Barrett, Christopher

Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management
Chris Barrett is International Professor of Applied Economics and Management and co-Director of the African Food Security and Natural Resources Management program at Cornell University. He holds degrees from Princeton (A.B. 1984), Oxford (M.S. 1985) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (dual Ph.D. 1994) and worked as a staff economist with the Institute for International Finance in Washington, DC in the 1980s. Professor Barrett has published or in press 10 books and more than 170 journal articles and book chapters. He has been principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on more than $17 million in extramural research grants from the National Science Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID and other sponsors. He served as editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics from 2003-2007, is presently as an associate editor or editorial board member of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Environment and Development Economics, the Journal of African Economies and World Development, and was previously President of the Association of Christian Economists. He has served on a variety of boards and has won several university, national and international awards for teaching, research and public outreach. He lives with his wife, Clara, and their five children in Lansing, NY.

research

research interests

In this world of plenty, almost half the world's six billion people live on two dollars a day or less. Between one third and one half suffer undernutrition due to insufficient intake of calories, protein or critical micronutrients such as vitamin A, iodine and iron. More than one child in five lives in acute poverty. At one level or another, virtually all of my research, teaching and outreach explores why such unnecessary injustice continues to disfigure a rich, technologically advanced world and what individuals and institutions can do to improve matters. This core motivation leads to three basic, interrelated thrusts to my research program. The first concerns poverty, hunger, food security, economic policy and the structural transformation of low-income societies. The second considers issues of individual and market behavior under risk and uncertainty. The third revolves around the interrelationship between poverty, food security and environmental stress in developing areas.  These topics necessarily cross disciplinary lines, drawing me into stimulating interdisciplinary work with natural scientists and other social scientists from outside economics.

research areas

research keywords

international geographic focus

affiliations

head of

faculty appointment in

member of graduate field

other Cornell affiliations

member of advisory group

teaching

teaching interests

For most of us academics, our greatest long-term impact will most likely come through teaching and advising talented undergraduate and graduate students.  I therefore put a great deal of energy and time into these tasks and students seem to respond well.  To date, most of my teaching has been at graduate level and I supervise a large number of graduate students.  Several past students have won major awards related to their thesis research.  At undergraduate level, I teach AEM’s only Writing in the Majors course, AEM 2000, “Contemporary Controversies in the Global Economy”, which exposes undergraduates to cutting edge, contentious issues in economics, challenging them to think about the normative dimensions of complex economic issues and how best to communicate their own views on these matters.  The course has been extremely successful, with one student writing that it had been “a life changing experience” and many others remarking that it is one of the best courses available at Cornell (e.g., http://www.ratemyprofessors.com) .  This course, like the rest of my teaching, outreach and research program, reflects my enthusiasm for the role thoughtful people can play in reducing the unnecessary suffering that continues to plague a world of plenty.

teaches

service

outreach interests

International agricultural development, poverty and hunger reduction policy, sustainable rural development, markets analysis, risk mitigation strategies

current professional activities

  • Professor Barrett has published more than 125 journal articles, books, and book chapters, and has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research grants totaling more than $15 million.

publications

selected publications (listing in progress)

  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Daniel G. Maxwell. Forthcoming. Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role. London: Routledge.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., editor. Forthcoming. The Social Economics of Poverty: Identities, Groups, Communities and Networks. London: Routledge.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. Forthcoming. Rural Poverty Dynamics: Development Policy Implications. Agricultural Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Winnie K. Luseno. Forthcoming. Decomposing Producer Price Risk: An Analysis of Livestock Markets in Northern Kenya. Food Policy.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., Christine M. Moser, Oloro V. McHugh, and Joeli Barison. 2004. Better Technology, Better Plots or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes In Productivity And Risk Among Malagasy Rice Farmers. American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
  • Lybbert, Travis J., Christopher B. Barrett, Solomon Desta, and D. Layne Coppock. 2004. Stochastic Wealth Dynamics and Risk Management Among a Poor Population. Economic Journal.
  • Gjertsen, Heidi E., and Christopher B. Barrett. 2004. Context-Dependent Biodiversity Conservation Management Regimes: Theory and Simulations. Land Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Brent M. Swallow. 2004. Dynamic Poverty Traps and Rural Livelihoods. In Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Policies, edited by Frank Ellis and Ade Freeman. London: Routledge.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., Stein Holden, and Daniel C. Clay. 2004. Can Food-For-Work Programs Reduce Vulnerability? In Insurance Against Poverty, edited by Stefan Dercon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Luseno, Winnie K., John G. McPeak, Christopher B. Barrett, Getachew Gebru, and Peter D. Little. 2003. The Value of Climate Forecast Information for Pastoralists: Evidence from Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. World Development.
  • Place, Frank, Christopher B. Barrett, H. Ade Freeman, Joshua J. Ramisch, and Bernard Vanlauwe. 2003. Prospects for Integrated Soil Fertility Management Using Organic and Inorganic Inputs: Evidence from Smallholder African Agricultural Systems. Food Policy.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Daniel C. Clay. 2003. Self-Targeting Accuracy in the Presence of Imperfect Factor Markets: Evidence from Food-for-Work in Ethiopia. Journal of Development Studies.
  • Sherlund, Shane M., Christopher B. Barrett, and Akinwumi A. Adesina. 2002. Smallholder Technical Efficiency Controlling for Environmental Production Conditions. Journal of Development Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., Frank Place, and Abdillahi A. Aboud, editors. 2002. Natural Resources Management in African Agriculture: Understanding and Improving Current Practices. CAB International.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. 2002. Food Security and Food Assistance Programs. In Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Bruce L. Gardner and Gordon C. Rausser, eds. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Jau Rong Li. 2002. Distinguishing Between Equilibrium and Integration in Spatial Price Analysis. American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Michael R. Carter. 2001-2002. Can’t Get Ahead For Falling Behind: New Directions for Development Policy To Escape Poverty and Relief Traps. Choices.
  • McPeak, John, and Christopher B. Barrett. 2001. Differential Risk Exposure and Stochastic Poverty Traps Among East African Pastoralists. American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., Thomas Reardon, and Patrick Webb. 2001. Nonfarm Income Diversification and Household Livelihood Strategies in Rural Africa: Concepts, Dynamics and Policy Implications. Food Policy.
  • Wang, Kai Li, Christopher Fawson, Christopher B. Barrett, and James B. McDonald. 2001. A Flexible Parametric GARCH Model With An Application To Exchange Rates. Journal of Applied Econometrics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., Katrina Brandon, Clark Gibson, and Heidi Gjertsen. 2001. Conserving Tropical Biodiversity Amid Weak Institutions. BioScience.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Yi-Nung Yang. 2001. Rational Incompatibility with International Product Standards. Journal of International Economics.
  • Smith, Kevin, Christopher B. Barrett, and Paul W. Box. 2001. Not Necessarily In The Same Boat: Heterogeneous Risk Assessment Among East African Pastoralists. Journal of Development Studies.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. 2001. Does Food Aid Stabilize Food Availability? Economic Development and Cultural Change.
  • Lee, David R., and Christopher B. Barrett, editors. 2000. Tradeoffs or Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development and the Environment in Developing Countries. CAB International.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. 2000. A Pluralistic Stewardship Approach to Sustainable Development. Christian Scholar's Review.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Peter Arcese. 1998. Wildlife Harvest in Integrated Conservation and Development Projects: Linking Harvest to Household Demand, Agricultural Production and Environmental Shocks in the Serengeti. Land Economics.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. 1997. Food Marketing Liberalization and Trader Entry: Evidence from Madagascar. World Development.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Jeffrey W. Cason. 1997. Overseas Research: A Practical Guide. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Barrett, Christopher B. 1996. On Price Risk and The Inverse Farm Size- Productivity Relationship. Journal of Development Economics 51, no. 2 (December):193-215 (lead article).
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Paul A. Dorosh. 1996. Farmers‚ Welfare and Changing Food Prices: Nonparametric Evidence From Rice In Madagascar. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 78, no. 3 (August):656-69.
  • Barrett, Christopher B., and Peter Arcese. 1995. Are ICDPs Sustainable? On The Conservation of Large Mammals in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development 23, no. 7 (July):1073-85 (lead article).
Keywords: agricultural economics, agricultural markets, applied microeconomics, CCSF, ccsf, conservation, conservation and sustainable development, development economics, environmental and resource economics, food aid, food insecurity, food security, hunger, international agriculture, international development, markets analysis, natural resources management, poverty, poverty reduction, risk, sustainable development