Robert Jensen is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University and prior to joining UCLA was a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

His research focuses on the microeconomics of international poverty and economic development, including topics such as gender, health, education, fertility, and the role of markets and private enterprise in promoting economic development. He has conducted and/or currently has ongoing survey projects in China, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nepal and India. He has also served as an adviser to the International Labor Organization and the World Bank on a variety of topics including strategies to eradicate child labor and the design of social welfare programs. He is an associate editor of Economic Development and Cultural Change.

Recent Publications:

"Do Consumer Price Subsidies Really Improve Nutrition?" Review of Economics and Statistics. (accepted subject to minor revisions; with Nolan Miller).

"Information, Efficiency and Welfare in Agricultural Markets," Agricultural Economics, forthcoming, 2010.

"The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(2), forthcoming, 2010.

"The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(3), p. 1057-1094, 2009. (with Emily Oster)

"The Impact of the World Food Price Crisis on Nutrition in China" Agricultural Economics, 39, p. 465 − 476, 2008. (with Nolan Miller)

"Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption," American Economic Review, 98(4), p. 1553 − 1577, 2008. (with Nolan Miller)

"The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3), p. 879 − 924, 2007.