Christopher Adam's research is on the macroeconomics of low-income countries, in particular those of Africa, with a focus on monetary economics and public finance; and growth and structural change in low-income countries, including in response to climate change and natural disasters. His work uses methods of quantitative macroeconomics including stochastic and deterministic general equilibrium techniques.

Christopher Adam is a Visiting Scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a member of the FCDO-IMF research program on the macroeconomics of low-income countries. He is a Lead Academic for the International Growth Centre (IGC) and formerly an advisor to the Monetary and Economics Department of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
 

He is currently Managing Editor of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy and an associate editor of the Journal of Development Economics. In September 2021 he was appointed Delegate for Economics to Oxford University Press.