Jim Cust

James (Jim) Cust is an economist working in the Office of the Chief Economist, Africa Region at the World Bank. Here he is co-leading a new flagship study on Africa’s Resource Future, in addition to managing the Think Africa Partnership, a regional initiative which provides support to chief governmental economic advisors across Africa. Prior to his current position, he was Director of Research and Data at the Natural Resource Governance Institute and the founding staff member of the Natural Resource Charter.

James’ research examines on the role of government and governance in harnessing resources for growth and poverty reduction. His work addresses policy-relevant empirical questions, utilising large-scale spatially identified micro data and causal identification. He has recently completed work on the 'Presource Curse' – where some countries are shown to experience growth disappointments even before production begins, on 'Institutions and the location of oil exploration' examining how much weak governance can deter investment, and on 'Stranded Nations' examining challenges faced by fossil-fuel rich nations in the face of global decarbonization, as well as studies on the local impacts of resource wealth, deforestation dynamics, and Dutch disease.

James holds a DPhil (PhD) in Economics from the University of Oxford, an MSc with distinction from Oxford, and a first-class BA Hons from Cambridge. He is an external Research Associate of the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies (OxCarre) at the Department of Economics in Oxford.