Research interests
Economic development; enterprises and development; private sector growth
Christopher Woodruff
Christopher Woodruff is Professor of Development Economics and a Fellow at Wolfson College.
He is the Scientific Coordinator for the DFID – CEPR joint research venture on Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) and directs the Firm Capabilities group at the International Growth Centre. In addition to his position at Oxford, Professor Woodruff is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Senior Fellow of the Bureau of Research on Economic Analysis and Development (BREAD), a Research Fellow at the Center for Competitive Advantage and the Global Economy (CAGE) and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
His research focuses on enterprises in low-income countries, with noted work on returns to capital investments in microenterprises and the effect of formal registration on enterprise performance. He is a pioneer in the use of field experiments in firms. He currently holds an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council for work measuring productivity in the readymade garment sector, with a particular focus on the challenges women face in moving into supervisory positions in the Bangladeshi garment sector.
Professor Woodruff teaches the Development and the Private Sector module for the MSc in Economics for Development.
Research students supervised
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Journal articles and special issuesWoodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, Craig McIntosh, Ketki Sheth )(2022) 'Can Mobile-Linked Bank Accounts Bolster Savings? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Sri Lanka ', The Review of Economics and Statistics 104 (2) : 306–20Woodruff, Christopher (with Andreas Menzel )(2021) 'Gender wage gaps and worker mobility: Evidence from the garment sector in Bangladesh ', Labour Economics 71 : 102000Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, Craig McIntosh and Ketki Sheth )(2020) 'Can Mobile-Linked Bank Accounts Bolster Savings? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Sri Lanka ', Review of Economics and StatisticsWoodruff, Christopher (with Michael Callen, Suresh de Mel and Craig McIntosh )(2019) '“What Are the Headwaters of Formal Savings? Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka ', Review of Economic Studies 86 : 2491-2529Woodruff, Christopher (with S. Quinn )(2019) 'Experiments and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries ', Annual Review of Economics 11 : 225-248Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2019) 'Labor Drops: Experimental Evidence on the Return to Additional Labor in Microenterprises ', American Economic Journal: Applied Economcs 11 (1) : 202-35Woodruff, Christopher (with Marcel Fafchamps )(2017) 'Identifying Gazelles: Expert Panels Vs. Surveys as a Means to Identify Firms with Rapid Growth Potential ', World Bank Economic Review 31(3) : 670–86Woodruff, Christopher (with David McKenzie )(2017) 'Business Practices in Small Firms in Developing Countries ', Management Science 63 (9) : 2967-81Woodruff, Christopher (with David McKenzie )(2014) 'What are we learning from business training and entrepreneurship evaluations around the developing world? ', World Bank Research Observer 29 (1) : 48-82Woodruff, Christopher (with Marcel Fafchamps, David McKenzie, Simon Quinn )(2014) 'Microenterprise Growth and the Flypaper Effect: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Ghana ', Journal of Development Economics 106 : 211-26Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David Mckenzie )(2014) 'Business Training and Female Enterprise Start-up, Growth, and Dynamics: Experimental evidence from Sri Lanka ', Journal of Development Economics 106 : 199-210Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David Mckenzie )(2013) 'The demand for, and consequences of, formalization among informal firms in Sri Lanka ', AEJ: Applied Economics 5 (2) : 122-50Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, Craig McIntosh )(2013) 'Deposit Collecting: Unbundling the Role of Frequency, Salience and Habit Formation in Generating Savings ', AEA Papers and Proceedings 103 (3) : 387-92Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2012) 'One-time transfers of cash or capital have long-lasting effects on microenterprises in Sri Lanka ', Science 335 (6071) : 962-6Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2012) 'Enterprise Recovery following Natural Disasters ', Economic Journal 122 (559) : 64-91Woodruff, Christopher (with Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Ernesto López Córdova, María Soledad Martinez Pería )(2011) 'Remittances and Banking Services: Evidence from Mexico ', Journal of Development Economics 95 (2) : 229-41Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2011) 'Getting Credit to High-Return Microenterprises: The Results of an Information Intervention ', World Bank Economic Review 25 (3) : 456-85Woodruff, Christopher (with Rob Farlie )(2010) 'Mexican-American Entrepreneurship ', BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 10 (1) (Contributions) : Article 10Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2010) 'Wage Subsidies for Microenterprises ', American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 100 (2) : 614-18Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2009) 'Measuring Microenterprise Profits: Must we ask how the sausage is made? ', Journal of Development Economics 88 (1) : 19-31Woodruff, Christopher (with Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie )(2009) 'Are Women more Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns ', AEJ-Applied Economics 1 (3) : 1-32
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ChaptersWoodruff, Christopher (2020) 'The importance of protecting export-oriented firms ', COVID-19 in Developing Economies CEPR Press
