About
Jenny Aker is the Daniel G. Sisler Professor of Development Economics at Cornell University. Aker brings expertise in economic development in Africa, with a primary focus on the impact of information, and information technology, on development outcomes. Her research contributes to the role of development economics in agricultural markets, adult education and financial inclusion; the determinants and impacts of agricultural technology adoption; and the impact of different mechanisms and modalities of social protection. Outside of Cornell, she is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the co-Chair of the Digital Identification and Finance Initiative in Africa Initiative at J-PAL Africa, which is based at the University of Cape Town.
Prior to Cornell, she was a Professor of Development Economics at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Department of Economics at Tufts University. At Fletcher, she was the Co-Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) and the Director of the Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion (FLPFI). Jenny is the 2017 recipient of the Fletcher School Research Prize and the 2015 recipient of the Fletcher School Paddock Teaching Award.
After working for Catholic Relief Services as Deputy Regional Director in West and Central Africa between 1998 and 2003, Jenny completed her Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of California-Berkeley. Jenny has conducted field work in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, DRC, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Tanzania, as well as Haiti and Guatemala.
