Research Staff

Espen Villanger

Director
Latest
19 Jun 2024

Jobs alone won’t lift people out of poverty: Lessons from Ethiopia’s industrial sector
Projects

Current projects
Jun 2021 - May 2026

Jobs Network
Jan 2020 - Dec 2025

Job Creation

Completed projects
Jan 2020 - Dec 2023

Women in Transition: Female Employment and Political Empowerment during Ethiopia's Reform Process ]
Jan 2018 - May 2022

Assisting Regional Universities in Sudan (ARUS)
Jan 2015 - Dec 2019

Women in the developmental state: female employment and empowerment
Jul 2014 - Dec 2019

Tanzania as a Future Petro-State: Prospects and Challenges
Jul 2018 - Aug 2019

[UD(R)-Three evaluations of Norwegian development assistance to private sector de]
Jul 2018 - Aug 2019

[UD(R)-Three evaluations of Norwegian development assistance to private sector de]
Dec 2013 - Dec 2017

ARUSS: Assisting regional universities in Sudan and South Sudan
Oct 2008 - Feb 2014

Ethiopian Flower Farm Employment Project
Apr 2013 - Dec 2013

Evaluation of the Norwegian Aid Administration's Systems & Practices
Jan 2009 - Dec 2010

Poverty traps in industries with low knowledge- and investment barriers
Apr 2008 - Nov 2008

Improving the Integrated Rural Development Projects in Western Ethiopia
May 2007 - Oct 2008

Accounting for Poverty Reduction in Norwegian Development Aid to Mozambique
Mar 2007 - Dec 2007

A review of Norwegian evaluations
Dec 2006 - Mar 2007

Arab foreign aid
Jan 2006 - Dec 2006

Poverty monitoring and macroeconomic advice in Ethiopia
Dec 2004 - Dec 2006

Bonded Labor in Nepal
Feb 2005 - Dec 2005

Trade policy and poverty: A review
Jan 2003 - Jun 2005

The effects of post-war aid
Feb 2005 - May 2005

Poverty monitoring Ethiopia - ICR ESRDF
Jan 2005 - Apr 2005

Development aid - a fresh look
Feb 2003 - Dec 2003

Multialteral aid institutions and strategic donor behavior
Jan 2003 - Dec 2003

Social development, FDI, and domestic investment

Publications

Shortcuts to categories: Journal Articles Reports CMI Reports CMI Working Papers CMI Briefs Conference Papers/ Presentations Newspaper Op-Eds Newspaper Articles Radio and TV appearances Popular Presentations and Lectures

Journal Articles

Reports

CMI Reports

CMI Working Papers

CMI Briefs

Conference Papers/ Presentations

Newspaper Op-Eds

Newspaper Articles

Radio and TV appearances

Popular Presentations and Lectures

Summary

Contact

A committed leader passionate about making a difference for poor and vulnerable people.

Villanger is the Director of the CMI. He has more than twenty years of experience in development, spanning leadership, management, research, evaluation, policy advice and hands-on operational field work.

His research focuses on poverty reduction, job creation, women empowerment, violence and conflict. Villanger has a long track record in impact evaluation and causal analysis in development. He has published in journals such as the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Development Studies, the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Politics and the European Economc Review.

Villanger has been a team leader for a range of quantitative and qualitative evaluations and has several contributions to the aid effectiveness debate. Interested in the documentation of results of development efforts, Villanger has participated in several studies on foreign aid, debt and development. His geographical focus is on the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world, and has worked in Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Namibia and Nepal.

He holds a Ph.D. from the Norwegian School of Economics, and has taught development economics at the University of Bergen.  Moreover, he worked as a Senior Economist for the World Bank in the Ethiopia Country Office from 2009 to 2012.

Most recent publications