Abdulaziz Shifa

• 2025 Fall
  • ECN 487 Economic Growth
  • ECN 302 Intermediate Macroeconomics
  • ECN 613 Macroeconomics I
• 2024 Fall
  • ECN 487 Economic Growth
  • ECN 302 Intermediate Macroeconomics
  • ECN 613 Macroeconomics I
• 2023 Fall
  • ECN 487 Economic Growth
  • ECN 302 Intermediate Macroeconomics
  • ECN 613 Macroeconomics I

Abdulaziz Shifa is an associate professor of economics. His research focuses on understanding the drivers of economic growth and development. Utilizing various economic tools (quantitative macro methods, game-theoretic political-economy models and econometric tools), he explores questions on theories of economic development and policy. His research questions intersect the allocations of production factors in the growth process and their interplay with political incentives.

One of his recent papers on the political economy of state capacity and economic development has been published in the Economic Journal. He teaches the core Ph.D. macroeconomics course as well as undergraduate courses on macroeconomics and growth and is a member of the Maxwell Faculty Council.

"Electronic Sales Register Machines, Tax Enforcement and Tax Outcomes", Sponsored by Department for International Development.

• Journal Articles
  • Shifa, A. B., Xiao, W., "Urban bias, migration control and rural land policy: the case of Hukou in China." Journal of Economic Geography, 2023.
  • Shifa, A. B., "Trade in human capital: A quantitative theory of economic growth and the import of higher education." Macroeconomic Dynamics, 2022.
  • Ali, M. A., Shifa, A. B., Shimeles, A. and Woldeyes, F., "Building fiscal capacity in developing countries: Evidence on the role of information technology." National Tax Journal, 2021.
  • Shifa, A. B., Ali, M. A. and Fjeldstad, O., "European colonization and the corruption of local elites: The case of chiefs in Africa." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020.
  • Shifa, A. B., Ali, M. A., Fjeldstad, O. and Jiang, B., "Colonial Legacy, State Building and the Salience of Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa." The Economic Journal, 2019.
  • Shifa, A. B., Krussell, P., Hassler, J. and Spiro, D., "Should Developing Countries Constrain Resource-Income Spending? A Quantitative Analysis of Oil Income in Uganda." Energy Journal, 2017.
  • Shifa, A. B., "Does Agricultural Growth Cause Manufacturing growth?." Economica, 2015.

African Development Bank, "The impact of land reforms on agricultural productivity and structural change" (2021)

Deakins University, "Urban bias and the political economy of rural land policy in China" (2021)

Lemoyne College, "Urban Bias in Capital Allocation: Empirical Evidence from China" (October, 2019)

Annual Conference by Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics, "The Corruption of Local Elites in Francophone and Anglophone Africa" (June 21, 2019 - June 23, 2019)

Annual Conference by Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics, "Urban Bias in Capital Allocation: Empirical Evidence from China" (June 21, 2019 - June 23, 2019)