I am a Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin.
My research explores the microeconomic foundations of development, focusing on how constraints, such as limited access to markets, finance, or information, affect individual and firm behaviour, and how targeted policies can alleviate these barriers. For a full list of my publications see my CV.
I am a co-founder of the Trinity Impact Evaluation (TIME) Research Centre and have led research projects across sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. My research includes randomized controlled trials of policy interventions, as well as work on labour markets, firm dynamics, and industrial policy. I am currently a lead researcher on South Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED), a major research programme using tax administrative data to examine the drivers of job creation and productivity growth.
I joined Trinity in 2002 and have held visiting positions at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Chicago, and the University of Bologna. I am Chair of the Board of Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP), a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER and a consultant to the World Bank. I serve as an International Resource Person for the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and since 2023 I have chaired Ireland’s National Economic Dialogue.
Email: cnewman@tcd.ie