Belinda Archibong

Belinda Archibong is a fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. She is also an associate professor of economics at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Her research areas include development economics, political economy, economic history, and environmental economics with an African regional focus. Her research investigates the role of historical institutions and the environment in inequality of access to public services and the development of human capital, particularly in the areas of education, labor and health. Some current research studies the effects of epidemics on gender gaps in human capital investment, the economics of epidemics and vaccination, and the impacts of air pollution from gas flaring on human capital outcomes with a focus on how institutions mitigate or exacerbate the impacts of climate change and environment on inequalities around gender and marginalized groups. Other works study the economics of prisons, the effects of protests on taxation and gender gaps in political participation, and how to reduce gender inequality in online labor markets.

Archibong is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a faculty affiliate at Columbia University’s Center for Development Economics and Policy (CDEP), the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Institute of African Studies, the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, the Columbia Population Research Center (CPRC), and the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP).

Her research is published/forthcoming in numerous academic journals, and her work has been cited by various media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, and Al Jazeera, and informed testimony on vaccine policy to U.S. Congress.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in economics/philosophy and a doctoral degree in sustainable development from Columbia University. Her CV and further information can also be found on her personal website.