About EGC
We support the economic advancement of poor and marginalized people in developing countries through innovative research at Yale and around the world.
The first step in attacking any problem of private or public economic policy is to ask, 'What are the facts?' To possess the relevant facts is not to assure that the policy decisions will be correct; but to make policy in ignorance of the relevant facts is to impose on intuition and luck a burden that these faculties are rarely able to bear.
- Notes of Ford Foundation Board of Trustees Meeting recommending the establishment of the Economic Growth Center, 1960
At its founding in 1961, the Economic Growth Center was the first research center in a major US university focused on the quantitative study of lower-income economies. Additionally, it would serve as a training ground for future development researchers and policy practitioners.
Today, the Economic Growth Center continues this agenda. It is the home at Yale for economic research on global development and poverty reduction. EGC researchers are applying rigorous methods to understand not only the links between economic growth and poverty, but also how rising inequality and a changing climate affect individual wellbeing, especially among marginalized groups in developing countries. EGC also hosts the masters program in International and Development Economics (IDE), the current incarnation of a program that has been running since 1955.
Explore the Economic Growth Center's Work
EGC supports the research and teaching in economics of those at Yale engaged with studying development and growth in lower-income countries. On this page you can explore our current and past Annual Reports to learn more about our research, programming, and engagement with students.
Recent pieces by EGC affiliates and stories about our work from the media.
Read recent work by EGC faculty published in academic journals, or search and browse over 1000 papers on development economics from 1966 to the present in the EGC Discussion Paper series.
2021 marks EGC's 60th anniversary. To celebrate, we are planning a number of events and publications, and researching contributions by under-recognized members of the EGC community.
