Stefan Dercon is an economist working on the economies of developing countries, and a Professorial Fellow at Jesus College. He has served for 6 years as Chief Economist at DFID, the UK government department in charge of UK's international development efforts. His research interests concern what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments and politics, mainly in Africa, and how to change this. Current work focuses on the psychological challenges of poverty, the political economy of development, the challenges of industrialisation in Africa, and how to prepare for and finance responses to natural disasters and protracted humanitarian crises.