Yale Economic Growth Center

The Economic Growth Center (EGC) is Yale’s hub for economics research and teaching on issues concerning lower-income economies and advancement of their populations. EGC is based in the Yale Economics Department and collaborates closely with several entities across the University including the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies and the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. EGC was founded in 1961 with support from the Ford Foundation as the first research center in a major US university focused on the quantitative study of lower-income economies. It soon became the host for Yale’s master’s program in International and Development Economics (IDE), which continues to train development researchers and policy practitioners. Today, EGC researchers examine the links between economic growth, structural transformation, and individual outcomes, with a focus on how inequality and a changing climate affect individuals, especially those in marginalized groups. Others directly examine the political economy of development and ask how public policy can affect economic justice in lower-income settings. Many research projects are in collaboration with governments and other policy counterparts in developing countries, creating a direct channel through which research insights benefit the lives of millions of people. The Center supports the wider research community by enabling open access to large-scale surveys conducted by its researchers. It also hosts the Program in Economic History, which supports historical analysis of economic growth in developed as well as developing countries.