David Sahn

About

David E. Sahn is a professor affiliated with Cornell University, holding multiple roles including FERDI Senior Fellow at the Foundation for International Development Study and Research in France, IZA Research Fellow in Germany, and various faculty fellowships at Cornell's institutes focused on social sciences, inequality, health economics, and food, agriculture, and development. His research primarily concentrates on development economics, with a significant focus on health, nutrition, education, and poverty in Africa and other developing regions. Sahn's work explores the socioeconomic determinants of health and education, the impact of household shocks, weather, and policies on human capital formation, and the measurement of inequality and poverty. He has contributed extensively to understanding the roles of food, agriculture, and targeted policies in combating hunger and malnutrition, as well as analyzing the effects of family background, schooling, and demographic factors on various development outcomes. Sahn has authored numerous publications in reputable journals and edited volumes, and he teaches courses related to microeconomics of development, health, poverty, and inequality.

Research topics

• Economic growth
• Statistics
• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Demographic economics
• Geography
• Economics
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Adjusting to Policy Failure in African Economies

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2019-09-09 · 30 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  In this timely volume sixteen specialists examine the external and domestic factors that precipitated Africa's economic crisis and the nature and consequences of the process of reform designed to restore macroeconomic stability and accelerate the rate of economic growth. The authors explore the efforts of ten diverse countries in sub-Saharan Africa to rectify economic distortions of the past and weaknesses in institutional structures. Their case studies include Ghana, Guinea, Zaire, Cameroon, Ni…

  PublisherDOI

• The Role of Weather on Schooling and Work of Young Adults in Madagascar

  American Journal of Agricultural Economics · 2019-03-26 · 29 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract We examine the impact of rainfall variability and cyclones on schooling and work among a cohort of teens and young adults in Madagascar. We estimate a bivariate probit model using a panel survey conducted in 2004 and 2011 in this poor island nation, which is frequently affected by extreme weather events. Our results show that negative rainfall deviations and cyclones reduce the probability of attending school and encourage young men and, to a greater extent, women to enter the work forc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Early Childbearing, School Attainment, and Cognitive Skills: Evidence From Madagascar

  Demography · 2018-03-21 · 29 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Female secondary school attendance has recently increased in sub-Saharan Africa, and so has the risk of becoming pregnant while attending school. We analyze the impact of teenage pregnancy on young women's human capital using longitudinal data in Madagascar that capture the transition from adolescence to adulthood for a cohort aged 21-24 in 2012, first interviewed in 2004. We find that early childbearing increases the likelihood of dropping out of school and decreases the chances of completing s…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Teen Fertility and Female Employment Outcomes: Evidence from Madagascar

  Journal of African Economies · 2018-12-30 · 18 citations

  article

  Women represent the majority of informal workers in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the case that the region is characterised by high adolescent pregnancy rates. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the causal relationship between teen fertility and the likelihood of informal employment. Using longitudinal data from Madagascar designed to capture the transition from adolescence to adulthood, we estimate a multinomial logit model to capture the effect of…

  PublisherDOI

• The Role of Weather on Schooling and Work of Young Adults in Madagascar

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2018-01-01 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen D. Younger

  80 shared

• Peter Glick

  Millennium Challenge Corporation

  32 shared

• Jean‐Yves Duclos

  Université Laval

  27 shared

• Gilles Postel-Vinay

  27 shared

• Francesca Marchetta

  Université Clermont Auvergne

  20 shared

• Paul A. Dorosh

  15 shared

• David Stifel

  Lafayette College

  15 shared

• Peter Glick

  Government of the United States of America

  15 shared

Awards & honors

• Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA…
• Senior Fellow at the Fondation for International Development…
• Chaire d’Excellence at Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur…

Similar researchers at Cornell University

• John Hoddinotth-76
• Saurabh Mehtah-48
• Julia Finkelsteinh-32