Agency Conference

Conference Themes

The Princeton–African School of Economics Research Hub at Princeton University is organizing a two-day conference on the evolving role of agency in institutional and human capital development. The conference brings together scholars and practitioners across economics, political science, psychology, philosophy, and the humanities to examine how agency is conceptualized, measured, mobilized, and embedded within institutions. The conference will draw upon diverse theoretical, empirical, and philosophical perspectives as a starting point for a broader interdisciplinary conversation. Rather than working from a single definition of agency, we are interested in examining where disciplinary approaches converge and diverge; how agency can be observed and measured empirically; the institutional, social, and technological conditions that enable or constrain it; and how agency might inform the design of governance and development policy.

Methodological Focus & Themes

The conference will bring together a pre-eminent group of researchers and practitioners to highlight recent developments and open challenges. Panel discussions and keynote sessions will be organized around the following major themes:

What is Agency?
Agency in Political Economy and Governance
Collective Agency & Social Movements
Agency and Development Policy
Measuring Agency
Organizing Agency
Agency as Technological Capacity
New Directions for Development Research & Policy

Speakers

Aarushi Kalra, PhD

Associate Professor of Economics, Oxford University

Agustin Fuentes, PhD

Chair & Professor, Anthropology - Princeton University

Aletheia Donald, PhD

Senior Economist, World Bank

Andrew Dabalen, PhD

Chief Economist -- Africa Region, World Bank

Ange Nzihou, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University & Toulouse

Catherine Thomas, PhD

Assistant Professor Department of Psychology, Department of Organizational Studies - University of Michigan

Christopher Blair, PhD

Assistant Professor of Politics, Princeton University

Elena Istomina, PhD

Visiting Research Specialist, Princeton University

Frantz Saintellemy, C.M.

Chancellor, Universite de Montreal

Karthik Sastry, PhD

Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University

Leonard Wantchekon, PhD

James Madison Professor of Political Economy, Princeton University

Lydia Olaka, PhD

Professor, Technical University of Kenya

Mahounan Yedomiffi, PhD

Assistant Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College

Namrata Kala

Associate Professor in the Applied Economics group and the Digital Equipment Corp. Associate Professor of Management at MIT Sloan

Priyama Majumdar, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Oxford University

Raúl Sánchez de la Sierra

Associate Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Ruben Enikolopov, PhD

ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Sally Zhang, PhD

Assistant Professor of Economics, Tufts University - Fletcher School

Shan Aman-Rana, PhD

Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Virginia

Shourya Sen

PhD Candidate, Politics - Princeton University

Sultan Mehmood, PhD

Associate Professor of Economics, New Economic School in Moscow

Temina Madon, PhD

Advisory Board, Agency Fund

Vijayendra Biju Rao, PhD

Roberta Buffett Distinguished Scholar-Practitioner in Residence, Northwestern University & CIFAR

Yanick Kemayou, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer of Kabakoo Academies

Yuen Yuen Ang, PhD

Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University

Zezhen Wu, PhD

Behavioral Scientist, Agency Fund

Day 1: September 25th, 2026

Time	Session	Speakers
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM EST	Introduction	Leonard Wantchekon
9:15-10:15AM EST	Keynote	Frantz Saintellemy (Tech Entrepreneur, Chancellor \| Universite de Montreal) Imagine 2035 – Choosing the direction Chair: Ange Nzihou (Chemical and Environmental Engineering \| Princeton and Toulouse)
	Break
10:30-12:00PM EST	Panel Session 1: What is Agency?	Agustin Fuentes (Anthropology \| Princeton) Agency is central in human community Vijayendra Rao (Northwestern University \| CIFAR) Revolution by Stealth: How Women’s Groups Catalyzed a Cultural Transformation in Bihar Temina Madon (Agency Fund) Defining Human Agency: From Neuroscience to Human Development Chair: Flavien Moreau (Economics \| IMF)
	Lunch
1:00 - 2:30PM EST	Paper Session 1: Agency in Political Economy and Governance	Sultan Mehmood (Economics \| New Economic School) Strategic Sovereignty: U.S-Israeli Strikes and the Reversal of Anti-Regime Protest in Iran Elena Istomina (Economics \| Princeton) Decentralization as Delegation of Institutional Experimentation Ruben Enikolopov Economics \| Universitat Pompeu Fabra Do Elected Councils Improve Governance? Experimental Evidence on Local Institutions in Afghanistan Chair: Catherine Thomas (Psychology \| University of Michigan)
2:30-3:30PM EST	Paper Session 2: Collective Agency & Social Movements	Aarushi Kalra (Economics \| Oxford) A School of One’s Own: Communal Violence and Human Capital Investment Shourya Sen (Politics \| Princeton) From Social Movements to Democratic Quality: Evidence from Thailand Chair: Tanushree Goyal (Politics & Public Policy \| Princeton)
3:30 - 3:45PM	BREAK
3:45 - 4:45PM	Panel Session 2: Agency and Development Policy	Andrew Dabalen (Chief Economist, Africa \| World Bank) Does International Development Impede Agency in Domestic Policy Making? Catherine Thomas (Psychology \| University of Michigan) Building Agency at Scale: Culturally Resonant Interventions for Development Chair: Pallavi Nuka (Public Policy & Economics \| Princeton University)
4:45-5:45PM	Paper Session 3: Measuring Agency	Sally Zhang (Economics, Public Policy \| Tufts) Empowered by Adversity: Economic Shocks and Noncognitive Skill Development in Ethiopian Youth Aletheia Donald (Economics \| World Bank) Agency in Theory and in Survey Data: Evidence from a Multi-country Measurement Program Chair: John Londregan (Politics \| Princeton University)

Day 2: September 26th, 2026


Time	Session	Speakers
9:00-10:00AM EST	Keynote	Yuen Yuen Ang (Political Economy \| Johns Hopkins) Directed Improvisation: What is Agency in a World Beyond Control? Chair: Leonard Wantchekon (Politics & Economics \| Princeton University)
10:00-11:30AM EST	Paper Session 1: Organizing Agency	Shan Aman-Rana (Economics \| University of Virginia) Bureaucratic Deliberation and Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin Namrata Kala (Economics, Business Administration \| MIT) Power to the Personnel? The Impacts of Managerial Discretion vs. Worker Democracy in Employee Recognition Priyama Majumdar (Economics \| Oxford) Government by Discussion: Deliberation, Media, and Policymaking Chair: Aletheia Donald (Economics \| World Bank)
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM	Panel Session 1: Agency as Technological Capacity	Karthik Sashtry (Economics \| Princeton) Inappropriate Technology: Evidence from Global Agriculture & Public R&D Meets Economic Development: Embrapa and Brazil’s Agricultural Revolution Ange Nzihou (Chemical and Environmental Engineering \| Princeton and Toulouse) Research and innovation in biomass and mineral fields to drive sustainable growth and development in Africa Lydia Olaka (Geosciences \| Technical University of Kenya) The Critical Role of Geology in Institutional and Human Capital Growth Chair: Craig Arnold (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Innovation \| Princeton)
	Lunch
2:00-3:30PM EST	Applications	Chris Blair (Politics \| Princeton) A Community Messaging Platform for Citizen Agency in Fragile Settings Zezhen Wu (Behavioral Sciences \| Agency Fund) Applications of “Agency”: Lessons from the Agency Fund and its AI for Global Development Accelerator Yanick Kemayou (Tech Policy, Economics \| Kabakoo Academies) Making Highdigenous AI work in the Sahel: Agency and Social Capital in a WhatsApp-based Upskilling Platform Chair: Noah Zucker (Politics \| Princeton)
3:30PM - 3:45PM EST	Break
3:45-4:45PM EST	Panel Session 2: ASE Innovation Hub	Leonard Wantchekon (Politics & Economics \| Princeton University) Chair: Ruben Enikolopov (Economics \| Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
4:45-5:00PM EST	Closing Remarks	Leonard Wantchekon (Politics & Economics \| Princeton University)

Venue Address

Coordination & Logistics

For support, please contact Senior Research Specialist, Jiya Nair ([email protected])