Research Statement

I am an economist working at the intersection of international trade, environmental economics, and development economics. My research is motivated by a central question: how can developing economies achieve sustainable economic transformation in a rapidly changing global economy?

I pursue this question through two complementary research agendas. The first examines how natural resources and the energy transition can be leveraged to promote green industrialisation and sustainable economic development. The second investigates how globalisation—including international trade, global value chains, and industrial policy—shapes firm behaviour, productivity, and structural transformation in developing economies.

Methodologically, my research combines modern econometric and causal-inference methods with novel, large-scale administrative, firm-level, household, and spatial datasets. By integrating rigorous empirical analysis with policy-relevant questions, I seek to produce evidence that advances economic research and informs the design of trade, industrial, energy, and environmental policies that promote sustainable, inclusive, and resilient development.

Selected Working Papers

Trade Barriers or Catalysts? Non-Tariff Measures and Firm-Level Trade Margins

With Dela-Dem Doe Fiankor and Woubet Kassa.
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper

Scaling Green Hydrogen: Modelling Technology Learning, Capital and Cost Competitiveness in South Africa and Morocco

With Simon Robers and Antonio Andreoni.
Working Paper

Selected Work in Progress

When Standards Bite: How Stricter Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations Reshape Exporter Dynamics

With Woubet Kassa

Resource Discoveries and the Sectoral Composition of Foreign Direct Investment

With James Cust

Natural Resource Contracts in Africa: An Empirical Analysis

With Flavien Moreau and Antoine Arnoud.

Earlier Working Papers

Oil Price Dynamics and Business Cycles in Nigeria: A Bayesian Time-Varying Analysis

Working Paper

Dynamics of Economic Diversification in Oil-Producing African Countries: Implications for Policy Formulation