Carol Newman

Prof. Carol Newman is a Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin's Department of Economics. Her research focuses on microeconomic foundations of development, particularly how market constraints affect individual and firm behavior in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. She leads the Trinity Impact Evaluation (TIME) Research Centre and is a key researcher on the South Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme analyzing job creation and productivity through tax data. She has held visiting roles at the University of Copenhagen, University of Chicago, and University of Bologna.

Prof. Newman serves as Chair of the Board of Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP), a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, World Bank consultant, and chairs Ireland’s National Economic Dialogue. Her work combines randomized controlled trials with policy analysis, emphasizing labour markets, firm dynamics, and industrial policy. Notable projects include impact evaluations in Senegal, comparative manufacturing studies between Africa and Asia, and experimental research on public goods provision and role model effects.

Her research spans over two decades, with significant contributions to understanding capital allocation inefficiencies, agricultural subsidies, and the socio-economic impacts of HIV/AIDS. She has published extensively on topics ranging from Special Economic Zones in Tanzania to social capital’s influence on rural savings in Vietnam.