Bruce Wydick’s area of research specialization is in the use of econometric, experimental, and game-theoretic tools to study the impact of development programs.  Professor Wydick's recent work examines the impact of interventions such as microfinance, child sponsorship, donation of children's shoes, wheelchairs for the disabled, international cleft-palate surgeries, interventions to treat clubfoot, and clean wood-burning stoves.  Other recent work studies the role of hope and aspirations in escaping poverty traps and the nature of altruism across cultures.

His academic publications have appeared in the Journal of Political Economy, Economic Journal, Economica, Oxford Economic Papers, Journal of Development Economics, The World Bank Economic Review, Economic Development and Cultural Change, World Development, and other journals. Media coverage of his research has appeared in the BBC World Service, USA Today, Vox, The Guardian, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other media outlets. Professor Wydick writes for Christianity Today and is a regular contributor to op-ed columns for San Francisco Bay Area newspapers.  His most recent book, Shrewd Samaritan: Faith, Economics, and the Road to Loving Our Global Neighbor, was published by W/HarperCollins. His blog AcrossTwoWorlds.net seeks to build bridges between the faith-based development community and academic researchers on issues related to poverty and globalization. Professor Wydick holds research affiliations with the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California at Berkeley and the Kellogg Institute of International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where he co-leads the Collaborative for Econometrics and Integrated Development Studies (CEIDS). He is the founder and co-director of Mayan Partners, a small non-profit organization working in the western highlands of Guatemala in the areas of education and community development, and he is faculty adviser for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at USF.  He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.