Oana Borcan

Oana Borcan is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of East Anglia (UEA), affiliated with the School of Economics and multiple research centers including the Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science. She holds a PhD in Economics from Gothenburg University (2015). Her research focuses on political economy, development economics, and public policy, with a particular emphasis on corruption, public service integrity, and long-run economic growth determinants. She is also actively engaged in UN advisory work on anti-corruption initiatives.

Education: PhD in Economics from Gothenburg University (2010–2015). Research areas include behavioral economics, applied microeconometrics, and the quality of government institutions. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to education and economic growth.

Recent projects include studying interventions to combat sexual exploitation of entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso and analyzing the impact of partisan managers on hospital outcomes. Notable publications appear in Journal of Public Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and Journal of Economic Growth. She supervises PhD students in applied microeconometrics, political economy, and development economics.

Awards include the UEA Inclusivity Champion Award 2025 and grants from J-PAL and the British Academy. She organizes the Annual Discrimination and Diversity Workshop and serves as a co-editor for a special issue on discrimination at the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.