The Institute for Economic Development (IED) is a research center which consists of faculty and graduate students within Boston University’s Department of Economics, and focuses on the economic problems of developing countries. To this end, the institute provides facilities and a supportive intellectual environment for students, faculty, and visiting scholars pursuing research in the problems of economic development, and in related areas of economic growth, international economics, and financial institutions. It consolidates previous BU economic development research centers that focused on specific regions.

Active areas of research and discussion at the IED span a broad range of issues of relevance to economic development such as agriculture, conflict, contracts, corruption, culture, discrimination, finance, fiscal policy, governance, health, human capital, inequality, industrial organization, international economics, political economy and property rights. The research methodologies employed represent a combination of theoretical, empirical, historical, and policy analyses, that uniformly aim for high standards of rigor.

Institute research activities include:

IED also provides the following resources to all graduate students in the Department of Economics:

*Please note: The IED does not provide opportunities for internships or research assistants.