PSC), Jessica Yen (Department of Economics), Eesha Acharya and Ann Yang (DevLab)

Foster Library, Lorch Hall (611 Tappan Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109)

6:30PM onwards: Dinner at Blue Nile (221 E.Washington Street)

8:00AM – 8:30PM: Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM: Introductions

9:00 AM – 10:20 AM: Session 1: Education

10:20 AM – 10:50 AM: Break and Discussion of Short Presentations

10:50 AM – 12:50 PM: Session 2: Poverty and Programming I

12:50 PM – 2:20 PM: Lunch and discussion of short presentations

2:20 PM – 4:00 PM: Session 3: Firms and Labor

4:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Break and discussion of short presentations

4:30 PM – 4:40 PM: Group Photo

4:40 PM – 5:45 PM: Group Discussion and Networking

6:30 PM onwards: Dinner at Pretzel Bell (226 S. Main St.)

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Breakfast

9:00 AM – 10:40 AM: Session 4: Governance, Politics, Conflict

10:40 AM – 11:10 AM: Break and Discussion of short presentations

11:10 AM – 12:40 PM: Session 5: Poverty and Programming II

12:40 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch

6:30 PM: Dinner and Karaoke at Dean Yang’s residence (701 Green Rd.)

Faculty

Kevin Carney, Assistant Professor

Mark Dincecco, Associate Professor

Emma Riley, Assistant Professor

Tanya Rosenblat, Professor

Dean Yang, Professor

Visiting Faculty

Mehrab Bakhtiar, International Food Policy Research Institute

Jack Jacobs, Penn Development Research Initiative 

Joan Martinez, University of California, Berkeley

Staff

Rita Neves, Research Area Specialist Associate

Nyah Phillips, Research Assistant 

Current Students

Eesha Acharya, Undergraduate student

John Ahlin, Undergraduate student

Johar Arrieta, Ph.D. student

Christabel Akhigbe, Ph.D. student

Olga Aristova, Ph.D. student

Paul Brimble, Ph.D. student

Saheel Chodavadia, Ph.D. student

Brian Daza, Ph.D. student

Joaquin Endara, Ph.D. student

Alexander Fertig, Ph.D. student

Mariany Fuentes, Ph.D. student

Luciana Galeano, Ph.D. student

Ariza Gusti, Ph.D. student 

Maximilian Huppertz, Ph.D. student

Mika Inoue, Ph.D. student

Heesung Kim, Ph.D. student

Seongyoon Kim, Ph.D. student

Aladdin Ko, Ph.D. student

Jana Kontar, Ph.D. student

Thomas Lloyd, Ph.D. student

Paula Lopez, Ph.D. student

Magdalena Martin, Ph.D. student

Russell Morton, Ph.D. student

Dablin Mpuuga, Ph.D. student

Aneesha Parvathaneni, Ph.D. student

Nirina Randrianarisoa, Ph.D. student

Shodi Saliev, Ph.D. student

Daniel Velasquez, Ph.D. student

Johar Arrieta Vidal, Ph.D. student

Willem Wilken, Ph.D. student

Ann Yang, Undergraduate student

Niaoniao You, Ph.D. student

Tianyu Zheng, Ph.D. student

Edgar Zhu, Undergraduate student

Future Students

Sameer Nair-Desai, Incoming Ph.D. student