Jonathan H. Conning

Dr. Jonathan Conning is an associate professor and advisor in the Department of Economics at Hunter College. He has been teaching at Hunter College and CUNY’s Graduate Center since 2002. He frequently teaches courses in Introduction to Economics, International Trade, Microeconomic Theory and Development Economics Seminar II.

Prior to joining the Hunter College faculty, Dr. Conning taught at Williams College, and over the years he has also had visiting teaching and research appointments at Universities of Cape Town, Chile, Osaka, Yale and the Université de Montréal. His main areas of interest include property rights and contracts, political economy, applied micro theory and trade. Dr. Conning’s research interests include development economics, applied microeconomic theory and financial contracting, as well as trade and political economy. His work explores the structure and operation of rural financial markets, microfinance and social investment, as well as topics in property rights and contracts, agrarian production organization, economic history and impact evaluation.

Dr. Conning holds a BA in economics from Swarthmore College and a PhD in economics from Yale University.

• Yale University (PhD)
• Swarthmore College (BA)

• “A Model of Enclosures: Coordination, Efficiency, and Conflict in The Transformation of Lands Rights,” (with Matthew J. Baker), 2021.
• “Constrained Commitment: Contracting with Present-biased Consumers under Renegotiation Concerns,” (with Karna Basu), 2021.
• “Microfinance and Social Investment” (with Jonathan Morduch) Annual Review of Financial Economics, vol 3, 2011.
• “Rural Financial Markets in Developing Countries.” (with Chris Udry). in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Volume 3, R.E. Evenson, Schultz, T.P. and P. Pingali (editors), Elsevier – North Holland, 2007.
• “Outreach, Sustainability and Leverage in Monitored and Peer Monitored Loans.” Journal of Development Economics, 60(1), 1999.