The Poverty & Applied Microeconomics Seminar Series is a weekly series hosted by the World Bank's research department. The series invites leading researchers in applied microeconomics from the fields of poverty, human development, agriculture, political economy, behavioral economics, private sector development, and a range of other fields to present the results of their most recent research in a seminar format.

 

Spring 2026 Seminar Schedule (ET time) 

Please check paper titles closer to the event date.

Date

Time

Venue

Speaker

Paper

Wednesday
February 25, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Natalie Danielle Bau (UCLA)

Information and Productivity in Education Markets

Wednesday March 4, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Kate Viborny (Wolrd Bank)

Can Competition Reduce Corruption?

Wednesday March 11, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Sebastian Otero (Columbia University)

Affirmative Action in Centralized College Admissions Systems

Wednesday March 18, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Martina Björkman Nyqvist (Stockholm School of Economics) Scaling Care, Saving Lives: Evidence from an Iterative Trial in Uganda

Wednesday March 25, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Saloni Gupta (Brown University)

Can Schools Teach Innovation? Experimental Evidence from India

Wednesday
April 1, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Cory B. Smith (University of Maryland)

Is Basic Democracy Enough?

Wednesday
April 8, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

David McKenzie (World Bank Group)

Who Should We Fund, and How Much Should We Give Them?
Experimental Evidence from a Kenyan Business Plan Competition

Wednesday
April 15, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

G 2-116

Nava Ashraf (London School of Economics)

 

Learning to See the World’s Opportunities:
Memory, Mental Experiencing, and the Economic Lives of the Vulnerable

Wednesday
April 22, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

MC 7-100

Arielle Gina Bernhardt (NYU) Integrating Women into Male-Dominated Professions: Evidence from the Indian Police

Wednesday
April 29, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

MC 4-100

Emanuele Colonnelli (Chicago University) Startups in Africa

Wednesday
May 6, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

MC 4-100

Giorgia Barboni (Warwick) Rural Banks Can Reduce Poverty: Experimental Evidence from 870 Indian Villages

Wednesday
May 13, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

MC 4-100

Seema Jayachandran (Princeton University) Escaping Patriarchy: Women Insularity and Gender Attitudes in Oman

Wednesday
May 20, 2026

12:30 - 2:00 pm

MC 4-1OO

Felipe Lobel (Duke University) Cash Transfers and Productive Inclusion: Evidence from Bolsa Familia
Wednesday
May 27, 2026
1:00 - 2:30 pm MC 5-1OO Davide Viviano (Harvard University)  

View the Microeconomics Seminar Series Archive >>

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

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