Sherman Robinson

Bio

Before joining IFPRI in 1993, Sherman Robinson was a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has held visiting appointments at the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; the U.S. Congressional Budget Office; and the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He was also a Division Chief in the Research Department of the World Bank, an Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and a Lecturer in Economics at the London School of Economics. He is an international authority in the area of policy-oriented general equilibrium modeling. At IFPRI, he has applied these and other tools to policy issues related to agricultural development, income distribution, poverty, intersectoral linkages, macroeconomic policy, and international trade.

Academic Background

  • B.A. Harvard University (1965)

  • M.A. in Economics (1969)

  • Ph.D. in Economics (1970) 

Areas of Expertise

Present Position (s)

  • Division Director, Trade and Macroeconomics Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Previous Position (s)

  • 1983-1995 - University of California, Berkeley. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Associate Professor, 1983-85. Professor, 1985-95.

  • 1977-1983 - The World Bank, Washington, D.C. Economist and Senior Economist, Economics of Industry Division, Development Economics Department (1977-1982). Division Chief, Development Strategy Division, Development Research Department (1982-83).

  • 1971-1977 - Princeton University. Economics Department. Assistant Professor. Assistant Director of Graduate Studies, Economics Department (1976-77). Acting Director, Research Program in Development Studies, Woodrow Wilson School (1974-75 and Fall, 1976).

  • 1969-1971 - The London School of Economics and Political Science. Lecturer in Economics.

Other Activities and Memberships

  • January-June, 1998.  George Washington University. Taught a semester graduate course in the Economics Department on General Equilibrium Models for Policy Analysis.

  • May-Nov. 1993 - Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President. Senior Economist. Worked mostly on international trade issues, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and GATT, and agricultural issues.

  • Aug.1992- April 1993. Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Congress. Visiting Scholar. Worked in the Macroeconomic Analysis Division on trade, tax, and macroeconomic issues. Assisted in the preparation of the CBO report on NAFTA.

  • July 1987- July 1989.  Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of California, July 1987 to July 1989. Worked largely on trade issues, analyzing the impact on the U.S. economy of trade reforms proposed in the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. Served on interagency working groups and provided numerous briefings.

  • 1986 and 1991, summers.  International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Luxemburg, Austria. Ford Foundation project to organize and teach a course on economywide multisector models. Team included Professors Shantayanan Devarajan (Harvard University), Lars Bergman (Stockholm School of Economics), and Erno Zalai (Budapest School of Economic Science).

  • 1991-1995.  Robert Nathan Associates. Jointly with Robert Solomon (Brookings Institution), provided analytic foundation for a knowledge-based computer system to provide U.S. government analysts the ability to forecast the need for structural adjustment programs in developing countries.

  • 1972-1992.  The World Bank. Projects on Korea (1972-75), Hungary (1984-86), Yugoslavia (1987), and Turkey (1988). Three missions to Hungary (1984-86). Research work and lecturing based in Washington (1988-89). Consulting to the Agricultural and Rural Development Department (1989-1992).

  • 1988-1991.  KPMG/Peat Marwick. Member of the International Advisory Board, Policy Economics Group (1990-1991). Trips to Jamaica (1988) and Moscow (1990). Other work based in Washington (1988-1991), including a project to develop a U.S.-Mexico trade model to analyze the impact of a North American Free Trade Agreement.

  • 1988-1991.  OECD Development Centre, Paris. Project on the impact of stabilization programs on the distribution of income, 1988-1991. Project on developing a world model of the impact of trade liberalization on developing countries, jointly with the World Bank, 1990-1992.

  • 1988-1989.  Harvard Institute for International Development. Work in Indonesia (1988) and in Cambridge (1989).

  • 1984-1987.  Engineering Economics Associates, Berkeley, CA. Work developing a social accounting matrix for the U.S.

  • 1987, Summer.  University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. University appointment as a Visitor in the Institute of Applied Economic Research.

  • 1981, Fall Term.  Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC. Taught a semester course on economic development for high school seniors.

  • 1981, Spring Term.  Georgetown University. Visiting “Professorial Lecturer.” Taught a graduate course in Economic Planning in Developing Countries.

  • 1980, Spring Term.  Princeton University. Taught a graduate course in Economic Planning in Developing Countries jointly with Professor Jorge de Macedo and Kemal Dervis.

  • 1979, Spring Term.  The Johns Hopkins University. Visiting Lecturer in Economics. Taught a graduate course in Economic Development jointly with Professor T.N. Srinivasan.

Publications

Books and Monographs

  • Global Economic Effects of the Asian Currency Devaluations (with Marcus Noland, Ligang Liu, and Zhi Wang). Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics. 1998.

  • Industrialization and Growth: A Comparative Study (with Hollis Chenery and Moshe Syrquin). Oxford University Press, 1986. Translated into Chinese and published in China by Dangdai Jingjikue Xilie Congshu for the World Bank, 1989.

  • General Equilibrium Models for Development Policy (with Kemal Dervi and Jaime de Melo). Cambridge University Press, 1982. Reprinted by the World Bank, 1989.

  • Income Distribution Policy in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Korea (with Irma Adelman). Stanford University Press and Oxford University Press, 1978.

Selected Recent Articles

  • Löfgren, Hans, and Sherman Robinson. 2001. "Spatial Networks in Multi-Region Computable General Equilibrium Models." Forthcoming in Regional Science and Urban Economics.

  • Nielsen, Chantal, Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder. 2001. “Genetic Engineering and Trade: Panacea or Dilemma for Developing Countries.” World Development, Vol. 29, No. 8, pp.1307-1324.

  • Burfisher, Mary E., Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder. 2001. “The Impact of NAFTA on the United States.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 15, Number 1, pp. 125-144.

  • Bautista, Romeo M., Sherman Robinson, Finn Tarp, and Peter Wobst. 2001. “Policy Bias and Agriculture: Partial and General Equilibrium Measures.” Review of Development Economics, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 89-104.

  • Robinson, Sherman, Andrea Cattaneo, and Moataz El-Said. 2001. “Updating and Estimating a Social Accounting Matrix Using Cross Entropy Methods.” Economic Systems Research, Vol.. 13, No. 1.

  • Arndt, Channing, Peter Hazell, and Sherman Robinson. 2000. “Economic Value of Climate Forecasts for Agricultural Systems in Africa.” In Climate Prediction and Agriculture, M. V. K. Sivakumar (ed.). Washington, D.C.: World Meteorological Organization, International START Secretariat.

  • Arndt, Channing, Henning Tarp Jensen, Sherman Robinson, and Finn Tarp. 2000. “Marketing Margins and Agricultural Technology in Mozambique.” The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1.

  • Noland, Marcus, Sherman Robinson, and Tao Wang. 2000. “Rigorous Speculation: The Collapse and Revival of the North Korean Economy.” World Development, Vol. 28, No. 10, pp.1767-1787.

  • Löfgren, Hans, and Sherman Robinson. 1999. “Non-Separable Farm Household Decisions in a Computable General Equilibrium Model.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Vol. 81, pp. 663-670.

  • De Long, Bradford, Christopher De Long, and Sherman Robinson. 1999. The Case for Mexicos Rescue: The Peso Package Looks Even Better Now.” In The International Monetary Fund - Financial Medic to the World? Lawrence J. McQuillan and Peter C. Montgomery, eds. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University. Reprinted from Foreign Affairs, May-June, 1996.

  • Diaz-Bonilla, Eugenio, and Sherman Robinson. 1999. “Developing Countries and the WTO Agricultural Negotiations.” In Economic Perspectives. An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Information Agency. Agriculture: The United States and the 1999 WTO Ministerial Meetings, Vol. 4, No.2.

  • Robinson, Sherman. 1999.”Shifts in World Agricultural Trade.” In The Future Stakes for U.S. Food and Agriculture in East and Southeast Asia. Steven A. Breth, James A. Auerbach, and Martha Lee Benz, eds. National Policy Association Report #291. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.

  • Löfgren, Hans, and Sherman Robinson. l999. “The Mixed-Complementarity Approach to Specifying Agricultural Supply in Computable General Equilibrium Models.” In Food Security, Diversification, and Resource Management: Refocusing the Role of Agriculture? George H. Peters and Joachim von Braun, eds., pp. 367-379. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing.

  • Robinson, Sherman, Moataz El-Said, and Nu Nu San. 1998, “Rice Policy, Trade, and Exchange Rate Changes in Indonesia: A General Equilibrium Analysis.” Journal of Asian Economics, Vol. 9 No. 3, Fall.

  • Noland, Marcus, Sherman Robinson, and Li-Gang Liu. 1998. “Modeling Inter-Korean Economic Integration.” Journal of Economic Integration 13(3), pp. 426-463

  • Löfgren, Hans, Sherman Robinson, and David Nygaard. 1998. “Tiger or Turtle? Exploring Alternative Futures for Egypt to 2020.” In Opening Doors to the World: A New Trade Agenda for the Middle East. Raed Safadi, ed., pp.167-197. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press and International Development Research Centre, in association with the Economic Research Forum, Cairo.

  • Bautista, Romeo M., and Sherman Robinson. 1997. “Income and Equity Effects of Crop Productivity Growth under Alternative Foreign Trade Regimes: A CGE Analysis for the Philippines.” Asian Journal of Agricultural Economics, III.

  • Burfisher, Mary, Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder. 1997. “Farm Output and Employment Links from Processed Food Exports: A Comparison of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.” In Global Markets for Processed Foods: Theoretical and Practical Issues. D.H. Pick, D.R. Henderson, J.D. Kinsey, and I. M. Sheldon, eds. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

  • Mukherjee, Natasha, and Sherman Robinson. 1997. “Economic Structure, Trade, and Regional Integration in Southern Africa.” In Achieving Food Security in Southern Africa: New Challenge, New Opportunities. Lawrence Haddad, ed. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Devarajan, Shantayanan, S. Delfin, Jeffrey D. Lewis, Sinko Pekka, and Sherman Robinson. 1997. “Policy Lessons from a Simple, Open-Economy Model.” In Applied Methods for Trade Policy Analysis. J. Francois and K. Reinert, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Also available as Policy Research Working Paper No. 1375, Washington, D.C.: Policy Research Department, World Bank, November 1994.

Selected Working Papers

  • Nielsen, Chantal Pohl, Karen Thierfelder, and Sherman Robinson. 2001. “Consumer Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Foods. The Modelling of Preference Changes.” SJFI Working Paper No. 1. Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Economics.

  • Nielsen, Chantal Pohl, Karen Thierfelder, and Sherman Robinson. 2001 “genetically Modified Foods, Trade, and Developing Countries.” TMD Discussion Paper No. 77. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Löfgren, Hans, Rebecca L. Harris, and Sherman Robinson (with assistance of Marcelle Thomas and Moataz El-Said). 2001. “A Standard Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model in GAMS.” TMD Discussion Paper No. 75. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio, Marcelle Thomas, Andrea Cattaneo, and Sherman Robinson. 2000. “Food Security and Trade Negotiations in the World Trade Organization: A Cluster Analysis of Country Groups.” TMD Discussion Paper No. 59. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Robilliard, Anne-Sophie, and Sherman Robinson. 1999. “Reconciling Household Surveys and National Accounts Data Using a Cross Entropy Estimation Method.” TMD Discussion Paper No. 50. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

  • Lewis, Jeffrey, Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder. 1999. “After the Negotiations: Assessing the Impact of Free Trade Agreements in Southern Africa.” TMD Discussion Paper No. 46. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Current Research Projects
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Areas of Interest