The Chair of Development Economics and Economic History at the University of Fribourg conducts research and teaching on poverty, inequality, labour markets, health, education, and demographic behaviour in African and Asian countries, with a strong emphasis on applied micro‑econometric methods and policy‑relevant field research.

Led by Prof. Christelle Dumas, the Chair’s recent research focuses on how public policies, social institutions, and environmental conditions shape human capital accumulation and economic opportunities. Recent work on transport infrastructure in rural Tanzania shows that road upgrades do not uniformly raise incomes; rather, they put poor households under heightened pressure due to increased competition. Other recent contributions examine the consequences of affirmative action and caste-based reservations in India, and conclude to the absence of effect in the education sector; the nutritional and health benefits of child fostering arrangements in Sub-Saharan Africa, using longitudinal data; and the links between environmental pollution and early-life mortality in India. Together, these studies highlight the role of institutions, intra‑household arrangements, and collective mechanisms in mediating development outcomes.

The Chair is also actively engaged in experimental research. Prof. Dumas has obtained Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) funding to lead a randomised controlled trial on labour‑sharing groups, investigating how informal collective work arrangements affect labour market participation, productivity, and women's empowerment in rural settings.

Christelle Dumas undertakes an active role for the scientific community. She has been Associate Editor for World Development since 2020 and jury member for the European Research Council since 2022.

Through its research, teaching, and externally funded projects, the Chair contributes to international debates on development policy while maintaining close ties to empirical realities in Africa and South Asia.