David McKenzie is a Lead Economist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group. He received his B.Com.(Hons)/B.A. from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. Prior to joining the World Bank, he spent four years as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Stanford University.
His work on migration includes evaluating the development impacts of permanent and seasonal worker programs in the Pacific, financial education programs for migrants, work on Mexican migrant self-selection, efforts to facilitate migration in the Philippines, and methodological work on sampling and surveying migrants. He has published more than 100 articles and is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Development Economics, the World Bank Economic Review, and Migration Studies. He is also a co-founder and regular contributor to the Development Impact blog.
Recent work by David McKenzie
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The downside of raising aspirations for poor entrepreneurs: Evidence from the Philippines
Encouraging the poor to set higher savings aspirations may backfire if they fall short of these goals, leading to less economic investment
David McKenzie Aakash Mohpal Dean Yang
Published 20.09.21
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Specialised hiring and entrepreneurial success: Evidence from Nigeria
Subsidising entrepreneurs to hire a marketing or accounting specialist can be more effective than trying to train the entrepreneur in these skills
Stephen Anderson David McKenzie
Published 11.08.21
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Improving management practices through individual and group consulting: Evidence from Colombia
By leveraging peer-learning effects, group-based consulting can be cheaper and more effective than individual interventions in improving SME...
Leonardo Iacovone William Maloney David McKenzie
Published 15.03.21
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Training entrepreneurs
This VoxDevLit reviews innovative research out there on training entrepreneurs
David McKenzie Christopher Woodruff
Published 02.12.20
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What works in training entrepreneurs?
The first VoxDevLit highlights the role of research in generating innovation in approaches to training entrepreneurs
Christopher Woodruff David McKenzie
Published 01.12.20
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Costs and benefits of helping firms formalise in Malawi
A cheap intervention increased firm registration but failed to impact tax registration, negating potential tax revenue
Francisco Campos Markus Goldstein David McKenzie
Published 15.02.19
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Cash transfers and adult labour outcomes in developing countries: Why does the Econ 101 labour-leisure trade-off model lead us astray?
Missing markets, price effects, and dynamic and general equilibrium effects help explain why poor people do not work less when given cash
Articles : Labour Markets & Migration
Sarah Baird David McKenzie Berk Özler
Published 19.10.18
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Do business plan competitions work?
A business plan competition successfully identified entrepreneurs capable of effectively utilising capital to grow their business in Nigeria.
Published 10.05.18
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Do management interventions last? Evidence from India
The positive effects of improving management systems persist nine years after management consulting support was provided
Nicholas Bloom Aprajit Mahajan David McKenzie John Roberts
Published 29.03.18