Applied economist working on development, agriculture, and environmental policy

I am an applied economist working on development, agriculture, environmental policy, and political economy. My work combines impact evaluation, field research, survey design, policy analysis, and applied economic modeling.

I have worked with NGOs, universities, governments, and policy organizations on questions related to agriculture, natural resource management, environmental governance, microfinance, market access, and technology adoption. Much of my work focuses on low- and middle-income countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

CV

Areas of work

Impact evaluation: I design and implement evaluations of development programs, including randomized trials, quasi-experimental studies, and mixed-methods evaluations.

Policy and evidence reports: I prepare policy reports, literature reviews, stakeholder analyses, and evidence syntheses for governments, donors, universities, NGOs, and research organizations.

Survey and field research: I design questionnaires, sampling strategies, field protocols, and data quality systems for work in low-resource settings.

Agriculture, environment, and natural resources: I study how institutions, incentives, and policies shape land use, technology adoption, resource governance, and environmental outcomes.

Selected policy and consulting work

Impact evaluation of a social microfinance program, Burundi: I am designing an impact evaluation for Dukuze Microfinance in Burundi. The evaluation studies the effects of a group-lending program that targets vulnerable beneficiaries.

Accelerated rice breeding in ASEAN: I worked as a policy analyst for the University of Saskatchewan in a Global Affairs Canada project on accelerated rice breeding. The work focused on policy barriers to the adoption and scaling of accelerated breeding methods.

Transboundary water policy, Iraq: I supported work led by the Geneva Water Hub and UNDP on transboundary water policy and negotiation strategy for Iraq.

Market access and agricultural value chains, Kenya: I prepared analysis on market access interventions for avocado and macadamia farmers in Kenya.

Behavioral interventions and environmental policy: I have worked on applied research and policy analysis related to behavior change, environmental governance, and natural resource management.

How I work

My work is problem-driven. I use economic theory, field experiments, surveys, administrative data, and policy analysis to answer practical questions: Does a program work? For whom? Through which mechanisms? How can it be improved?

I am especially interested in projects where rigorous evidence can inform real decisions. This includes program design, policy analysis, evaluation design, survey implementation, and the interpretation of field data.

I have managed field research and survey operations in Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, China, and other settings.

Profile

I am currently a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. I hold a PhD in Economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, MRes and MSc in economics from University College London, and BEng from University of Sao Paulo.

My academic research covers development economics, environmental economics, agricultural economics, political economy, and natural resource economics. I work mainly on Sub-Saharan Africa, with long-running field projects in Burundi and Kenya. Alongside my academic work, I collaborate with NGOs, universities, governments, and policy organizations on applied research, evaluation, and policy analysis.

Contact

Please, contact me at: pedro.guimares.naso[at]slu.se and pedrognaso[at]gmail.com