Nada Eissa

Nada Eissa is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Georgetown University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). She is a Responsive Policy Advisor for the International Growth Centre (IGC), where she leads research on tax policy, fiscal decentralization, and labor markets in developing countries. She has held prior academic positions at the University of California, Berkeley, and served in the U.S. Department of the Treasury as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy.

Her research focuses on the intersection of tax policy, labor markets, and public finance, particularly in fragile and developing states. She examines how tax and transfer systems influence individual behavior, including work and family decisions, and how these insights can guide more effective program design. Her work spans sub-Saharan Africa, including Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, and Ghana, addressing issues such as VAT compliance, electronic billing machines, presumptive taxation, and civil service reform.

Her recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on empirical evaluation of fiscal policies, with a trend toward randomized field experiments, policy briefs, and real-world impact assessments. She frequently collaborates with governments and international institutions to evaluate tax administration reforms and improve revenue mobilization.

• National Tax Association’s Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Government Finance and Taxation (1995)
• Member of the National Academy of Social Insurance

Nada Eissa has supervised and co-led numerous research projects, often involving policy evaluation and technical advising. She has collaborated with institutions such as the Rwanda Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Finance in Uganda. Her work has been supported by grants and institutional funding through IGC and NBER. She has contributed to capacity-building initiatives in post-conflict states, focusing on labor markets and state institution development.

She is involved in multiple research teams and labs associated with the IGC and Georgetown University, particularly those focused on development policy, tax administration, and state capability building. Her projects often involve interdisciplinary teams and field-based data collection, including mystery shopper studies and firm-level audits.