Dean Karlan

A professor of economics at Yale University, Dean Karlan is the founder and president of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a nonprofit organization that designs and evaluates programs to help fight world poverty. Originally created in 2002, IPA has projects in over 40 countries today.

In conjunction with his work and research for IPA, Karlan co-wrote More Than Good Intentions: Improving the Ways the World's Poor Borrow, Save, Farm, Learn, and Stay Healthy along with Jacob Appel. In it, he combines behavioral economics with worldwide field research that take readers into villages across Africa, India, South America, and the Philippines, where economic theory collides with real life. He shows how small changes in banking, insurance, healthcare, and other development initiatives that take into account human irrationality can drastically improve the well-being of poor people everywhere.

Combining his academic background with hands-on field experiments, Dean Karlan is a unique voice in the discussion of global economics and poverty. In his insightful keynotes, he addresses economic and policy issues relevant to developing countries, domestic charitable fundraising, and political participation, and lets audiences know what they can do to help in the fight to end poverty.