Pierre Nguimkeu

Pierre Nguimkeu is a senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. He is currently on leave as a professor of economics at Georgia State University.

His primary research interests endeavor to provide models and methods that promote evidence-based policies and long-term strategies for economic growth in Africa. His work on Africa’s development has made significant contributions to the understanding of the informal economy in Africa, as well as the roles of education, access to credit, kinship networks, and digital technologies in promoting employment, entrepreneurship, productivity, and growth in the informal and formal sectors. His publications in this area have appeared in top-tier scholarly journals such as the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Economic Dynamic & Control, Economic Development & Cultural Change, World Development, The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, Review of Policy Research, Health Policy & Planning, and Applied Economics.

His work in econometric and statistical methods provides cutting-edge tools for estimation and causal inference in the presence of poor-quality data (e.g., measurement errors, missing data, small samples) that are common in statistical surveys, including data analysis in African country contexts. His publications in this area have appeared in prestigious journals such as Journal of Econometrics, Econometric Reviews, Journal of Statistical Planning & Inference, Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Journal of Probability & Statistics, Journal of Time Series Econometrics, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Infectious Disease Modeling, Economic Modeling, and Communication in Statistics: Theory & Methods.

Nguimkeu has also contributed to the writing of several policy briefs, books, and book chapters in edited volumes such as “The Handbook of the Economics of Cameroon,” “Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Seizing Opportunities in Global Value Chains,” “Africa Knowledge in Time Policy Brief,” “The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All,” “Can Africa Claim the 21st Century,” and others. In addition, he has directed the master’s program in economics at Georgia State University, as well as the exchange program with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland for the past few years. He has chaired and/or co-chaired more than 20 doctoral theses and dissertations from universities in the United States, Canada, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East and has served as a scientific committee member, research mentor, and board member respectively in professional bodies such as the Econometric Society’s Africa region, the African Finance and Economic Association, the West African Capacity-Building and Impact Evaluation Program, the UNECA Young Economists Network, and the National Economic Association. He is a resource person for the Africa Economic Research Consortium and a senior adviser to many African entrepreneurs and top leaders.

The quality of his work has been recognized by several honors and awards such as the Andrew Young School Early Career Award, the Lindau-Nobel Fellowship of Excellence, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Fellowship of Excellence, the Centre for Interuniversity Research in Quantitative Economics (CIREQ) Fellowship of Excellence, the Tradek-Matuszewski Fellowship of Excellence, and many others. He has held visiting and consulting positions with several institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, University of Chicago, Princeton University, Université Paris-Nanterre, University of Ottawa, and ENSEA of Abidjan alongside project-focused work with the African Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations Development Program, U.S. Agency for International Development, African Center for Economic Transformation, and the Canadian International Development Research Center, among others.

Nguimkeu received his doctorate in economics from Simon Fraser University. He also holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Montreal, a Diplôme d’Ingénieur Statisticien-Economiste from ENSEA of Abidjan, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Dschang.