Dr. Kevin Donovan

Biography

Kevin Donovan is an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Management and Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs. His work encompasses economic growth and development, with a current focus on the relationship between labor market frictions and economic growth, emphasizing the importance of rural infrastructure in developing countries. Donovan has conducted fieldwork in various countries including Kenya, Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Uganda, and his research has been published in leading economic journals such as Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economic Studies. Additionally, he co-leads the Agriculture Program for the Structural Change and Economic Growth Consortium (STEG), a research initiative funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) aimed at designing and implementing strategies to facilitate growth in developing countries. Donovan has served as an external consultant for the International Labor Organization on the “Future of Work” in developing countries and for the World Bank on topics related to microenterprise growth and infrastructure development. He is also affiliated with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Yale Economic Growth Center, and the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE). In his teaching, Donovan covers core and elective courses such as 'The Global Macroeconomy' and 'Market Failures in Economic Policy in Developing Countries,' which includes an international experience trip to Kenya.

Research Interests