My research investigates how households in low-and middle income countries respond to major economic, institutional, and environmental shifts, such as education reforms, fertility shocks, and extractive industry expansion. I am particularly interested in how public policy can shape these responses to promote equity and productivity including in vulnerable settings. I approach this question using both experimental and quasi-experimental econometric tools, including randomized experiments, difference-in-differences and event studies, instrumental variables estimators, and causal machine learning using large-scale administrative and survey microdata. In my dissertation, I examine how resource extraction, education reform, and family structure influence farm labor, productivity, and human capital accumulation.
Link to my Research Statement.
Journal articles
Abay, Kibrom A.; Ibrahim, Hosam; and Breisinger, Clemens. 2021. Food Policies and Obesity in Low and Middle Income Countries. World Development. DOI
Kurdi, Sikandra; Figueroa, Jose Luis; and Ibrahim, Hosam. 2020. Nutritional Training in a Humanitarian Context: Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Trial. Maternal and Child Nutrition.
e12973. DOI
Work in progress
The best buy? Prospective evidence on successful remediation in Morocco’s public primary schools. With Andreas deBarros, Sarah Deschênes, and Paul Glewwe. 2025. OSF Pre-registration.
To address the learning crisis, targeted remediation and structured pedagogy are often considered “great buys”‘ for education policymakers, but related programs are difficult to scale, and impacts in government schools are often muted. We collaborated with Morocco’s Ministry of National Education Preschool and Sports to conduct a prospective evaluation of a large-scale reform effort that combines multiple “great buys”. Our preliminary results rest on a pre-registered difference-in-differences analysis of primary data collected from 276 public primary schools. After one year, the program improved student learning by 0.90 standard deviations (s.d.) on average (0.52 s.d. impacts in Arabic, 1.30 s.d. impacts in French, and 0.93 s.d. impacts in math). Its average effect exceeds the 99th percentile of treatment effects of other education interventions in low- and middle-income countries. These findings suggest that an integrated intervention can achieve transformative impacts on student learning, at scale.
Mining and rural electrification: analysis from Tanzania using geospatial analysis and difference-in-difference event study design. 2025. With Valerie Mueller, Raahil Madhok, and Sayahnika Basu.
Building on my job market paper, I am now examining how mining impacts rural electrification in Tanzania, in collaboration with Valerie Mueller, Raahil Madhok, and Sayahnika Basu. We propose to examine how large-scale mining shapes rural electrification in Tanzania, separating infrastructure rollout from household adoption. Using the LSMS-ISA household and community panels, which record whether enumerators observed a national (TANESCO) transformer and whether a grain mill exists, merged to the timing and location of mine openings, we will implement matched event-study designs that balance baseline covariates and then trace dynamics in (i) grid presence/transformers, (ii) household connections and electricity spending, and (iii) appliance use and related outcomes. Building on evidence of bimodal access and “last-mile” frictions, we will replicate the productive-use benchmark (grain mills) and contrast it with extractive activity (mines). Our research question is: does mining expand grid infrastructure without translating into household uptake?
Working papers
Ibrahim, Hosam. 2024. The Tradeoff between Child Quantity and Child Quality: Testing Becker’s Q-Q Model and Long-Terms Effects on Women Using Data from Egypt. ERF Working Paper, 1711. URL
Policy reports and briefs
Gadallah, May; Said, Moheb; and Ibrahim, Hosam. 2022. The Impact of Covid-19 on the Jordanian Households and Firms: Findings from the ERF Covid-19 Monitor in Jordan. ERF Policy Research Report, 39. URL
El-Badawi, Ibrahim; Ibrahim, Hosam; and Zaki, Chahir. 2020. Civil War Onset, Natural Resource Rents and Social Cohesion. ERF Working Paper, 1401. URL
Abay, Kibrom A.; Ibrahim, Hosam; and Breisinger, Clemens. 2020. Food Policies and Obesity in Low and Middle Income Countries. IFPRI Working Paper, 28. DOI
Abay, Kibrom A.; and Ibrahim, Hosam. 2020. Winners and Losers from COVID-19: Evidence from Google Search Data for Egypt. IFPRI Policy Note, 8. DOI
Abay, Kibrom A.; Ibrahim, Hosam; Breisinger, Clemens; and Bayasgalanbat, Nomindelger. 2020. Food Policies and their Implications on Overweight and Obesity Trends in Selected Countries in the Near East and North Africa Region. IFPRI Working Paper, 30. DOI
Ibrahim, Hosam. 2019. Political Violence and Youth Bulges. ERF Working Paper, 1310. URL
Kurdi, Sikandra; Breisinger, Clemens; Ibrahim, Hosam; Ghorpade, Yashodhan; and Al-Ahmadi, Afrah. 2019. Responding to Conflict: Does “Cash Plus” Work for Preventing Malnutrition?: New Evidence from an Impact Evaluation of Yemen’s Cash for Nutrition Program. IFPRI Policy Brief. DOI
Kurdi, Sikandra; Ghorpade, Yashodhan; and Ibrahim, Hosam. 2019. The Cash for Nutrition Intervention in Yemen: Impact Evaluation Study. IFPRI Working Paper, 19. DOI
Hosam Ibrahim 