Justin Sandefur leads Open Philanthropy’s program on economic growth in low- and middle-income countries. He joined Open Philanthropy in 2025 from the Center for Global Development, where his research portfolio included field experiments in education, health, and governance reforms, as well as cross-country work on trade and economic growth. In the past, Justin has been a visiting professor at Georgetown and Peking universities, a resident advisor to the Tanzanian government, and a member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s economic advisory board and the external review panel of the World Bank’s Doing Business index. He holds a D.Phil. in economics from Oxford University.
