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Stefan Dercon

stefandercon
Director (CSAE); Academic Director (EPN); Professor of Economic Policy (Economics/BSG)
Researchers

Stefan Dercon is Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, a Professorial Fellow of Jesus College, and the Academic Director of the Economic Policy Network. He is Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Department of Economics and has worked extensively as a policy advisor, providing strategic economic and development advice, and promoting the use of evidence in decision making, including as Chief Economist of the UK Department of International Development 2011-2017.

Stefan's research interests concern what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments and politics, mainly in Africa, and how to achieve change. 

His latest book, Gambling on Development: Why some countries win and others lose was published in May 2022. It draws on his academic research as well as his policy experience across three decades and 40-odd countries, exploring why some countries have managed to settle on elite bargains favouring growth and development, and others did not. Previously, Dull Disasters? How Planning Ahead Will Make A Difference was published in 2016, and provides a blueprint for renewed application of science, improved decision making, better preparedness, and pre-arranged finance in the face of natural disasters.

Stefan is a Fellow of BREAD, a Research Fellow of CEPR and of IZA, an Affiliate of J-PAL, a Non-resident Fellow, Centre for Global Development, Washington and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacture (FRSA). He studied economics and philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and holds an MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Before re-joining the University of Oxford, he held positions at the University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), the Catholic University of Leuven, and WIDER (Helsinki), part of the United Nations University. 

In 2018, the Queen awarded him as an honorary Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to economics and international development. In 2025, Stefan was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the social sciences.

View Stefan Dercon's CV

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Research and Policy Interests

Stefan's research interests concern what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments and politics, mainly in Africa, and how to achieve change.

Stefan is Director of the Economic Policy Network (EPN), a partnership between the CSAE and the Blavatnik School of Government. The EPN provides impartial, context-specific, research-informed advice to help developing country policymakers and their advisors deliver on their economic and development mandates (https://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/economic-policy-network).

He is also co-director of the Oxford Martin Programme on African Governance (https://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/oxford-martin-programme-on-african-governance).This programme looks at the current realities of economic, social, and political governance challenges for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in terms of decision-making and implementation.

Stefan is also leads the Oxford Initiative of Peace and Recovery in Ethiopia, alongside the CSAE's Christian Meyer (https://www.ethiopiarecovery.ox.ac.uk/). This initiative aims to explore pathways to steady peace and strong, sustainable, and inclusive recovery and development in Ethiopia.