Pamela Jakiela

Williams College and IZA

Pamela Jakiela is an Associate Professor at the Williams College and an IZA Research Fellow. Prior to joining Williams College, she was an Associate Professor of Agricultural & Resource Economics at the University of Maryland and an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Washington University in St. Louis.  She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and a BA from the University of Michigan. She has conducted fieldwork in South America, East Africa, and in economic laboratory settings in the United States. She is an expert on the use of experimental economic methods in field settings in the developing world, and on the measurement of individual preferences when subjects have low levels of literacy and numeracy. Her current research includes randomized evaluations of small grant and lending programs in the Philippines and Uganda, studies of the effects of poverty and economic contractions on individual decision making in the United States, and an evaluation of an innovative youth employment program in Nairobi.