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 and Disaster Risk Management Unit 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.
Working papers
Anticipatory cash transfers in climate disaster response
(With Ruth Hill, Stefan Dercon and Ben Brunckhorst)
Paper | VoxDev podcast | Blog post | AEA trial registry
Learning to see the world's opportunities: The impact of imagery on entrepreneurial success
(With Nava Ashraf, Gharad Bryan, Alexia Delfino, Emily Holmes and Leonardo Iacovone)
Updated working paper coming soon! | 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)
AI and services-led growth: Evidence from Indian job adverts
(With Alex Copestake, Katherine Stapleton and Max Marczinek)
Work in progress
What is the value of early response? Multi-country RCT of shock-responsive cash transfers in the Sahel
(With Thomas Bossuroy, Stéphanie Brunelin, Stefan Dercon, Patrick Premand and Margaux Vinez)
AEA trial registry | World Bank blog post
Improved early action through targeting, timely cash and early warning
(With Stefan Dercon, Rohini Kamal and Rocco Zizzamia)
Grants: J-PAL King Climate Action Initiative ($250,000)
From farms to jobs: Creating jobs to preserve natural ecosystems in eastern DRC
(With Stefan Dercon, Sébastien Desbureaux and Gracieux Mutaka Shashi)
About this project | AEA trial registry
Grants: John Fell Fund (£38,000)
Memory, trauma and economic behaviour among refugees: Experimental evidence from teaching "postive imagery" in Ethiopia
(With Gharad Bryan, Alexia Delfino and Christian Meyer)
The paradox of search frictions in online 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)
A push which is less big but just as good? Experimental evidence on the role of coaching within bundled ultra-poor graduation programmes
(With Narayan Das, Stefan Dercon, Imran Matin, Munshi Sulaiman and Rocco Zizzamia)
Policy pieces
"Anticipatory Action: Lessons for the Future" - Frontiers in Climate, December 2022
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