Isaac Osei-Akoto - MIASA - Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa

Prof. Isaac Osei-Akoto is an Associate Professor of Economics with ISSER and a Senior Measurement, Learning and Evaluation Advisor at ISSER. He has a PhD in Development Economics and has played key roles in conducting a number of policy focused research on poverty, inequalities and related issues within the West African sub-region. His research work has had significant impact on the following: health insurance, crop insurance, gender implications of indirect taxes, child labour in the cocoa growing areas of Ghana, formal savings and financial literacy for children in pre-tertiary schools, and social protection.

State-run cash transfers and other social protection programs are becoming increasingly prominent in low-and middle-income countries, and they generate significant effects on individuals and families particularly those in very poor and vulnerable communities. We will use existing micro-economic data to discuss some of the under-researched issues in this area, including the role of politics, displacement effects on traditional support systems and how the programs affect women’s domestic workloads and stress in Ghana.

Selected publications

Dean Karlan & Matt Lowe & Robert Darko Osei & Isaac Osei-Akoto & Benjamin N. Roth & Christopher R. Udry, 2022. “Social Protection and Social Distancing During the Pandemic: Mobile Money Transfers in Ghana,” NBER Working Papers30309, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Elisabetta Aurino, Aulo Gelli, Clement Adamba, Isaac Osei-Akoto, Harold Alderman (2021). Food for thought? Experimental Evidence on the Learning Impacts of a Large-Scale School Feeding Program. The Journal of Human Resources, 2021; 58(3): 1019-1051. https://doi:10.3368/jhr.58.3.1019-10515R1
Agyei-Holmes, A., Buehren, N., Goldstein, M., Osei, R. D., Osei-Akoto, I., & Udry, C. (2020). The Effects of Land Title Registration on Tenure Security, Investment and the Allocation of Productive Resources. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No.
Osei-Akoto, I., Bawakyillenuo, S., Owusu, G., and Agbelie, I. (2019), “Seasonal Employment and Poverty Reduction: An Impact Evaluation of Labour-Intensive Public Works in Ghana”, ISSER Technical Publication No. 093: Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana.
Gustavo Angeles, Averi Chakrabarti, Sudhanshu Handa, Gean Spektor, Robert Darko Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto, and Richard de Groot, (2017), “Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme Endline Impact Evaluation Report”, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Adamba, C. and Osei-Akoto, I., (2015), “Positioning Ghana’s health insurance system for universal coverage: A synthesis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats”, in Positioning Ghana: Challenges and Innovations, ed. Nana Araba Apt, IFRA, Ibadan, ISBN: 978-978-921-092-3, pg. 219-246.
Dean Karlan, Robert Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto and Christopher Udry (2014), “Agricultural Decisions after Relaxing Credit and Risk Constraints”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129(2): 597-652.

Interdisciplinary Fellow Group: Cash in Crisis Times: A West African Investigation

IFG 12

Despite global heralding of digital payments, significant portions of West Africa remain unbanked, relying predominantly on cash for daily transactions. This interdisciplinary project investigates the role of cash in diverse ... Read more

Institute:
University of Ghana

Year:
2024/2025

Interdisciplinary Fellow Group:
IFG 12