Nathan Barker
Dr. Nathan Barker is a postdoctoral researcher at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on occupational choice in Sub-Saharan Africa. His work examines the incentives and constraints that affect the labour supply decisions of individuals, and public policies that can improve the work opportunities available to them. He has studied the relationship between gender, social norms, and occupational choice in Ghana, the impact of ultra-poor asset transfer programs in Ghana and Ethiopia, and tested the effects of psychotherapy on improving mental health and economic productivity in Ghana, with recent work published in the American Economic Review: Insights. He completed his PhD in economics from Yale University. Prior to his PhD, he worked for the NGO The BOMA Project in Kenya and for the research NGO Innovations for Poverty Action in Ghana and the United States. He has managed in-person data collection for studies in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Namibia, and remotely managed data collection in Uganda, Yemen, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.