Erlend Berg

Senior Lecturer in Economics
University of Bristol

Email: erlend.berg@bristol.ac.uk
Post: Department of Economics, Priory Road Complex, Bristol BS8 1TU, United Kingdom

My main research interests are in social protection, household risk management and policy evaluation in developing countries. Several of my projects involve randomised-controlled trials or field experiments.

I obtained my PhD from the London School of Economics. Before joining the University of Bristol, I was the Acting Research Network Director of the International Growth Centre, and subsequently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford, where I was affiliated with the Centre for the Study of African Economies.

I currently teach econometrics for second-year undergraduates and development economics for master's students. I also have experience teaching microeconomics, mathematics, statistics and coding.

Working Papers and Ongoing Projects

• Paid to learn: Proposing a new type of social protection for developing countries
  With D Rajasekhar and R Manjula.
  
• The allocation of public goods: The case of street lights.
• Why does adult illiteracy persist: Evidence from India.
• Talking to ghosts: Quantifying corruption in public services.

Publications

• Cellfare: Delivering self-targeted welfare using mobile phones
  [WP]
  With D Rajasekhar and R Manjula.
  IDS Bulletin, 2024, 55(2).
• Risk sharing and the demand for insurance: Theory and experimental evidence from Ethiopia.
  With Michael Blake and Karlijn Morsink.
  Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, 195:236-256.
• Pushing welfare: Encouraging awareness and uptake of social benefits in South India
  With D Rajasekhar and R Manjula.
  Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2022, 70(2).
• Motivating knowledge agents: Can incentive pay overcome social distance?
  [WP]
  With Maitreesh Ghatak, R Manjula, D Rajasekhar and Sanchari Roy.
  Economic Journal, 2019, 129(617):110–142.
• Can public works increase equilibrium wages? Evidence from India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee
  [WP]
  With Sambit Bhattacharyya, Rajasekhar Durgam and Manjula Ramachandra.
  World Development, March 2018, 103:239–254.
• Does participation lead to on-going infrastructure maintenance? Evidence from Caribbean landslide mitigation projects
  With Liz Holcombe, Sarah Smith, Malcolm Anderson and Niels Holm-Nielsen.
  Journal of Development Studies, 2018, 54(8):1374–1391.
• Funeral Insurance: An Inter-Generational Commitment Device?
  [WP]
  Journal of African Economies, 2018, 27(3):321–346.
• Are poor households credit-constrained or myopic? Evidence from a South African panel
  [WP]
  Journal of Development Economics, 2013, 101:195–205.
• Implementing health insurance: The rollout of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in Karnataka
  With Maitreesh Ghatak, R Manjula, D Rajasekhar and Sanchari Roy.
  Economic and Political Weekly, 2011, 46(20):56–63.
• The youngest children in each school cohort are over-represented in referrals to mental health services
  [WP]
  With S Berg.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2014, 75(5):530–534.