Dr. Nzabirinda Etienne's research covers climate change economics, development, health, political economy, and international economics — with peer-reviewed papers in leading journals and freely shared policy briefs.
Empirical research on how anthropogenic climate change affects agricultural productivity, food security, human capital, and economic welfare across Sub-Saharan Africa — with policy implications for adaptation and mitigation.
Structural transformation, economic growth, poverty reduction, and the long-run effects of cash transfers, aid, and public investment on household welfare and national development trajectories.
The economics of healthcare systems, social protection programmes, and their interaction with labour markets, human capital accumulation, and intergenerational welfare in African economies.
How political systems, institutions, governance structures, and economic policies interact to shape growth, human development, and the distribution of economic benefits across society.
Cross-country dynamics of trade, capital flows, and international finance; alongside urban agglomeration, cost of living, inequality, and structural change in African cities.
Journal of Water and Climate Change
Examines how anthropogenic climate change and political stability jointly affect cereal crop productivity across Sub-Saharan Africa, using panel data methods and identifying policy leverage points for adaptation.
Read publicationManuscript submitted
Investigates the relationship between economic governance quality and human capital outcomes in Rwanda, using institutional data to identify governance channels that most affect education and health investment.
Full text available on requestInternational Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
Analyses the dual channels through which climate change acts as both a constraint and catalyst for structural economic change in Sub-Saharan Africa, with evidence from a panel of 30 countries.
Read publicationDiscover Agriculture
Explores how political system stability, human development indices, and economic reform programmes collectively shape agricultural sector performance across African economies.
Read publicationInternational Journal of Population Studies
Quantifies the effect of climate change shocks on human capital formation — through health, education, and labour — in Sub-Saharan Africa, with implications for population welfare and long-run development.
Read publicationTanzania Journal for Population Studies and Development
Examines the structural drivers of urban cost of living — including agglomeration effects and inequality — and their consequences for household welfare in rapidly urbanising African economies.
Full text available on requestAfrica Review of Economics and Finance
Evaluates the sustained, multi-period effects of targeted cash grant programmes on household consumption, investment behaviour, and broader economic outcomes in Rwanda.
Full text available on requestARD Policy Brief Series
Examines the institutional conditions under which central bank independence most effectively anchors inflation expectations and stabilises macroeconomic outcomes across Sub-Saharan African economies.
Full text available on requestARD Policy Brief Series
Draws on behavioural economics to explain how scarcity shapes decision-making and identifies how development programmes can be redesigned to account for the cognitive burden of poverty.
Full text available on requestARD Policy Brief Series
Analyses how information asymmetries sustain large informal sectors in African economies and proposes targeted policy interventions to improve market transparency and formalisation.
Full text available on requestARD Policy Brief Series
Reviews evidence on short-cycle vocational skilling programmes and their effectiveness in improving urban youth employability in Sub-Saharan African labour markets.
Full text available on requestJournal of Economics and Finance
Empirical analysis of mobile banking adoption patterns and their effects on household savings, consumption smoothing, and small enterprise growth in developing economy contexts.
Full text available on requestAfrican Development Review
Examines the interaction between foreign aid flows and domestic tax revenue mobilisation, and the net effect of this relationship on long-run economic growth trajectories in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Full text available on requestWe welcome collaborations with universities, think tanks, development organisations, and government research units. If you're working on a question that aligns with our focus areas, let's talk.