David R. Lee

Biography

David R. Lee is international professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and provost's fellow for internationalization in the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs at Cornell University. He received his BA degree from Amherst College and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lee's research focuses mainly on the interface between economic development, agriculture, and the environment, including food security, sustainable agriculture, technology adoption, environmental services, climate change, and agricultural and environmental policy. He has conducted research or consulted in nearly 30 countries, principally in Latin America, but also in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. He has served as a visiting economist in the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (Rome), in the chief economist's office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (Washington, DC) and in the Economic Research Service of USDA (Washington, DC); as a visiting fellow at the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi in Turin, Italy; and as a visiting professor at universities in Italy, the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Honduras.

Lee teaches a university-wide undergraduate course, International Trade and Finance and a graduate course Natural Resources and Economic Development. He has served as an economic consultant and technical advisor for many organizations, including the World Bank, FAO, USAID, UNDP, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In both 2007 and 2011, Lee was a co-recipient of the World Bank's Green Award, awarded annually by the Environment Sector Board of the World Bank to recognize excellence in addressing environmental and sustainability concerns in the bank's country programs around the world.

Selected Publications

• Murphy, David; Nourani, Vesall; Lee, David. "Chatting at Church: Information Diffusion through Religious Networks"Review of Economics and Statistics. 104.3 (2022): 449-464
• Murphy, David; Roobroeck, Dries; Lee, David; Thies, Janice. "Underground Knowledge: Estimating the Impacts of Soil Information Transfers Through Experimental Auctions"American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 102.5 (2020): 1468-1493
• Berazneva, Julia; Lee, David; Place, Frank; Jakubson, George. "Allocation and Valuation of Smallholder Maize Residues in Western Kenya"Ecological Economics. 152 (2018): 172-182
• Murphy, David; Berazneva, Julia; Lee, David. "Fuelwood source substitution, gender, and shadow prices in western Kenya"Environment and Development Economics. 23.6 (2018): 655-678
• Woolf, Dominic; Lehmann, Johannes; Lee, David. "Optimal Bioenergy Power Generation for Climate Change Mitigation With or Without Carbon Sequestration"Nature Communications. 7 (2016): 13160
• Lee, David; Edmeades, Svetlana; DeNys, Erwin; McDonald, Andrew; Janssen, Willem. "Developing Local Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change in Agriculture: A Priority-Setting Approach with Application to Latin America"Global Environmental Change. 29 (2014): 78-91
• Berazneva, Julia; Lee, David. "Explaining the African Food Riots of 2007-2008: An Empirical Analysis"Food Policy. 39 (2013): 28-39
• Verner, Dorte; Lee, David; Ashwill, Maximillian; Wilby, Robert. "Increasing Resilience to Climate Change in the Agricultural Sector of the Middle East: The Cases of Jordan and Lebanon". The World Bank. (2013)
• Rao, N; Easton, Zach; Lee, David; Steenhuis, Tammo. "Economic Analysis of Best Management Practices to Reduce Watershed Phosphorus Losses"Journal of Environmental Quality. 41.3 (2012): 855-864
• The Food and Financial Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: Origins, Impacts and Policy Implications, Ed. David Lee, Ed. Muna Ndulo. CABI Press. (2011)

Academic Degrees

• PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1981
• MA University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980
• BA Amherst College, 1972