Dominik Naeher, PhD

Senior Research Fellow and former Interim Professor (W2) of Development Economics (Chair of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer).

Dominik Naeher is a Senior Research Fellow (Postdoc) at the University of Göttingen, where he also served as Interim Professor (W2) of Development Economics from 2024 to 2025. Before this, he worked as Assistant Professor of Economics at University College Dublin and earned his PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt (GSEFM) in 2018. His research combines microeconomic modeling and empirical methods to study questions in development economics, information economics, and sustainability and environmental economics. A central focus of his work is the determinants and consequences of technology adoption, including the role of information frictions in shaping adoption decisions and economic outcomes, and how technologies that mitigate these frictions transform individual behavior, markets, and public policy. His recent work encompasses applications to digital transformation, information regulation, climate adaptation, rural development, regional integration, and policy evaluation. He is currently a Principal Investigator in a DFG-funded research project on child labor. His work has appeared in leading economics journals including International Economic Review, RAND Journal of Economics, and Journal of Development Economics. He has taught at universities in Germany, France, Ireland, China, Korea, and South Africa, and regularly provides policy advice to international organizations and NGOs, including the World Bank, EBRD, Asian Development Bank, African Center for Economic Transformation, GIZ, and United Nations agencies.

Curriculum Vitae: CV

Research Interests: Microeconomics, Development Economics, Information Economics, Sustainability & Environment

Selected Publications:

Ahmad A, Naeher D, Vollmer S (2026). The Political Economy of Patent Buyouts. RAND Journal of Economics, 57(2), 315-333.

Naeher D, Vollmer S (2024). General vs. Tailored Information for Technology Adoption: Evidence from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in India. Journal of Development Economics, accepted (pre-results track).

Naeher D (2022). Technology Adoption under Costly Information Processing. International Economic Review, 63(2), 699-753.

Naeher D, Schündeln M (2022). The Demand for Advice: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank Economic Review, 36(1), 91-113.

Naeher D (2023). The Social Planning Problem with Costly Information Processing: Towards Understanding Production Decisions in Centralized Economies. Economica, 90(357), 285-314.

Other Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

Albanna B, Hesch G, Naeher D, Otto D, Jain M, Hassan M, Vollmer S, Ewell H, Nawrotzki R (2026) Assessing the Adoption and Outcomes of Early-Sown Wheat Varieties in Northwest India. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 2026, 24(1), 2603756.

Naeher D, Ziulu Z. Does Adoption of Zero Tillage Reduce Crop Residue Burning? Evidence from Satellite Remote Sensing and Household Survey Data in India. Applied Economics, forthcoming.

Bogetić Ž, Naeher D (2025). Fiscal Pro-Cyclicality Revisited: Global, Regional, and Country-Level Evidence with a Spotlight on MENA. Economic Analysis and Policy, 87(2025), 569-584.

Naeher D, De Lombaerde P, Saber T (2025). Evaluating Accession Decisions in Customs Unions: A Dynamic Machine Learning Approach. International Economics and Economic Policy, 22(2), 1-27.

Naeher D, Narayanan R, Ziulu V (2024). Cash for Coolers or Sustainable Lighting? Assessing Different Components of a Large-Scale Energy Efficiency Program in Mexico. Journal of Development Studies, 60(4), 479-493.

Bogetić Ž, Naeher D (2024). The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: New Evidence on Alternative Views of Corruption. Applied Economics, 56(33), 4019-4032.

Naeher D, Narayanan R, Ziulu V (2024). The Relevance of Development Policies to Confront Crisis Situations: World Bank’s Early Response to Covid-19. Journal of Policy Modeling, 46(5), 847-866.

Bogetić Ž, Naeher D (2024). Corruption and Government Revenue: Evidence of a Non-linear Relationship Driven by Crises. Journal of Applied Economics, 27(1), 1-17.

Saber T, Naeher D, Bendechache M (2024). Intelligent Computational Methods for Economics: Editorial. Expert Systems, 41(2), e13523.

De Lombaerde P, Naeher D, Saber T (2023). Regional Economic Integration and Machine Learning: Policy Insights from the Review of Literature. Journal of Policy Modeling, 45(5), 1077-1097.

De Lombaerde P, Naeher D, Saber T (2023). On the Optimal Size and Composition of Customs Unions: An Evolutionary Approach. Computational Economics, 62, 1457-1479.

Naeher D, Narayanan R, Ziulu V (2023). Impacts of Energy Efficiency Projects in Developing Countries: Evidence from a Spatial Difference-in-Differences Analysis in Malawi. Energy for Sustainable Development, 73, 365-375.

Bogetić Z, Naeher D, Narayanan R (2023). Measuring Untapped Revenue Potential in Developing Countries: Cross-Country Frontier and Panel Data Analysis. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 38(1), 89-127.

Naeher D, Narayanan R (2023). Attracting Private Capital for Development: Are Poorer Countries Less Efficient?. International Economics and Economic Policy, 20, 1-26.

He Y, Naeher D (2022). Do Democracies Perform Worse During Pandemics? Evidence from 2020. Economics Bulletin, 42(3), 1681-1687.

De Lombaerde P, Naeher D, Saber T (2021). Regional Integration Clusters and Optimum Customs Unions: A Machine-Learning Approach. Journal of Economic Integration, 36(2), 262-281.

Naeher D, Narayanan R (2020). Untapped Regional Integration Potential: A Global Frontier Analysis. Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 29(6), 722-747.

Naeher D (2015). An Empirical Estimation of Asia’s Untapped Regional Integration Potential Using Data Envelopment Analysis. Asian Development Review, 32(2), 178-195.

Dataset:

Naeher D, Albanna B, Kumar A, Vollmer S (2023). Household and Plot-level Survey Data on Adoption, Outcomes, and Perceptions of Early Sown Wheat and Zero Tillage in Northwest India. Scientific Data, 10(516), 1-5. [Data]

Working Papers:

Scaling Information Access: Evidence from a Nationwide Digital Policy in China (with Shilong Zhao, Juan Liu, Junqiao Ma). World Development, R&R (2nd round).

Countercyclical Fiscal Policy, Women, and the Poor (with Željko Bogetić, Shiyun Hu, Luan Zhao, Yahui Zhao). Labour, R&R.

Drought and Intimate Partner Violence: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Kenya (with Hanne Schwabe). Journal of Environment and Development, R&R.

The Long-term Consequences of the Global 1918 Influenza Pandemic: A Systematic Analysis of Census Data from 51 Countries (with Juditha Wójcik, Christian Bommer, Sebastian Vollmer).

Backfiring Effects of Category-Specific Information Provision in a Pricing Model with Rationally Inattentive Buyers (with Sergey Turlo).

Book Chapters and Other Publications:

Fiscal Policy Cyclicality in Gulf Cooperation Council. In: Gulf Economic Update (December 2024): Navigating the Water Challenge in the GCC - Paths to Sustainable Solutions, World Bank Group, 2024.

Applications of DEA to Evaluate Resource Mobilization and Regional Integration Outcomes: Recent Trends and Future Challenges (with Raghavan Narayanan). In: Handbook on Data Envelopment Analysis in Business, Finance, and Sustainability: Recent Trends and Developments, S. Boubaker and T. Ngo (Eds.), World Scientific, 2024.

Impact Assessment of Two Energy Efficiency Projects in Malawi and Mexico. In: World Bank Group Support to Demand-Side Energy Efficiency: An Independent Evaluation, World Bank (IEG), 2023.

Relevance of the World Bank Group’s Early Response to COVID-19: A Cross-Country Sector Analysis. In: The World Bank Group’s Early Support to Addressing the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Economic Response, World Bank (IEG), 2023.

Cross-Country Analysis of Domestic Revenue Mobilization Efficiency in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. In: World Bank Support for Domestic Revenue Mobilization: An Independent Evaluation, World Bank (IEG), 2023.

Frontier Analysis of World Bank Group Approaches to Private Capital Mobilization. In: World Bank Group Approaches to Mobilize Private Capital for Development: An Independent Evaluation, World Bank (IEG), 2020.

Hunger, Food Insecurity, and Poverty Traps: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries. In: Economics in Action: Topics and Resources, T. Brancaccio, Y. Deli, I. Pastine, and C. Whelan (Eds.), McGraw-Hill, 2019.

Fostering Regional Integration: Global Comparison and Frontier Analysis of Untapped Potential. In: Two to Tango: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support to Fostering Regional Integration, World Bank (IEG), 2018.

Status of Global, Regional and Subregional Integration Efforts. In: ADB Support for Regional Cooperation and Integration: Thematic Evaluation Study, Asian Development Bank, 2015.