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International Rural Development Lab
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A lab that goes into rural communities in Africa and Asia to uncover the causes of poverty and how people's livelihoods work.
AboutAbout the lab
A scientific study of rural areas in developing countries.
The International Rural Development Lab works on problems in development economics.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty is higher than it was 30 years ago, against a background of stagnant agricultural productivity, slow adoption of technology, and vulnerability to shocks.
Applying econometrics to data gathered through fieldwork, the lab identifies the causes of these problems, and proposes and evaluates policies that help solve them.
For undergraduates, it is one of the labs that students are assigned to in the Department of Food and Environmental Economics; at the graduate level, it accepts students in the Division of Natural Resource Economics, Graduate School of Agriculture.
Key terms
- Development economics
- A field that studies poverty and economic development in developing countries using the methods of economics
- Econometrics
- A field that uses statistical methods to test causal relationships and other patterns in economic data
- Weather insurance
- Insurance that pays farmers when the weather is bad, such as during a drought
ResearchResearch themes
Building on fieldwork, the lab seeks a deep understanding of the economic incentives and decision-making that farmers face, and studies the causes of problems in rural areas of developing countries and the policies that help solve them.
*Illustrative imageTraditional institutions and economic life
In rural Zambia, chiefs and village heads maintain order. Using household surveys, the lab tests whether land allocation by traditional authorities is efficient, and also analyzes how a change in the president's ethnic group affects people's economic behavior.
*Illustrative imageNew technology and negotiation between spouses
In Zambia, the lab conducted an experiment in which husbands and wives were separately and randomly given an opportunity to start growing a new crop. It showed that giving the opportunity to the person who actually manages the land within the household, rather than to the household head, draws out greater demand.
*Illustrative imagePreparing for weather shocks
Rural areas without developed irrigation are vulnerable to droughts and floods. The lab studies how farmers cope with weather shocks and whether weather insurance is an effective countermeasure.
*Illustrative imageThe farm economy of prewar Japan
The lab holds nationwide farm account records from farm household economy surveys, covering the period from the Taisho era through the postwar years. Together with the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University, it is building a database from these records and analyzing the farm economy of the prewar period.
MembersFaculty
The members of the International Rural Development Lab are faculty and students in the doctoral program, the master's program, and the undergraduate program.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorKen Miura
- Assistant ProfessorYoshiaki Nakada
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Selling food in a village in Zambia (5)” Hanay / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Traditional institutions and economic life: “Maize Field Entrance Barricade” Collins Musonda / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- New technology and negotiation between spouses: “Zimbabwe farmers in Shurugwi” CDKNetwork / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Preparing for weather shocks: “Japanese radish - drought tolerant winter crop” Alandmanson / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- The farm economy of prewar Japan: “Old Japanese houses Museum Shirakawa” hashi photo / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Comparative Agrarian History Lab): “Farmers of forty centuries - Japanese family gathering and threshing barley” Unknown photographer / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Agricultural and Food Organization Management Lab): “The bakery of a Food Lion supermarket in Clyde, North Carolina” Harrison Keely / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Regional Environmental Economics Lab): “Terada-Pond-Kakogawa” Hasec / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Forest Economics and Policy Lab): “Forest in Okuchichibu Mountains 01” Σ64 / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
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