Olivia holds a PhD in Economics from the Chair of Development Economics (Prof. Michael Grimm) and was member of the DFG Research Training Group 2720: “Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPE)”. Her research explores the impact of digital technologies on development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the areas of agriculture, financial inclusion, and domestic revenue mobilization, and extending to issues of climate change adaptation among smallholder farmers.
During Fall 2024, she was a visiting PhD student at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, invited by Prof. Jenny C. Aker. She holds an MSc in Economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and has worked as a research assistant at the ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research.
She is interested in the effects of digitalisation on firms, smallholder farmers and household welfare in developing countries. In her doctoral thesis, she has used various data sources (geospatial data, firm-level tax data, surveys, etc.) to investigate the effects of expanding mobile phone coverage in Africa, as well as conduct a randomised field experiment to explore the potential of innovative digital platforms.
Curriculum vitae of Olivia Wirth
You can find more information about Olivia Wirth on her personal website.
Former Semesters:
Growth and Development, tutorial (BA)
Evaluation of Development Policies, tutorial (MA)
Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods for Development, tutorial (MA)
Seminar in Public Economics (MA)
