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 at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

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 environment in inequality of access to public services and the development of human capital, particularly in the areas of education, labor, and health. Research topics include 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 the ways in which institutions mitigate or exacerbate the impacts of climate change and environment on inequalities around gender and marginalized groups. Other work focuses on the effects of institutions around prison labor, protest, and taxation on socioeconomic inequality, and a recent body of work studies how to leverage access to digital markets to improve employment and firm productivity and reduce gender inequality in labor markets.

Archibong is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and was previously an associate professor of economics at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Her research is published/forthcoming in numerous academic journals, and her work has also 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.