Simon Heß wins award for development research

23.06.2021

 

Dr. Simon Heß, postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Development Economics, was awarded the “Young Researcher Award for Excellence in Policy Relevant Research on Developing Countries” by the Research Group on Development Economics of the Verein für Socialpolitik. The prize recognizes dissertations that combine original research with practical relevance. The prize is awarded with the support of the KfW Development Bank. In two chapters of his dissertation Simon Heß, with his coauthors Dany Jaimovich and Matthias Schündeln, examines the effects of development projects on deforestation, and social and economic networks. In both cases, the research highlights areas where development projects have measurable impacts that are not part of their original core objective. In another chapter, Simon Heß explores an econometric methodology and develops a software package for the statistical analysis of experimental data generated by, for example, rigorous impact evaluations of development projects. This software is already widely used in applied economic research. Up to three prizes are awarded annually, and Dr. Heß received the top prize and the corresponding endowment of 5,000 euros. Further information on the award can be found here.

 

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