Esther Gehrke

Esther Gehrke is an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University's Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy, with affiliations at the German Economic Association's Development Economics Research Group, EUDN, CESifo, and IZA. Her work bridges applied microeconomics with development economics, education, demography, and agricultural policy.

• Key Research Areas: Human capital investment under uncertainty, migration policy impacts, agricultural modernization, and rural economic decision-making
• Teaching: Introduction to Economics (AEP10303), Economics of Agribusiness (AEP33306), and Central Themes in Development Economics (DEC30306)

Her empirical work spans India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Mexico, focusing on how households respond to policy shocks, climate variability, and migration constraints. Recent articles analyze protectionist FDI policies in Indonesia, career guidance interventions in Cambodia, and educational outcomes under US deportation risks in Mexico.

Scientific contributions include the VENI grant (NWO) for studying educational inequalities within families. Her research combines structural economic modeling with field experiments, revealing nonlinear relationships between cattle investment and returns, and demonstrating how social insurance programs like India's NREGS can mitigate educational risks while facing implementation challenges.

• Awards:
  • VENI grant (NWO)
• Methodological Strengths:
  • Triple-difference causal identification
  • Nonparametric production function estimation
  • Dynamic complementarity modeling