Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones is an Associate Professor of Economics at American University, with affiliations including the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA) and the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and prior roles at the Institute for Women's Policy Research and International Food Policy Research Institute. Her research focuses on gender equality, reproductive health economics, and international development in Africa, emphasizing policies impacting women’s economic empowerment and coping strategies during economic shocks.

Education: PhD in Agricultural & Resource Economics (UC Berkeley), MA in International Relations (Johns Hopkins SAIS), BA in Mathematics (Mississippi State University).

Research interests span gender economics, savings behavior among the poor, and interventions to improve women’s access to markets. She has conducted field experiments in sub-Saharan Africa on topics like intra-household resource allocation and commercial agriculture empowerment.

Recent articles analyze abortion access’s economic impacts, paid family leave’s role in maternal employment, and mobile banking’s influence on transactional sex in Kenya. Her work bridges microeconomic theory with policy evaluation, often collaborating with institutions like IZA and the World Bank.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Center on Health, Risk, and Society (CHRS) and contributes to global health policy debates through media engagements in outlets like The New York Times and The Guardian.