Erica Marie Field (born February 12, 1974) is an economist who currently works as Professor of Economics and
Global Health
Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...
at
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
. Her research interests include
development economics
Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...
,
labour economics, and
health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to improv ...
. In 2010, her research was awarded the
Elaine Bennett Research Prize
The Elaine Bennett Research Prize, awarded every other year by the American Economic Association, "recognizes and honors outstanding research in any field of economics by a woman not more than seven years beyond her Ph.D." First awarded in 1998, t ...
.
Biography
Erica Field earned a
BA in Economics and Latin American Studies from
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
in 1996. As a
Fulbright scholar
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
, she then studied the impact of government programs in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
on that country's labor force, before returning to school at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where she completed her PhD in 2003 with a thesis on the impact of
land-title reform on
labor supply
In mainstream economic theories, the labour supply is the total hours (adjusted for intensity of effort) that workers wish to work at a given real wage rate. It is frequently represented graphically by a labour supply curve, which shows hypotheti ...
in Peru. After her graduation and a term as
post-doctoral fellow
A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...
as RWJ Scholar in Health Policy at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, she remained as assistant professor of economics (2005–09), being later promoted to John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences (2010–11). In 2011, Field moved to
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
as associate professor of Economics and Global Health before becoming a full professor in 2015. In parallel, she has held visiting appointments at the
Center for Health and Wellbeing and at the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...
. She also maintains affiliations as a fellow with the
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
(NBER) and the
Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) as well as with the
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fi ...
(J-PAL). Moreover, she performs editorial duties for the academic journals ''
Economic Development and Cultural Change
''Economic Development and Cultural Change (EDCC)'' publishes studies that use modern theoretical and empirical approaches to examine both the determinants and the effects of various dimensions of economic development and cultural change. It covers ...
'', ''
Review of Economics and Statistics
''The'' ''Review of Economics and Statistics'' is a peer-reviewed 103-year-old general journal that focuses on applied economics, with specific relevance to the scope of quantitative economics. The ''Review'', edited at the Harvard University’s K ...
'', and ''
Journal of Development Economics
The ''Journal of Development Economics'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. It was established in 1974 and is considered the top field journal in development economics.
Its editor-in-chief from 1985 to 2003 was Pr ...
''. Finally, she has worked as a consultant for
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
,
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
, and the
Millennium Challenge Corporation
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004. It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID. It provides grants to countries that h ...
, among others.
Research
Erica Field's research focuses on
development economics
Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...
,
labour economics,
economic demography
Demographic economics or population economics is the application of economic analysis to demography, the study of human populations, including size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics.
Aspects
Aspects of the subject include
* m ...
, and
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
. Her research has been acknowledged through several awards, including the Albert Rees Prize for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Labor Economics, an
Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and the
Elaine Bennett Research Prize
The Elaine Bennett Research Prize, awarded every other year by the American Economic Association, "recognizes and honors outstanding research in any field of economics by a woman not more than seven years beyond her Ph.D." First awarded in 1998, t ...
.
A substantial body of Field's research concerns the effects of property rights. In
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
, she finds the issuance of property titles to urban squatters to increase the rate of housing renovation by over two-thirds, with most of the investment being financed through savings. Similarly, she finds stronger property rights in Peru to also induce strong increases in working hours, shifts from home-based work to external work, and substitution of child labour by adult labour. Moreover, in work with
Maximo Torero
Maximo Torero (born 27 May 1967) is a Peruvian economist. He is currently the chief economist and assistant director general for the Economic and Social Development Department at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in ...
, she finds that private sector banks fail to increase their rate of loan approval for individuals with property titles, even though they are on average offered lower interest rates; by contrast, possessing a property title raises approval rates for public sector loans by up to 12%, especially if the title is requested.
Another important of Field's research, within which she frequently collaborates with
Rohini Pande
Rohini Pande is an economist who is currently the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University. She was previously the Rafik Hariri Professor of International Political Economy and Moha ...
, revolves around
microfinance
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...
and
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
in India. Investigating the relationship between repayment frequency and default on microfinance loans, they find that the repayment schedule, e.g. how often repayments are made, doesn't affect borrowers' default or delinquency, suggesting that more flexible repayment schedules may lower transaction costs without increasing default. In work with
Seema Jayachandran
Seema Jayachandran is an economist who currently works as Professor of Economics at Princeton University. Her research interests include development economics, health economics, and labor economics.
Biography
Seema Jayachandran earned a BS ...
, they also find evidence that patriarchic gender norms in India constrain female entrepreneurship, with
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
women (the sociocultural group with the most restrictions) being unable to benefit from business training. Moreover, together with Benjamin Feigenberg, Field and Pande observe strong economic returns to social interaction, as the frequency of meetings between repayment group members – but not the frequency of repayments – increases their willingness to pool risks and reduces their default rates. Finally, along with John Papp and Natalia Rigol, Field and Pande find that delaying the beginning of the repayment schedule for microloans raises short-run business investment and long-run profits but also raises default rates, suggesting that credits with early repayment discourage investment into illiquid yet high-return business opportunities and may thus stifle microenterprise growth.
Other topics of Field's research include the impacts of early marriage and iodine deficiency on schooling attainment, the relationship between educational debt burden and career choice as well as between household bargaining and excess fertility, and the effects of providing health insurance to the informal sector. In work with Attila Ambrus, she finds that each additional year by which marriage is delayed among Bangladeshi women is associated with 0.22 additional years of schooling, a 5.6% higher likelihood to be literate, and that delayed marriage is generally associated with a higher use of preventive health services. Together with Omar Robles and Maximo Torero, Field estimates that giving pregnant women strong
iodine supplements
Iodine is used to treat and prevent iodine deficiency and as an antiseptic. For iodine deficiency it can be given by mouth or injection into a muscle. As an antiseptic it may be used on wounds that are wet or to disinfect the skin before surger ...
increases the schooling by 0.35–0.56 years relative to their siblings and older and younger peers, with the effect being particularly large for girls. In an experiment at
NYU Law School
New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...
, Field finds that offering students a debt-free education doubles law school enrollment rates and substantially biases students towards public interest law. In
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
, together with
Nava Ashraf
Nava Ashraf is a Canadian economist who is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics as well as research director of the Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship. Her research interests include development ec ...
and
Jean Lee, Field finds that women who are given concealable contraceptives in the presence of their husbands are 19% less likely to seek
family planning
Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...
services, 25% less likely to use the
contraceptive
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
s, and 17% more likely to give birth.
Ashraf, N., Field, E., Lee, J. (2014). Household bargaining and excess fertility: an experimental study in Zambia. ''American Economic Review'', 104(7), pp. 2210–2237.
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Erica
American women economists
21st-century American economists
American development economists
Duke University faculty
1974 births
Living people
Vassar College alumni
Princeton University alumni
21st-century American women writers