Jessica Leight
Research Fellow, IFPRI
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Economics, 2013
Oxford University, M.Phil., Economics, 2008
Yale College, B.A., summa cum laude, Ethics, Politics and Economics, 2006
Fields of Specialization
Development economics, health economics
Publications in economics journals
Besley, Timothy, Jessica Leight, Rohini Pande and Vijayendra Rao. 2016. “Long-Run Impacts of Land Regulation: Evidence from Tenancy Reform in India." Journal of Development Economics 118: 72-87.
Leight, Jessica. 2016. "Reallocating Wealth? Insecure Property Rights and Agricultural Investment in Rural China." China Economic Review 40: 207-227.
Leight, Jessica. 2017. "Sibling Rivalry: Ability and Intrahousehold Allocation in Gansu Province, China." Economic Development and Cultural Change 65 (3): 457-493.
Leight, Jessica. 2018. “The Impact of Positive Agricultural Income Shocks on Rural Chinese Households” World Bank Economic Review 34(1): 210-231. On-line appendix
Erten, Bilge, Jessica Leight and Fiona Tregenna. 2019. "Trade Liberalization and Local Labor Market Adjustment in South Africa." Journal of International Economics 118: 448–467.
Leight, Jessica and Elana Safran. 2019. “Increasing Immunization Compliance Among Schools and Day Care Centers: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Behavioral Public Administration 2(2): 1-15.
Leight, Jessica and Nicholas Wilson. 2020. Framing Flexible Spending Accounts: A Large-Scale Field Experiment on Communicating the Return on Medical Savings Accounts. Health Economics 29:195–208
Leight, Jessica, Dana Foarta, Rohini Pande and Laura Ralston. 2020. “Value for Money: Vote-Buying and Politician Accountability.” Journal of Public Economics 120: 104227.
Leight, Jessica and Elaine Liu. 2020. "Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-cognitive Characteristics in Rural China." Economic Development and Cultural Change 69(1): 213–251. On-line appendix
Leight, Jessica. 2021. “Like Father, Like Son, Like Mother, Like Daughter: Intergenerational Transmission of Intrahousehold Gender Norms in Ethiopia.” World Development 142: 105359.
Erten, Bilge and Jessica Leight. 2021. “Exporting out of Agriculture: The Impact of WTO Accession on Structural Transformation in China.” Review of Economics and Statistics 103 (2): 364–380.
Media: VoxChina
Bhanot, Syon, Benjamin Crost, Jessica Leight, Eric Mvukiyehe and Bauyrzhan Yedgenov. 2021. "Can Grants for Community Service Foster Social and Economic Integration for Youth? A Randomized Trial in Kazakhstan." Journal of Development Economics 153: 102718.
Edmonds, Eric, Benjamin Feigenberg and Jessica Leight. 2021. "Advancing the Agency of Adolescent Girls." Forthcoming, Review of Economics and Statistics
More about the intervention: Project page
Media: VoxDev
Adamopoulos, Tasso, Loren Brandt, Jessica Leight, and Diego. 2022. “Misallocation, Selection and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis with Panel Data from China.” Econometrica 90: 1261-1282.
Media: VoxDev VoxChina
Leight, Jessica, Josué Awonon, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, Rasmané Ganaba, Elena Martinez, Jessica Heckert, and Aulo Gelli. 2022. "The Impact of an Integrated Value Chain Intervention on Household Poultry Production in Burkina Faso: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial." Journal of Development Effectiveness 14:2, 108-124.
Leight, Jessica, Josué Awonon, Aulo Gelli, Rasmané Ganaba, and Abdoulaye Pedehombga. 2022. “How Light is too Light Touch: The Effect of a Short Training-based Intervention on Household Poultry Production in Burkina Faso.” Journal of Development Economics 155: 102776.
Alderman, Harold, Daniel O. Gilligan, Jessica Leight, Michael Mulford, and Heleene Tambet. 2022. “The Role of Poultry Transfers in Diet Diversity: A Cluster Randomized Intent to Treat Analysis.” Food Policy 107: 102212.
Community Health Educators and Maternal Health: Experimental Evidence from Northern Nigeria Forthcoming, Journal of Development Studies
Publications in health journals
Sharma, Vandana, Willa Brown, Muhammad Kainuwa, Jessica Leight, and Martina Bjorkman Nyquist. 2017. “High Maternal Mortality in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria Estimated Using the Sisterhood Method.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 17 (163).
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Fatima Abdulaziz, Nadege Giroux and Martina Bjorkman Nyqvist. 2017. “Illness Recognition, Decision-making and Care-seeking for Maternal and Newborn complications: A Qualitative Study in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria.” Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 36 (Suppl 1) 46: 59-96.
Leight, Jessica, Vandana Sharma, Willa Brown, Laura Costica, Fatima Abdulaziz Sule, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist. 2018. “Associations Between Birth Kit Use and Maternal and Neonatal Health Outcomes in Rural Jigawa State, Nigeria: A Secondary Analysis of Data from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLOS One 13 (12): e0208885.
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Nadège Giroux, Fatima Abdulaziz, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist. “That's a Woman's Problem”: A Qualitative Analysis to Understand Male Involvement in Maternal and Newborn Health in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria.” 2019. Reproductive Health 16 (143).
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Negussie Deyessa. “Effectiveness of a Culturally Appropriate Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Transmission Among Men, Women and Couples in Rural Ethiopia: Findings from a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial.” PLoS Medicine 17 (8): e1003274 Unite for a Better Life Overview
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Vandana Sharma. 2020. “An Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Intervention for Men, Women and Couples in Ethiopia: Additional Findings on Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLoS Medicine 17 (8): e1003131.
Unite for a Better Life Overview
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Vandana Sharma. "Community-level Spillover Effects of an Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Transmission in Rural Ethiopia." BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004075
Leight, Jessica and Nicholas Wilson. 2021. “Intimate Partner Violence and Maternal Health Services Utilization: Evidence from 36 National Household Surveys.” BMC Public Health 21:405.
Leight, Jessica, Catherine Hensly, Marcos Chissano, Liza Ali. 2021. “Short-term effects of the COVID-19 State of Emergency on Contraceptive Access and Utilization in Mozambique.” PLoS ONE 16(3): e0249195.
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa and Vandana Sharma. 2021. “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of an Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Intervention Targeting Men, Women and Couples in Rural Ethiopia: Evidence from Unite for a Better Life.” BMJ Open 11: e042365.
Leight, Jessica, Vandana Sharma and Negussie Deyessa. 2022. “Predictors of Discordance and Concordance in Reporting of Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Large Sample of Ethiopian Couples.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Leight, Jessica, Catherine Hensly, Marcos Chissano, Elana Safran, Liza Ali, Domingos Dustan, and Julian Jamison. 2022. "The Effects of Text Reminders on the Utilization of Family Planning Services: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Urban Mozambique." BMJ Global Health 7:e007862.
Kappes, Heather, Rekha Balu, Russell Burnett, Nuole Chen, Pompa Debroy, Rebecca Johnson, Jessica Leight, Saad Omer, Elana Safran, Mary Steffel, Mattie Toma and Kris-Stella Trump. 2021. “Lessons for COVID-19 Vaccination from Eight Federal Government Direct Communication Evaluations.” Forthcoming, Behavioral Science and Policy
Working Papers
Patterns in development economics research
Patterns of Randomization, Geographic Concentration and Funding in the Recent Development Economics Literature
Economy of China and agricultural economics
FDI Liberalization in China: Impacts on Structural Transformation, Marriage, and Fertility (Joint with Bilge Erten and Lianming Zhu)
Export Expansion, Human Capital Investment and the Urban-Rural Educational Gap: Evidence from China (Joint with Yao Pan)
Understanding the Role of the Different Program Components of an Information Only Nutrition Sensitive Intervention in Mediating Program Impact: Applying Causal Mediation Analysis to Experimental Evidence from Burkina Faso (Joint with Jessica Heckert and Aulo Gelli)
Human capital
COVID-19 School Closures and Mental Health of Adolescent Students: Evidence from Rural Mozambique (Joint with Naureen Karachiwalla, Feliciano Chimbutane, Carlos Lauchande, and Catalina Herrera- Almanza) Revision requested, SSM Mental Health
Using a List Experiment to Measure Intimate Partner Violence: Cautionary Evidence from Ethiopia (Joint with Daniel Gilligan, Melissa Hidrobo and Heleene Tambet) Under review
Short-term and Long-term Effects of Cash for Work: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Tunisia (Joint with Eric Mvukiyehe)
Aspiring to More? New Evidence on the Effect of Light-Touch Aspirations Interventions in Rural Ethiopia. (Joint with Daniel Gilligan, Michael Mulford, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse and Heleene Tambet)
Perceived Challenges and Successes of Delivering a Community Health Worker Program in Jigawa state, Northern Nigeria: A Qualitative Study. (Joint with Vandana Sharma, Nadège Giroux, Fatima Abdulaziz, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist)
Effectiveness of a Couples’ Intervention in Reshaping Intrahousehold Dynamics: A Qualitative Analysis from Ethiopia. (Joint with Negussie Deyessa, Marjorie Pichon, and Vandana Sharma)
Research Fellow, IFPRI
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Economics, 2013
Oxford University, M.Phil., Economics, 2008
Yale College, B.A., summa cum laude, Ethics, Politics and Economics, 2006
Fields of Specialization
Development economics, health economics
Publications in economics journals
Besley, Timothy, Jessica Leight, Rohini Pande and Vijayendra Rao. 2016. “Long-Run Impacts of Land Regulation: Evidence from Tenancy Reform in India." Journal of Development Economics 118: 72-87.
Leight, Jessica. 2016. "Reallocating Wealth? Insecure Property Rights and Agricultural Investment in Rural China." China Economic Review 40: 207-227.
Leight, Jessica. 2017. "Sibling Rivalry: Ability and Intrahousehold Allocation in Gansu Province, China." Economic Development and Cultural Change 65 (3): 457-493.
Leight, Jessica. 2018. “The Impact of Positive Agricultural Income Shocks on Rural Chinese Households” World Bank Economic Review 34(1): 210-231. On-line appendix
Erten, Bilge, Jessica Leight and Fiona Tregenna. 2019. "Trade Liberalization and Local Labor Market Adjustment in South Africa." Journal of International Economics 118: 448–467.
Leight, Jessica and Elana Safran. 2019. “Increasing Immunization Compliance Among Schools and Day Care Centers: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Behavioral Public Administration 2(2): 1-15.
Leight, Jessica and Nicholas Wilson. 2020. Framing Flexible Spending Accounts: A Large-Scale Field Experiment on Communicating the Return on Medical Savings Accounts. Health Economics 29:195–208
Leight, Jessica, Dana Foarta, Rohini Pande and Laura Ralston. 2020. “Value for Money: Vote-Buying and Politician Accountability.” Journal of Public Economics 120: 104227.
Leight, Jessica and Elaine Liu. 2020. "Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-cognitive Characteristics in Rural China." Economic Development and Cultural Change 69(1): 213–251. On-line appendix
Leight, Jessica. 2021. “Like Father, Like Son, Like Mother, Like Daughter: Intergenerational Transmission of Intrahousehold Gender Norms in Ethiopia.” World Development 142: 105359.
Erten, Bilge and Jessica Leight. 2021. “Exporting out of Agriculture: The Impact of WTO Accession on Structural Transformation in China.” Review of Economics and Statistics 103 (2): 364–380.
Media: VoxChina
Bhanot, Syon, Benjamin Crost, Jessica Leight, Eric Mvukiyehe and Bauyrzhan Yedgenov. 2021. "Can Grants for Community Service Foster Social and Economic Integration for Youth? A Randomized Trial in Kazakhstan." Journal of Development Economics 153: 102718.
Edmonds, Eric, Benjamin Feigenberg and Jessica Leight. 2021. "Advancing the Agency of Adolescent Girls." Forthcoming, Review of Economics and Statistics
More about the intervention: Project page
Media: VoxDev
Adamopoulos, Tasso, Loren Brandt, Jessica Leight, and Diego. 2022. “Misallocation, Selection and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis with Panel Data from China.” Econometrica 90: 1261-1282.
Media: VoxDev VoxChina
Leight, Jessica, Josué Awonon, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, Rasmané Ganaba, Elena Martinez, Jessica Heckert, and Aulo Gelli. 2022. "The Impact of an Integrated Value Chain Intervention on Household Poultry Production in Burkina Faso: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial." Journal of Development Effectiveness 14:2, 108-124.
Leight, Jessica, Josué Awonon, Aulo Gelli, Rasmané Ganaba, and Abdoulaye Pedehombga. 2022. “How Light is too Light Touch: The Effect of a Short Training-based Intervention on Household Poultry Production in Burkina Faso.” Journal of Development Economics 155: 102776.
Alderman, Harold, Daniel O. Gilligan, Jessica Leight, Michael Mulford, and Heleene Tambet. 2022. “The Role of Poultry Transfers in Diet Diversity: A Cluster Randomized Intent to Treat Analysis.” Food Policy 107: 102212.
Community Health Educators and Maternal Health: Experimental Evidence from Northern Nigeria Forthcoming, Journal of Development Studies
Publications in health journals
Sharma, Vandana, Willa Brown, Muhammad Kainuwa, Jessica Leight, and Martina Bjorkman Nyquist. 2017. “High Maternal Mortality in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria Estimated Using the Sisterhood Method.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 17 (163).
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Fatima Abdulaziz, Nadege Giroux and Martina Bjorkman Nyqvist. 2017. “Illness Recognition, Decision-making and Care-seeking for Maternal and Newborn complications: A Qualitative Study in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria.” Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 36 (Suppl 1) 46: 59-96.
Leight, Jessica, Vandana Sharma, Willa Brown, Laura Costica, Fatima Abdulaziz Sule, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist. 2018. “Associations Between Birth Kit Use and Maternal and Neonatal Health Outcomes in Rural Jigawa State, Nigeria: A Secondary Analysis of Data from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLOS One 13 (12): e0208885.
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Nadège Giroux, Fatima Abdulaziz, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist. “That's a Woman's Problem”: A Qualitative Analysis to Understand Male Involvement in Maternal and Newborn Health in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria.” 2019. Reproductive Health 16 (143).
Sharma, Vandana, Jessica Leight, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Negussie Deyessa. “Effectiveness of a Culturally Appropriate Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Transmission Among Men, Women and Couples in Rural Ethiopia: Findings from a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial.” PLoS Medicine 17 (8): e1003274 Unite for a Better Life Overview
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Vandana Sharma. 2020. “An Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Intervention for Men, Women and Couples in Ethiopia: Additional Findings on Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLoS Medicine 17 (8): e1003131.
Unite for a Better Life Overview
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa, Fabio Verani, Samuel Tewolde, and Vandana Sharma. "Community-level Spillover Effects of an Intervention to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Transmission in Rural Ethiopia." BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004075
Leight, Jessica and Nicholas Wilson. 2021. “Intimate Partner Violence and Maternal Health Services Utilization: Evidence from 36 National Household Surveys.” BMC Public Health 21:405.
Leight, Jessica, Catherine Hensly, Marcos Chissano, Liza Ali. 2021. “Short-term effects of the COVID-19 State of Emergency on Contraceptive Access and Utilization in Mozambique.” PLoS ONE 16(3): e0249195.
Leight, Jessica, Negussie Deyessa and Vandana Sharma. 2021. “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of an Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Intervention Targeting Men, Women and Couples in Rural Ethiopia: Evidence from Unite for a Better Life.” BMJ Open 11: e042365.
Leight, Jessica, Vandana Sharma and Negussie Deyessa. 2022. “Predictors of Discordance and Concordance in Reporting of Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Large Sample of Ethiopian Couples.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Leight, Jessica, Catherine Hensly, Marcos Chissano, Elana Safran, Liza Ali, Domingos Dustan, and Julian Jamison. 2022. "The Effects of Text Reminders on the Utilization of Family Planning Services: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Urban Mozambique." BMJ Global Health 7:e007862.
Kappes, Heather, Rekha Balu, Russell Burnett, Nuole Chen, Pompa Debroy, Rebecca Johnson, Jessica Leight, Saad Omer, Elana Safran, Mary Steffel, Mattie Toma and Kris-Stella Trump. 2021. “Lessons for COVID-19 Vaccination from Eight Federal Government Direct Communication Evaluations.” Forthcoming, Behavioral Science and Policy
Working Papers
Patterns in development economics research
Patterns of Randomization, Geographic Concentration and Funding in the Recent Development Economics Literature
Economy of China and agricultural economics
FDI Liberalization in China: Impacts on Structural Transformation, Marriage, and Fertility (Joint with Bilge Erten and Lianming Zhu)
Export Expansion, Human Capital Investment and the Urban-Rural Educational Gap: Evidence from China (Joint with Yao Pan)
Understanding the Role of the Different Program Components of an Information Only Nutrition Sensitive Intervention in Mediating Program Impact: Applying Causal Mediation Analysis to Experimental Evidence from Burkina Faso (Joint with Jessica Heckert and Aulo Gelli)
Human capital
COVID-19 School Closures and Mental Health of Adolescent Students: Evidence from Rural Mozambique (Joint with Naureen Karachiwalla, Feliciano Chimbutane, Carlos Lauchande, and Catalina Herrera- Almanza) Revision requested, SSM Mental Health
Using a List Experiment to Measure Intimate Partner Violence: Cautionary Evidence from Ethiopia (Joint with Daniel Gilligan, Melissa Hidrobo and Heleene Tambet) Under review
Short-term and Long-term Effects of Cash for Work: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Tunisia (Joint with Eric Mvukiyehe)
Aspiring to More? New Evidence on the Effect of Light-Touch Aspirations Interventions in Rural Ethiopia. (Joint with Daniel Gilligan, Michael Mulford, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse and Heleene Tambet)
Perceived Challenges and Successes of Delivering a Community Health Worker Program in Jigawa state, Northern Nigeria: A Qualitative Study. (Joint with Vandana Sharma, Nadège Giroux, Fatima Abdulaziz, and Martina Björkman Nyqvist)
Effectiveness of a Couples’ Intervention in Reshaping Intrahousehold Dynamics: A Qualitative Analysis from Ethiopia. (Joint with Negussie Deyessa, Marjorie Pichon, and Vandana Sharma)