
David McKenzie is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Development Unit. 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 main research is on migration, enterprise development, and methodology for use with developing country data. He has published over 150 articles, is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Development Economics, the World Bank Economic Review, and Migration Studies, and is also a co-founder and regular contributor to the Development Impact blog.
David's website: https://sites.google.com/site/decrgdmckenzie/home
Recent work by David McKenzie
-
Reexamining whether, when and how developing country governments should provide job training and job search support
Recent evidence offers reasons to be a little more optimistic about job training and intermediation programmes, but there remain some reasons for caution
Published 16.04.24
-
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
Published 20.09.21
-
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
Published 11.08.21
-
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 performance
Published 15.03.21
-
Training entrepreneurs
This VoxDevLit reviews innovative research out there on training entrepreneurs
Published 02.12.20
-
What works in training entrepreneurs?
The first VoxDevLit highlights the role of research in generating innovation in approaches to training entrepreneurs
Published 01.12.20
-
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
Published 15.02.19
-
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
Published 19.10.18
-
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