Tabea Lakemann

Tabea Lakemann is a Research Associate at the GIGA Institute of African Studies, part of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), where she has been based since 2019. She also holds affiliations with Georg-August University of Göttingen, where she previously worked as a Research Associate at the Chair of Development Economics, and where she completed her academic training. Her work is deeply embedded in development economics, with a geographic focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire.

Her research interests center on employment in African economies, rigorous impact evaluations, and firms and investment. She investigates how policy interventions—such as business consulting, skills training, and foreign direct investment—affect labor markets, employment quality, and firm performance in developing countries. Her work often employs experimental and quasi-experimental methods, including randomized controlled trials, to assess program effectiveness.

The recent articles she has co-authored reveal a strong trend toward policy-relevant empirical research. Key themes include the formalization of small firms in Côte d'Ivoire, the employment effects of greenfield FDI, and the impact of skills training programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. These publications appear in high-quality outlets such as the Review of World Economics and Ruhr Economic Papers, reflecting a rigorous and policy-oriented approach.

Tabea Lakemann has contributed to several scientific awards and recognitions indirectly through her research projects, though no personal awards are listed. She has been actively involved in advising and grant-funded research, most notably through her role as Coordinator of the Scientific Support for the Special Initiative "Decent Work for a Just Transition" (RéUsSITE), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This initiative supports evidence-based policy for job creation in Africa.

She has taught in both academic and doctoral settings, including at the GIGA Doctoral Program and Georg-August University of Göttingen, where she led block seminars on controversies in development economics. She is also an active participant in knowledge transfer, presenting at international conferences such as the CSAE Conference at the University of Oxford and contributing to media discussions on migration remittances and trade impacts in Africa.