Robert Sparrow

Robert Sparrow is currently a fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. He was
lecturer in Development Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He obtained a PhD in Economics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute in 2006. His research interests relate to development economics, social policy evaluation, health economics, child labour and education. Current research projects deal with evaluation of health and education policy interventions and renewable energy programs in Indonesia, and community based health insurance in India and Ethiopia. He teaches micro economics of development and applied econometrics.

Selected publications:

• “Coping with the Economic Consequences of Ill Health in Indonesia“, forthcoming in Health Economics (with Ellen van de Poel, Gracia Hadiwidjaja, Asep Suryahadi, Nila Warda and Athia Yumna)
• “Social Health Insurance for the Poor: Targeting and Impact of Indonesia’s Askeskin Program”, forthcoming in Social Science & Medicine (with Asep Suryahadi and Wenefrida Widyanti)
• “Marginal Benefit Incidence of Public Health Spending: Evidence from Indonesian sub-national data”, Journal of Health Economics 31(1): 147-157, 2012 (with Ioana Kruse and Menno Pradhan)
• “Child Labor and Trade Liberalization in Indonesia”, Journal of Human Resources 46(4): 722-749, 2011 (with Krisztina Kis-Katos)
• “Unemployment Assistance and Transition to Employment in Argentina”, Economic Development and Cultural Change 59(4): 811-837, 2011 (with Arjun S. Bedi and Ana Iturriza)
• “Remittances, Liquidity Constraints and Human Capital Investments in Ecuador”, World Development 37(6): 1143-1154, 2009 (with Arjun S. Bedi and Carla Calero)
• “Did the Health Card Program Ensure Access to Medical Care for the Poor during Indonesia’s Economic Crisis?”, World Bank Economic Review 21(1): 125-150, 2007 (with Menno Pradhan and Fadia Saadah).
• “Protecting Education for the Poor in Times of Crisis: An Evaluation of a Scholarship Programme in Indonesia”, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69(1): 99-122, 2007

Current research project:

'Trade Liberalization, Poverty and Inequality in Indonesia' (together with Krisztina Kis-Katos)