Obie Porteous Wins Outstanding Dissertation Award

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.– Assistant Professor of Economics Obie Porteous has received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). The award is given annually “in recognition of development of professional excellence by persons writing doctoral dissertations in any field consistent with AAEA’s vision.”

A maximum of three awards are given each year, accompanied by a $1,000 cash prize.

Porteous, who teaches courses in international economics in the economics and international politics and economics majors at Middlebury, completed his PhD at the University of California–Berkeley in 2016. His dissertation, “Essays on Agricultural Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa,” is available online.

Porteous joined the Middlebury faculty in the fall of 2016. His research focus is in the fields of international trade and development economics, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

He is particularly interested in how trade policies and trade barriers affect incentives and outcomes for local firms and consumers in developing countries and how these effects then help or hinder long-term structural transformation and economic growth.