Prof. Robert Darko Osei

Director
Professor (Director)

Robert Darko Osei is a Professor of Development Economics at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, Legon. Until July 2025, he was the Dean for the School of Graduate Studies at the same University. His main areas of research include evaluative poverty and rural research, structural transformation and its implications for poverty and inequality, and other economic development policy concerns. He is currently the Country Director for the Ghana node of the African Centre of Excellence in Inequality Research (ACEIR). Robert serves on a number of boards nationally and internationally is currently a member of the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). He is a co-chair of the Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative (DAISI), an initiative being jointly managed by J-PAL (based in MIT, USA) and the Center for Effective Global Action (based in UC Berkeley, USA). He also currently serves as a Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited.

  • Impact Assessment
  • Growth and Structural Change
  • Fiscal Policy Issues 
  • The economics of agriculture
  • Social Grants
  • Poverty inequality and Deprivation

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Owusu, G., Osei R. D and Asante, F. A. (2017).  Development Policies and Practices in Ghana: A Reader. Sub-saharan Africa Publishers, Accra, Ghana, Accra, Ghana. ISBN: 978-9988-550-70-7
  • Aryeetey E., Osei R.D and Quartey, P (2014). Managing Ghana’s Oil Boom for Structural Transformation. Sub-saharan Africa Publishers, Accra, Ghana, Accra, Ghana. ISBN: 978-9964-75-092-3

Book Chapters

  • Danquah, M., Osei, R. D., Schotte, S., & Sen, K. (2024). Impact of COVID-19 on Employment and Earnings in Ghana. Covid-19 and the Informal Economy, 73.
  • Issahaku, H., Asiedu, E., Nkegbe, P. K., & Osei, R. (2020). Financing Agriculture for Inclusive Development. In Abor, J. Y., Adjasi, C. K. D., Lensink, R. (eds.). Contemporary Issues in Development Finance (pp. 287-317), Routledge- London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429450952
  • Osei, R. D., Ackah, C., Domfe, G., & Danquah, M. (2018). Political Settlements and Structural Change: Why Growth has not been Transformational in Ghana. In Pritchett, L., Sen, K. and Werker, E. (2018). Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes, (pp. 159-182).  Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • Osei R. D. and Telli, H. (2017). Sixty Years of Fiscal Policy in Ghana: Outcomes and Lessons. In Aryeetey E. and Kanbur R. (eds), The Economy of Ghana Sixty Years after Independence, (pp. 66-87). Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. ISBN: 978-0-19-875343-8
  • Osei R. D. and Jedwab R (2016). Structural Change in a Poor African Country: New Historical Evidence from Ghana. In McMillan, M., Rodrik D., & Sepulveda C. (eds), Structural Change, Fundamentals and Growth: A Framework and Case Studies, (pp. 161-196). International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC. ISBN: 9780896292147
  • Owusu, G., Yankson, P. W. K., Osei, R. D. (2016). Youth Entrepreneurship in Ghana: Current Trends and Policies. In Gough, K., & Langevang, T. (Eds), Young Entreprenuers in Sub-Saharan Africa, (pp. 32-47), Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-138-84459-9
  • Osei-Akoto, I. Osei R. D. & Aryeetey, E. (2014). The Incidence Of Indirect Taxes In Ghana: Is There A Gender Bias?’, In Quartey, P. Aryeetey,, E. B. & Ackah, C. (Eds.), Domestic Resource Mobilization for Inclusive Development, (pp. 368-417). Woeli Publishers & ISSER, Accra, Ghana. ISBN: 978-9964-75-094-7
  • Ackah, C. Aryeetey, C. Botchie, D & Osei, R. D. (2012). The Transmission of World Commodity Prices to Domestic Markets: Household Welfare Effects in Ghana. In Ackah, C., and Aryeetey, E. (Eds.), Globalization, Trade and Poverty in Ghana, (pp. 221-248). Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra. ISBN: 978-9988-647-36-0
  •  Aryeetey E., Osei-Akoto I., Osei R. D.  & Oduro A., (2010). An Investigation into the Gender Dimensions of Taxation in Ghana. In Grown C, and Valodia, I. (eds.), Taxation and Gender Equity: A Comparative Analysis of Direct and Indirect Taxes in Developing and Developed Countries, (pp. 151-178). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-55250-469-7
  • Osei, R (2001). ‘A Growth Collapse with Diffuse Resources: Ghana’, in Auty, R. M. (Ed.), Resource Abundance and Economic Development. (pp. 165-178) Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199246882

Refereed Journal Articles

  • Riley, E., Shonchoy, A. S., & Osei, R. D. (2025). Incentives and endorsement for technology adoption: Evidence from mobile banking in Ghana. Journal of Development Economics, 176, 103511.
  • Lambon-Quayefio, M., Merven, B., Hughes, A., Hartley, F., & Osei, R. D. (2025). Estimating the distributive impacts of climate mitigation policies in the power sector in Ghana. Energy for Sustainable Development, 84, 101589.
  • Owusu, N. Y. A., Osei, R. D., & Ackah, C. G. (2025). Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Wage Premium Hypothesis: An Unconditional Quantile Regression and Decomposition Approach. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 02601079251314229.
  • Ackah, C. G., Osei, R. D., Owusu, N. Y. A., & Acheampong, V. (2025). Special Economic Zones and household welfare: New evidence from Ghana. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 1-23.
  • Osei, R. D., & Owoo, N. S. (2024). Multi-dimensional poverty and health outcomes in Ghana. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10, 101108.
  •  Banerjee, A., Karlan, D., Osei, R., Trachtman, H., & Udry, C. (2025). Corrigendum to ‘Unpacking a multi-faceted program to build sustainable income for the very poor’. Journal of Development Economics, 103397.
  • Danso-Mensah, K., Atta-Ankomah, R., Osei, R. D., & Osei-Akoto, I. (2024). The redistributive and welfare impact of fiscal policies in Ghana: new evidence from CEQ methodology. Cogent Economics & Finance, 12(1), 2398734.
  • Ackah, C. G., Osei, R. D., & Kusi, B. A. (2024). Special economic zone dynamics and firm performance: Evidence from an emerging economy. Managerial and Decision Economics.
  • Ackah, C. G., Osei, R. D., & Kusi, B. A. (2024). Special economic zones, gender and innovations: new evidence from an emerging economy. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1), 2342487.
  • Onumah, J. A., Osei, R. D., Martey, E., & Asante, F. A. (2023). Welfare dynamics of innovations among agricultural households in Ghana: Implication for poverty reduction. Heliyon.
  • Schotte, S., Danquah, M., Osei, R. D., & Sen, K. (2023). The labour market impact of COVID-19 lockdowns: Evidence from Ghana. Journal of African Economies, 32(Supplement_2), ii10-ii33.
  • Dzanku, F. M., & Osei, R. D. (2023). Does combining traditional and information and communications technology–based extension methods improve agricultural outcomes? Evidence from field experiments in Mali. Review of Development Economics, 27(1), 450-475.
  • Dzanku, F. M., Osei, R. D., Nkegbe, P. K., & Osei-Akoto, I. (2022). Information delivery channels and agricultural technology uptake: experimental evidence from Ghana. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 49(1), 82-120
  • Onumah, J. A., Asante, F. A., Osei, R. D., & Asare-Nuamah, P. (2022). Do farmer-actor interactions in the agricultural innovation system drive technological innovation adoption in Ghana?. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 1-15.
  • Banerjee, A., Karlan, D., Osei, R., Trachtman, H., & Udry, C. (2021). Unpacking a multi-faceted program to build sustainable income for the very poor. Journal of Development Economics, 102781.
  • Onumah, J. A., Asante, F. A. & Osei, R. D. (2021): Actor roles and linkages in the agricultural innovation system: options for establishing a cocoa innovation platform in Ghana, Innovation and Development, DOI: 10.1080/2157930X.2021.1965752
  • Atta-Ankomah, R. & Osei R. D. (2021). "Structural change and welfare: A micro panel data evidence from Ghana". Journal of Development Studies, 1-18.
  • Dzanku, F. M., Osei, R. D., & Osei-Akoto, I. (2021). The impact of mobile phone voice message reminders on agricultural outcomes in Mali. Agriculture Economics
  • Owoo, N., and Osei, R. D. (2022). Exploring the Dynamics of Inter-Household Consumption Inequality in Ghana. Journal of African Development, Vol 23(1)
  • Osei, R. D., & Lambon-Quayefio, M. P. (2021). Effects of Long-Term Malnutrition on Education Outcomes in Ghana: Evidence from a Panel Study. The European Journal of Development Research, 1-21.
  • Osei, R. D., & Lambon-Quayefio, M.P. (2021). “Cash Transfers and the Supply of Labour by Poor Households: Evidence from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty in Ghana"  Review of Development Economics. Vol 25 Issue 3 (pp 1293-1304)
  • Dzanku, F. M., Osei, R. D., Nkegbe, P. K., & Osei-Akoto, I. (2020). Information delivery channels and agricultural technology uptake: experimental evidence from Ghana. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 49(1), 82-120.