Robert Jensen

Robert Jensen is a Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University and his B.A. from Williams College.

He is Co-Editor of the Journal of Development Economics and an Associate Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a fellow of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) and an affiliate of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). He has also served as an adviser to the International Labor Organization and the World Bank on a variety of topics including strategies to eradicate child labor and the design of social welfare programs.

His research focuses on the microeconomics of international poverty and economic development, including topics such as gender, health, education, fertility, and the role of markets and private enterprise in promoting economic development. He has conducted and/or currently has ongoing survey projects in China, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nepal and India. His research has been published in leading academic journals including the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics and Review of Economics and Statistics, and has been profiled in media outlets including The Economist, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, Science and the Wall Street Journal.