I am an economist working on issues relating to economic development in rural areas around the world. My research interests are broad, and include among others: rural transformation, migration, mechanization and technology adoption, trade, health economics, consumer behavior. Much of my research focuses on finding better ways to evaluate the economic impacts of programs and policies aimed at improving the lives of rural populations.

In terms of methods, I like to switch between structural modeling, microeconometrics, and experimental RTC-type approaches. I enjoy data-heavy work involving tools from remote-sensing or machine learning. I try to keep up with advances in causal inference methods.

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia (UGA), in the department of Ag and Applied Economics (AAE). I am currently on leave, working as a Senior Economist in the Returns, ReCommerce, and Sustainability team at Amazon.

Prior to that, I spent several years working as a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC, where I am still a Non-Resident Fellow. I've also worked as a postdoc at the AgEcon department of the University of California-Davis, where I had previously obtained my PhD, and as a consultant for the OECD, the World Bank, and the FAO .

Before gaining an interest in economics, I was a student of biology and life sciences at the French grande école AgroParisTech (which at the time was known as INAPG, and now is called Paris-Saclay).

[Side note: If you're wondering how to pronounce my first name, click this: , or check out forvo]