Yale Economic Growth Center

What Yale Economic Growth Center does

The Yale Economic Growth Center (EGC) is a non-profit academic research center within Yale University's Department of Economics, with operations dating to 1961 and office locations in New Haven, Connecticut, India, and Nepal. Its mission is to produce data-driven economic research on equitable development, with thematic coverage spanning development economics, international trade, agricultural productivity, climate and energy, gender economics, economic history, and carbon markets. The center organizes the annual Simon Kuznets Memorial Lecture Series, the annual Firms, Trade, and Development Conference, weekly events, and the Development Dialogues podcast in collaboration with VoxDev. Its deliverables are research rather than commercial products: a Discussion Paper Series of over 1,000 papers from 1966 to the present, peer-reviewed journal articles in top-tier economics journals, open-access datasets (Yale-Access Datasets, Interactive Data), policy partnerships with governments in India and Nepal, and the IDE Masters Program in coordination with the Yale Economics department.

EGC's "business model" is institutional rather than commercial. Revenue derives from Yale University allocations, external research grants from organizations including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the World Bank, and various foundations, plus donor contributions. All research outputs, publications, discussion papers, podcasts, and event access are provided free of charge. The center's go-to-market motion is community-led: it engages academic researchers, faculty, students, and policymakers through convenings, publications, and field initiatives such as Inclusion Economics (operating with Krea University in India and GovLab in Nepal). Faculty include Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg (William Nordhaus Professor of Economics and Global Affairs; former World Bank Chief Economist), Leah Boustan (Director of the Economic History Program), Rohini Pande (Director since 2019; Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics), and other senior fellows and assistant professors. The underlying technical stack is conventional empirical economics (RCTs, econometrics, field experiments) supported by an open-access data repository; no proprietary software, AI products, or API offerings are disclosed in available material.

Name

Yale Economic Growth Center

Legal name

Yale Economic Growth Center

Website

https://egc.yale.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Yale Economic Growth Center is a non-profit academic research center at Yale University that produces data-driven economic research on equitable development and international trade. It serves academic researchers, policymakers, and graduate students through publications, conferences, open-access datasets, and policy partnerships in the U.S., India, and Nepal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Economic Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Applied Research & Innovation Universities (EDAHAEAE)

Keywords

• Development economics research
• International trade policy
• Agricultural economics research
• Economic growth studies
• Academic research publications

Headquarters

HQ city

New Haven

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. University Funding and Grants: As a Yale University research center, EGC operates primarily through institutional funding from Yale University and external research grants from organizations including the National Bureau of Economic Research, World Bank, and various foundations supporting development economics research.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Yale Economic Growth Center is a non-profit academic research center within Yale University that conducts empirical economic research on development, international trade, and economic growth. It produces discussion papers, peer-reviewed journal publications, open-access datasets, podcasts, and hosts conferences and lectures, while operating field-based research initiatives in low- and middle-income countries. The center also runs the IDE Masters Program in International and Development Economics as part of its educational and training portfolio.

Product overview

The Yale Economic Growth Center (EGC) is a university research center that does not offer commercial software products or services. Its portfolio consists of research initiatives, publications, discussion paper series, open-access datasets, events (conferences, lectures, workshops), podcasts, and educational programs (including the IDE Masters Program). These are research and knowledge-dissemination offerings rather than commercial product offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EGC Discussion Paper Series A long-running series of academic discussion papers maintained in the EliScholar digital repository, offering over 1,000 working papers from 1966 to present on topics in economic growth, international trade, and development economics. Intended for academic researchers, graduate students, and policy analysts.
• Open Access Data Free datasets made publicly available by EGC researchers to support replication and further analysis of economic development research. Includes Yale-Access Datasets and Interactive Data tools.
• Kuznets Memorial Lecture Series EGC's flagship annual lecture and mini-conference series covering frontier topics in development economics, international trade, and economic growth, attracting leading economists and policy actors.
• Firms, Trade, and Development Conference Annual two-day conference co-hosted with the International Growth Centre and Cowles Foundation, covering research on firms, international trade, and economic development, with dedicated sessions on technology, labor markets, environment, and entrepreneurship.
• EGC Voices in Development Podcast (Development Dialogues) Podcast series produced by EGC in collaboration with VoxDev, featuring conversations between researchers and policymakers on pressing development issues including small farms in Africa, global trade, and agricultural productivity.
• EGC Research Initiatives Thematic research initiatives led by Yale faculty covering inclusion economics, markets and development, climate and energy, carbon markets, gender and growth gaps, Latin America and Caribbean, economic history, international trade, and data science for development.
• Research Publications and Summaries Journal publications, research summaries, works in progress, and affiliate spotlights produced by EGC researchers and affiliates, covering topics such as trade policy, agricultural productivity, immigration, labor markets, and economic development.
• IDE Masters Program The International and Development Economics (IDE) MA Program at Yale, a graduate-level academic program run in coordination with the Economics department, training students in development and international economics.

Quantifiable outcome

• Research published in Econometrica, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Political Economy, and other top journals
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• International Growth Centre (IGC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2026EGC and IGC co-host the annual Firms, Trade, and Development Conference, bringing together researchers on international trade and economic development. The 2026 conference will be held September 10-11, 2026 at Yale University.
• LSE Global School of SustainabilitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2026LSE Global School of Sustainability collaborates with EGC and IGC on the Firms, Trade, and Development Conference 2026, bringing together research on sustainable development and trade policy.
• Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics at YalecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2026Cowles Foundation co-sponsors the Firms, Trade, and Development Conference 2026 with EGC, supporting research on trade, firms, and development economics.
• Programme for Economic Dialogue on Liberalisation (PEDL)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2026PEDL, a CEPR initiative, holds its Early-Career Researchers Workshop in conjunction with the EGC Firms, Trade, and Development Conference on September 10, 2026 at Yale University.
• VoxDevflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 June 2025VoxDev collaborates with EGC on the Development Dialogues podcast series, facilitating direct conversations between researchers and policy actors on pressing development issues. VoxDev is a research platform dedicated to development economics.
• Inclusion Economics India Centre at Krea UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Krea University's Inclusion Economics India Centre for gender-inclusive rural development, payments for ecosystem services, and digital governance innovations in India.
• Inclusion Economics Nepal at GovLabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Inclusion Economics Nepal, evaluating innovations to strengthen quality of policy-making by elected local governments in Nepal.
• Gujarat State Government (India)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEGC collaborates with Gujarat State Government on establishing India's first regulated pollution market, working with colleagues from Yale, Chicago, and MIT.
• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)coreOthersMany EGC affiliates hold research associate positions at NBER, conducting and disseminating economic research through the bureau's networks.
• Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEGC faculty and researchers maintain affiliations with J-PAL, contributing to and benefiting from the global network for randomized evaluations in development economics.
• World BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorld Bank researchers and EGC affiliates collaborate on development economics research, including conference participation and joint publications.
• UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFAD Vice-President Gérardine Mukeshimana participates in EGC's Development Dialogues podcast, discussing small farm productivity challenges in Africa.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics at Yale: Cowles Foundation is Yale's premier economics research center, co-located with EGC and co-sponsoring events like the Firms, Trade, and Development Conference. It represents a closely related university-based research center with broader economics scope.
• Harvard Kennedy School - Center for International Development: Harvard CID conducts research on international development with similar university-affiliated research center model. Rohini Pande was formerly at Harvard Kennedy School, creating direct talent and methodological overlap with EGC.
• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): NBER is the premier US economic research organization where many EGC faculty hold research associate positions. While broader in scope, NBER serves as a key dissemination and network partner, making it a structural peer in academic economics research.
• Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR): SIEPR is Stanford University's economic policy research center with comparable scope across economic research areas. It represents a broader incumbent peer with similar university-based research center structure but wider topical coverage.
• World Bank Development Research Group: The World Bank's research arm conducts and funds development economics research with global policy reach. EGC collaborates with World Bank researchers and Pinelopi Goldberg served as Chief Economist there, making it a major institutional peer.

Direct peers

• International Growth Centre (IGC): IGC is a leading research organization providing evidence for growth and development policy, partnering with governments in developing countries. EGC and IGC co-host the Firms, Trade, and Development Conference, making them direct peers in policy-oriented development research.
• MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab: J-PAL at MIT is the founding site of the global J-PAL network and shares EGC's commitment to rigorous empirical development research. Many EGC affiliates including Amit Khandelwal maintain J-PAL affiliations, creating substantial methodological and intellectual overlap.
• Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL): J-PAL is a global research center focused on randomized evaluations for poverty reduction, with overlapping faculty affiliates and shared methodologies (RCTs, field experiments) in development economics. Many EGC faculty hold J-PAL affiliations, making it the closest direct peer in evidence-based development research.
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): IPA is a leading nonprofit focused on evidence-based poverty research using randomized evaluations, with similar methodological approaches to EGC. Its research affiliates and field operation model closely parallel EGC's empirical development economics work.
• Bureau for Research and Analysis of Development (BREAD): BREAD is a development economics research network co-founded by notable economists including Mark Rosenzweig (former EGC Director). It shares EGC's focus on empirical development economics and includes overlapping faculty networks across top universities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yaleegc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Yale Economic Growth Center