Stanford University

International Development

FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.

They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.

FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.

FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.

Stress, Genes, and Decision-Making in Older Adults

Immunosenescence, the age-related decline of the immune system, may be affected by environmental or psychological stressors which, combined with endocrinosenescence, may accelerate the decline of immune-related health. Because making critical decisions, especially those related to health and medicine, is a common source of stress, it may have unforeseen and particularly deleterious effects on the immune system in elderly populations.

Expanded Use of Imaging Technology and the Challenge of Measuring Value

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The availability of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning has grown rapidly, but the value of increased availability is not clear. We document the relationship between CT and MRI availability and use, and we consider potentially important sources of benefits. We discuss key questions that need to be addressed if value is to be well understood. In an example we study, expanded imaging may be valuable because it provides quicker access to more precise diagnostic information, although evidence for improved health outcomes is limited. This may be a common situation; thus, a particularly important question is how non-health-outcome benefits of imaging can be quantified.

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Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Journal Publisher
Health Affairs (Project Hope)
Authors
Laurence C. Baker
External URL

Seema Jayachandran

Landau Economics Bldg, Room 230
Stanford, CA 94305-6015

(650) 725-1870
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Assistant Professor of Economics
CHP/PCOR Affiliate
CDDRL Affiliated Faculty

Seema Jayachandran is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Stanford University. She is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Research Affiliate of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and Stanford Center for International Development (SCID).

Her research focuses on microeconomic issues in developing countries, including health, education, labor markets, and political economy. Her work has been published in the American Economic Review ("Odious Debt," on sovereign debt incurred by dictators), Journal of Political Economy ("Selling Labor Low," on labor market risk in India), and the Quarterly Journal of Economics ("Life Expectancy and Human Capital Investments," on increased education caused by declines in maternal mortality in Sri Lanka), and other journals. Her current projects are based in India, Nepal, and Zimbabwe.

She also works on social issues in the United States. Previously she was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley. She also worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. She earned a PhD and master's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from the University of Oxford where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor's degree from MIT.

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