Eleni Abraham Yitbarek
Tukkiewerf University of Pretoria, Cnr Lynnwood and University Roads, Hatfield 0083 E-mail: [email protected] OR [email protected] +27743499504
Personal Place and date of birth: Addis Ababa, 16 May 1981 Civil status: Married and one child Gender: Female
Summary I obtained my PhD in Development Economics and MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from Maastricht University. Prior to joining Maastricht University, I worked for the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Netherlands Development Organi- zation, SNV. In 2014, I received the World Bank Group Fellowship. Currently, I am a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria, Economics department.
Specialization Measurement of poverty dynamics, intergenerational mobility, applied econometrics and impact evaluation.
Education PhD, Economics 2016 Maastricht University Title: Getting Ahead or left behind? Essays on poverty dynamics and social mobility in Africa.
2008 MSc, Public Policy and Human Development Maastricht University Senior Essay: Poverty Alleviation (MDG-One) and Role of Microfinance Institutions in Ethiopia.
2003 BA, Management and Public Administration Addis Ababa University
Training Evaluation of Public Policies (Distance learning) Jan. 2017– Laval University in collaboration with Partnership for Economic policy (PEP) Mar. 2017
01 Jan– National Agricultural Investment Plan Appraisal and Design 02 Feb. 2017 International Food Policy Research Institute and ReSAKSS Dakar, Senegal
Awards June 2019 Research grants 2019, Climate Research for Development – (CR4D) in Africa, The African Academy of Sciences Feb, 2020
Jan 2016. – PEP-Partnership for Economic Policy, Research Grant Dec. 2017 Nairobi, KENYA
Awards The World Bank Group fellowship program Jul. 2014– The World Bank group Mar. 2015 Washington DC, USA Oct. 2011– UNU–MERIT PhD scholarship Dec. 2016 UNU–MERIT Maastricht, the Netherlands
2009 University of America in Cairo research grant Center for Migration and Refugee Studies Cairo, Egypt
Sep. 2007– Maastricht University High Potential Scholarship Aug. 2008 Maastricht University Maastricht, the Netherlands
Experience Senior lecturer Present University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa
Postdoctoral fellow Jan 2017– University of Pretoria 2019 Pretoria, South Africa
Experience European Investment Bank and Global Development Network fellow Oct 2017– University of Pretoria Jan 2019 Pretoria, South Africa
Apr. 2017– Short term consultant Jul. 2017 The World Bank Group
Oct. 2011– Phd Research Fellow Dec. 2016 UNU MERIT / Maastricht University Maastricht, the Netherlands
Jul. 2015– Consultant Oct. 2015 United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa
Jul. 2014– Junior Research fellow Mar. 2015 The World bank Washington DC, USA
Nov. 2012 – Consultant, Business development advisor Jun. 2013 SNV, the Netherlands Development Organization Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nov. 2008 – Economic Development Advisor / Value chain finance advisor Sep. 2011 SNV, the Netherlands Development Organization Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Apr. 2005 – Micro Finance Junior Inspector Aug. 2007 National Bank of Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Non-refereed publications and journal articles
2019: Gender and race biases in student teaching evaluation, (with Nicky Nicholls and Carolyn Chisadza; Economics Letters, 179, 66-71.)
2019: Impact of credit and training on enterprise performance: Evidence from urban Ethiopia (with A. Araar, Yesuf Awel, Jonse Boka, Hiywot Girma, Ajebush Shafi & Mulatu Zerihun; project paper for PEP-Partnership for Economic Policy, under revision, Journal of World development. )
2019: Intuition is not always fair, (with Nicky Nicholls and Carolyn Chisadza; under revision; The Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics)
2019: Gender Disparity in Risk Appetite for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Performance: Evidence from Ethiopia (with Abdelkrim Araar, Yesuf Awel, Jonse Boka, Hiywot Girma, Ajebush Shafi & Mulatu Zerihun; project paper for PEP-Partnership for Economic Policy, R & R, journal of feminist economics)
2019: Intergenerational mobility in education: Is Africa different? (R & R Contemporary Economic Policy)
2018: Mobile money demand for utility payment in Ethiopia (with Yesuf Awel, prepared for European Investment Bank]
2017: Share the Love: Parental Bias, Women Empowerment and Intergenerational Mobility in Africa (With Getachew Yoseph and Th'eophile T. Azomahou (Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of Pretoria; under revision, Economic Journal).
2016: Intergenerational Education Mobility in Africa: Has Progress Been Inclusive’ with Th’eophile T. Azomahou, (2016), Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 7843. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.
2016: The resilience of the poor: A Makov chain analysis of the dynamics of transition and heterogeneity of subjective poverty', With Elizabeth Asiedu and Th'eophile T. Azomahou (In preparation for submission to Journal of Development Economics ).
2015: Poverty persistence and informal risk management: Micro evidence from urban Ethiopia, with Th'eophile T. Azomahou, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2015-006.
2015: Sustainable Human Development: Linkages between Empowerment, Gender Equality and Sustainable Human Development. Background paper prepared for 2015 UNDP report on human development in Africa.
2015: Orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa. Background paper prepared for the Poverty in a Rising Africa: Africa Poverty Report. Washington, DC: World Bank.
2014: People with disability in sub-Saharan Africa'. Background paper prepared for the Poverty in a Rising Africa: Africa Poverty Report. Washington, DC: World Bank.
2011: Networks in Coffee Value Chain and Farmers Performance: Evidence from Four villages in Jimma, Ethiopia', With Yesuf M. Awel . UNU-MERIT & Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG).
2011: Developing a Microfinance Product to Improve Rural Income; the Case of Amhara Credit and Saving Institution, Ethiopia. UNU-MERIT & Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG).
2009: The Economic Implications of Remittance in Household Welfare and Foreign Currency Earnings’, With Gerawork G. Bizuneh. University of America in Cairo, Center for Migration and Refugee Studies.
2008: Poverty Alleviation (MDG-One) and Role of Microfinance Institution: In The Case Of Ethiopia (2008). Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG). Chapters in books Women empowerment and child obesity in African with Chisadza C. & Nicholls N (2019) in `Women and Sustainable Human Development- Empowering Women in Africa'. M. Konte & Tirivayi N. (Eds). Springer International Publishing.
Multiplex Learning: An Evidence-based Approach to Design Policy Learning Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa for Sustainable Development Goals with Serdar Türkelia and Pui-Hang Wong (2019) in ‘Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals'. Maano Ramutsindela and David Mickler (Eds). Springer International Publishing.
Yitbarek, Eleni Abraham, 2016, Getting ahead or left behind? Essays on poverty dynamics and social mobility in Africa, Universitaire Pers Maastricht, ISSN/ISBN Number: 978 94 6159 640 6
Rem Neefjes and Heinz Greijn (Eds.) (2012). ‘Pro-Poor Value Chain Development: Private Sector-Led Innovative Practices in Ethiopia', SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Technical reports 2019: Beegle, Kathleen; Christiaensen Luc. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa: World Bank Publications, ISBN: 9781464812323
2018: Narayan, Ambar; Van der Weide, Roy; Cojocaru, Alexandru; Lakner, Christoph; Redaelli, Silvia; Mahler, Daniel Gerszon; Ramasubbaiah, Rakesh Gupta N.; Thewissen, Stefan Fair Progress? : Economic Mobility across Generations around the World. Equity and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
2016: Beegle, Kathleen; Christiaensen, Luc; Dabalen, Andrew; Gaddis, Isis. Poverty in a Rising Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank.
2016: Africa Human Development Report: Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa, UNDP.
International 2014: ‘Poverty persistence and informal risk management: Micro evidence from ur- conferences ban Ethiopia’, 1st Annual World Bank Conference on Africa (ABCA), Paris: June presentations 23-24, 2014.
2014: ‘Poverty persistence and informal risk management: Micro evidence from ur- ban Ethiopia’, 19th Annual Conference of the African Econometrics Society, Addis Ababa: July 16-18.
2015: ‘Poverty persistence and informal risk management: Micro evidence from ur- ban Ethiopia’, CSAE Conference, Oxford, 22-24 March 2015.
2015: ‘Occupational inheritance and gender: evidence from SSA’, UNU-WIDER 30th anniversary conference, Helsinki, 17-19 September 2015.
2016: ‘Intergenerational education mobility in Africa: Has progress been inclusive?’ UNU-WIDER Development Conference Human capital and growth, Helsinki, 6-7 June 2016.
2016: ‘The resilience of the poor: A Makov chain analysis of the dynamics of tran- sition and heterogeneity of subjective poverty’, Econometric Society Africa Region Meetings, Kruger National Park, 25 - 29 July 2016.
2017 ‘Share the Love: Parental Bias, Women Empowerment and Intergenerational Mobil- ity in Africa’, 2017 ASSA Annual Meeting, Chicago, and January 6-8, 2017. ‘The resilience of the poor: A Makov chain analysis of the Dynamics of transition and heterogeneity of subjective poverty’, 2017 ASSA Annual Meeting, Chicago, and January 6-8, 2017.
Share the Love: Parental Bias, Women Empowerment and Intergenerational Mobility in Africa’, 2017 The fourth Annual Bank Conference on Africa (ABCA) Berkeley, California, on June 5-6, 2017.
2018 ‘Credit, training, risk preference and enterprises performance: Evidence from Ethiopia’ Universit Laval economics department seminar series, Qubec, Canada Feb 23, 2018.
‘Credit, training, risk preference and enterprises performance: Evidence from Ethiopia’ 2018 Annual Bank Conference on Africa(ABCA) Stanford, California, June 14-15, 2018.
‘Share the Love: Parental Bias, Women Empowerment and Intergenerational Mobil- ity in Africa’, 27th International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) 27th Annual Conference at SUNY New Paltz, USA, June 19 - 21, 2018.
‘Credit, Training, Risk Preference and Enterprise Performance: Evidence from Ethiopia’, Wits Economics Seminar Series, Johannesburg, South Africa, (September 12, 2018). 2019 ‘19th Global Development Conference: Knowledge for Sustainable Development: the Research-Policy Nexus, Bonn, Germany. (Forthcoming)
‘94th annual western economic association international conference 2019, San Francisco, California.
Research Feb 3-23, Universit Laval, Economics department, Qubec, Canada. visiting Co-Organized the 2nd conference on ‘Sustainable Growth and Development in Africa’ Conferences UNU-MERIT and the Consortium pour la Recherche Economique et Sociale (CRES), organization Dakar, Senegal. 2015 2013 Co-Organized the 1st conference on ‘Sustainable Growth and Development in Africa’ UNU-MERIT and the Consortium pour la Recherche Economique et Sociale (CRES), Dakar, Senegal.
Sept. 2012- Organized the Joint seminar series at UNU-MERIT Maastricht Graduate School of Sept. 2013 Governance.
Other – Apr. 2004– Apr. 2005 Junior Material Resource Officer, Ethiopian Telecom- experiences munication Corporation, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. – Sept. 2003– Apr. 2004 Operation Assistant, Nile Insurance Share Company, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. – Nov. 2001 – Apr. , 2002 Intern Administration Assistant, City Government Finance and Economy development Bureau, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. – Oct. 1- 30, 2002 Enumerator Young Lives International Study of Childhood Poverty. – Feb. 1-28, 2002 Enumerator and Data Analyst, Oxford Research International. – Aug. 1-Sept. 30, 2001 Intern Administration Assistant Ethiopian Telecommu- nication Corporation. – Jan. 2006 - Aug. 2007 Lecture: Small Business Management and Entrepreneur- ship Admas University Collage. – Jan. 2006 - Aug. 2007 Volunteer Management Advisor Tenakebena and Genflie Association (local NGO which address gender issues, HIV /AIDS, and environ- mental protection.
Computer STATA, SPSS, LATEX, Distributive Analysis software (DAD and DASP), MS Pro- skills cessing (Spreadsheet, Word processing, Access, PowerPoint).
Language Fluent in English and Tigrigna and native in Amharic
Membership – Ethiopian Economic Association in professional – The Association of African Young Economist association – Association for the Advancement of African Women’s Economist
Reference Prof. Dr. Thophile T. Azomahou (PhD Supervisor) UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University Coordinator of Economic Development, Innovation and Institutions team E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +3143 3884440
Dr Kathleen G. Beegle (Supervisor at World Bank) The World Bank Lead Economist E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +12024589894
Prof S Koch (Pos-doc supervisor) University of Pretoria E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +27 (0)12 420 5285