James Thurlow is an applied economist, whose research focuses on the interactions between policies, economic growth and poverty in low-income countries. Before joining the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), he was a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, where his research evaluated rural and regional development strategies, agricultural investments, and weather risk and climate change. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Natal (South Africa), and has worked throughout Eastern and Southern Africa, and in Bangladesh, Ghana, Peru and Vietnam.