David Yanagizawa-Drott is Professor of Development and Emerging Markets at the Department of Economics and Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center for Economics in Society of the University of Zurich since 2016. Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also affiliated to the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), the European Development Research Network (EUDN) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Among his editorial duties he is Associate Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and of the Journal of Political Economy.

His research interests include development economics and political economy, broadly speaking. A current focus is on understanding the drivers of culture and norms in shaping labour markets for men and women and the role of social media in shaping society. Another priority is the development and testing of a research concept that aims at searching for scalable solutions to pressing societal challenges in developing countries, by leveraging rapid experimentation and artificial intelligence, called the Social Catalyst Lab. Regularly published in the leading international journals, he was co-laureate of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 2025.

David Yanagizawa-Drott's website

He will present a paper, joint with Kobbina Awuah and Urša Krenk,  at the next PEPES Seminar on the topic:

Automation with Generative AI? Evidence from a Teacher Hiring Pipeline (read abstract, PDF 44 KB)

The next PEPES Seminar will host Johanna RICKNE (U of Stockholm) on November 20th.