Ashley Pople

Hi there!

I am an economist working on climate, cash transfers and labour markets. I currently work in the World Bank's climate change team for the South Asia Region as a Young Professional. I previously led a research agenda on anticipatory action for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York and consulted for the Centre for Disaster Protection.

I completed my PhD in Economics at the University of Oxford in 2022. I remain affiliated with the University of Oxford's Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) and the Mind & Behaviour Research Group.

Work in progress

The importance of being early: Anticipatory cash transfers for flood-affected households*

(With Ruth Hill, Stefan Dercon and Ben Brunckhorst)

*Previously titled "Anticipatory cash transfers in climate disaster response"

The earlier the better? Cash transfers for drought response in Niger

(With Patrick Premand, Stefan Dercon, Margaux Vinez and Stephanie Brunelin)

Working paper | World Bank blog post

Improved early action through precise targeting, timely cash and early warning

(With Stefan Dercon, Rohini Kamal, Prabhmeet Kaur Matta, Ashley Pople, Munshi Sulaiman, Hannah Timmis and Rocco Zizzamia)

Grants: J-PAL King Climate Action Initiative ($250,000) and Weiss Asset Management Foundation

Learning to see the world's opportunities: Memory, mental experiencing, and the economic lives of the vulnerable

(With Nava Ashraf, Gharad Bryan, Alexia Delfino, Emily Holmes, Leonardo Iacovone and Christian Johannes Meyer)

Working paper | AEA trial registry

Grants: J-PAL Post-Primary Education ($181,366); J-PAL Jobs and Opportunity ($47,811); IPA Peace and Recovery ($128,970); LSE IGA-Rockefeller Research and Impact Fund (£71,436)

Embankments: Climate beliefs, behaviors, and adaptation

(With Jonah Rexer, Siddharth Sharma and Maggie Triyana)

From farms to jobs: Creating jobs to preserve natural ecosystems in eastern DRC

(With Stefan Dercon, Sébastien Desbureaux, Gracieux Mutaka, and Richard Gilbert Nikiema)

About this project | AEA trial registry

Grants: John Fell Fund (£38,000), Darwin Initiative (£197,600)

Search Frictions and Self-Selection in Job Matching

(With Eduard Krkoska, Christian Meyer and Krittika Ray)

Grants: J-PAL Jobs and Opportunity Initiative ($48,589); IPA Women’s Work, Entrepreneurship and Skilling (WWES) ($52,370); PEDL Exploratory Research Grant (£28,440)

Group Coaching and the Scalability of Graduation Programs: Evidence from Three Field Experiments

(With Emily Beam, Rocco Zizzamia, Lasse Brune, Narayan Das, Stefan Dercon, Nathanael Goldberg, Rozina Haque, Dean Karlan, Maliha Noshin Khan, Doug Parkerson, Yasuyuki Sawada and Christopher Udry)

AEA Trial Registries: Philippines; Uganda; Bangladesh

AI and services-led growth: Evidence from Indian job adverts

(With Alex Copestake, Katherine Stapleton and Max Marczinek)

Working paper | Blog post

Policy pieces

"Anticipatory Action: Lessons for the Future" - Frontiers in Climate, December 2022

"Adaptive social protection to support poor and vulnerable people in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Nepal, and Niger", chapter in "Rising to the Challenge: Success Stories and Strategies for Achieving Climate Adaptation and Resilience" - World Bank, October 2024

Teaching

2016-2021: Microeconomics, MSc in Economics for Development, Oxford

2017: Development Economics Seminar Leader; Exeter Summer School, Oxford

2016: English teacher, TEACH Caribbean NGO, Jamaica

2014: Head Tutor, Advanced Micro & Macro, University of Cape Town

2012 & 2014: Tutor, Micro & Macro, University of Cape Town