Structural Transformation of Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STARS)

The Structural Transformation of Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STARS) program, founded and headquartered at Cornell University, works to accelerate economic growth across low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) by finding, training, and supporting the most talented early career economists and positioning them in high-leverage roles where their work can cause trajectory changes in agricultural productivity, economic output, and poverty reduction. Their work addresses a critical constraint to agricultural productivity while empowering local experts to shape their region's development.

What problem are they trying to solve?

Economic growth across the LMICs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is constrained by low agricultural productivity, which in turn is limited by an insufficient supply of highly competent researchers. Agricultural innovation developed for high-income countries often cannot be directly applied to African and other LMIC contexts, where crops, pests, climate, diseases, and eating habits are fundamentally different. This creates a pressing need for local research capacity that can adapt and develop technologies appropriate for local agriculture.

The situation is particularly acute when it comes to economics expertise. While billions of dollars flow into agricultural research each year, much of this funding is misallocated due to a lack of sophisticated economic analysis to guide investment decisions. Without enough local economists to evaluate and direct research priorities, even well-funded programs often fail to achieve their potential impact on productivity and growth.

What do they do?

STARS provides intensive eighteen-month fellowships to exceptional LMIC economists who have recently completed their Ph.Ds. The program combines advanced training, mentorship from leading researchers, and funding for original research projects. Through their participation in STARS, fellows can develop valuable international contacts, augment their skills, and publish high-quality papers in top-tier journals.

The program is particularly focused on preparing fellows for high-impact roles in their home regions. Without STARS’ intervention, many of these brilliant researchers would likely pursue pure teaching careers at universities in their home countries where they could not effectively deploy their research expertise or, exceptionally, tenure-track academic careers at universities in high-income countries, where their expertise would be less directly valuable for development in their home countries. Instead, STARS enables them to publish high-quality research in top journals while maintaining connections to local institutions, policymakers, and development challenges.

Why do we recommend them?

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that STARS represents an extremely high-leverage way to promote economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa and other LMIC regions. First, a substantial body of research shows that investments in agricultural R&D have remarkably large effects on GDP growth. Second, human capital—particularly in economics and social science—has been identified as a key binding constraint to agricultural productivity gains.

The program’s impact potential is further enhanced by the prospect of fellows ascending to positions of significant influence in their home regions. The supply of highly competent social scientists able to secure leadership positions in well-funded research institutions like the CGIAR is very small. By helping some of Africa's most promising minds return to work in these institutions, STARS creates the potential for transformative impact through improved allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in agricultural research spending.

The program is led by Dr. Chris Barrett, one of the most respected agricultural and development economists working today. His track record includes training many accomplished economists working on African agriculture, including Andrew Mude, a World Food Prize recipient who created one of Kenya's most effective agricultural livelihood programs.