Jones Paintsil
Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics · PhD Candidate
Applied microeconomics of energy, the environment, development, and firm behavior. Consultant at the World Bank Group.
On the 2026-2027 economics job market
Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics · PhD Candidate
Applied microeconomics of energy, the environment, development, and firm behavior. Consultant at the World Bank Group.
On the 2026-2027 economics job market
I am a PhD candidate in Economics at Howard University and a Consultant in the Enterprise Analysis Unit at the World Bank Group, where I work with World Bank Enterprise Survey firm microdata. I am on the 2026-2027 economics job market.
My research is in applied microeconomics and development economics, spanning energy and the environment, firm behavior, and health. My dissertation consists of three empirical chapters. In my job market paper, I study how firms in developing economies choose backup power when the electricity grid is unreliable, and show that upfront capital and credit access, rather than outage exposure, govern the move to on-site solar.
I use rigorous applied-microeconometric methods with large-scale survey and census microdata to produce policy-relevant evidence.
Unreliable electricity forces firms in developing economies to secure their own power, a need historically met by diesel generators. Though on-site solar now costs less than diesel over its lifetime, diesel still dominates. This paper investigates firms' backup-power choices using the most recent rounds of the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, covering 36 developing economies (11,367 firms) across Sub-Saharan Africa (18), Latin America and the Caribbean (6), East Asia and the Pacific (5), South Asia (3), the Middle East and North Africa (2), and Europe and Central Asia (2), with 17 high-income economies (9,435 firms) held out as a benchmark. The analysis separates two mechanisms. The first is dispatchability. A generator can switch on instantly when the grid fails, whereas solar without storage is intermittent; outage exposure should therefore track diesel rather than solar adoption. The second is capital. Solar's large upfront cost implies adoption tracks firm capability and finance rather than outage exposure. Four findings emerge. First, outage exposure is associated with a higher probability of owning a generator, more strongly associated with outage duration than frequency. Second, the link between outage exposure and solar adoption is statistically indistinguishable from zero. Third, as outages lengthen, firms without backup move to diesel, while firms that already have solar add a generator. Fourth, solar adoption tracks firm capability, through firm size, exporting, and digital presence, a pattern that also holds in the high-income benchmark where outages are absent. Solar adopters are less finance-constrained, though holding bank credit does not predict adoption once capability is controlled. Lowering solar's upfront cost would raise clean self-generation but would not by itself shift firms away from generators for reliability, which requires a dispatchable clean option such as solar paired with storage.
My research focuses on understanding the intersections of health, gender, and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through rigorous empirical analysis, I examine how policy interventions and socioeconomic factors shape outcomes for vulnerable populations.
I investigate the relationships between health systems, policy interventions, and population health outcomes. My work has examined how expanding health insurance coverage can reduce childhood malnutrition, and how income levels differentially affect health outcomes across African contexts. My current dissertation explores the intersection of weather shocks, health, and poverty dynamics.
A significant portion of my research addresses gender disparities in Sub-Saharan Africa. I have studied how women's empowerment indicators influence reproductive health decisions, including contraceptive use, and examined the social and cultural factors underlying gender-based violence acceptance across 30 African countries.
My research on child welfare investigates the social determinants affecting children's health and safety. This includes work on reducing childhood malnutrition through maternal health interventions and examining the factors contributing to child abuse across multiple Sub-Saharan African countries.
I have contributed to research on financial sector development, including examining the implications of financial liberalization on private savings behavior in Sub-Saharan African economies.
I employ advanced econometric techniques and work with large-scale survey data, including Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Enterprise Surveys, to produce rigorous, policy-relevant research findings.
For a complete list of publications, citations, and research metrics, visit my Google Scholar profile:
View All Publications on Google ScholarI am committed to making quantitative methods accessible and relevant to students interested in business and economic analysis.
An applied introduction to statistical reasoning for business and economic decision-making. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, sampling distributions, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, and time series. Primary text: Doane, Applied Statistics for Business and Economics (2024).
Policy briefs, data insights, and commentary on development economics in Sub-Saharan Africa.
New World Bank Enterprise Survey data reveal troubling trends in Liberia's private sector, including declining productivity, reduced innovation, and persistent financial constraints. Real annual sales growth dropped from 27.3% in 2017 to 7.9% in 2025, while access to finance emerged as the leading constraint, rising to 39.8% of firms. The analysis identifies a negative cycle: without capital, firms cannot innovate, and without productivity gains, they cannot self-finance. It offers policy recommendations tied to Liberia's ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
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