David A Lam

Professor, Dept of Economics, Research Professor, Population Studies Center
University of Michigan

davidl@umich.edu

Field of Study: Demography, Economics, Population and Development
 
Regional focus: Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa
 
 
Other association membership in population or related fieldsAmerican Economics Association
Working languages: English
Portuguese, Spanish
 
Other association membership in population or related fields: Population Association of America (PAA), Union for African Population Studies (UAPS)
 
Curriculum Vitae:
 
Professional Summary:

David Lam is Director of the Institute for Social Research, Professor of Economics, and Research Professor in the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan.  His research analyzes the interaction of economics and demography in developing countries, including the economics of fertility, marriage, and aging. He has worked in Brazil and South Africa, studying links between education, labor markets, and income inequality. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Cape Town, where his collaborations include the Cape Area Panel Study, a longitudinal survey supported by NIH.  He was president of the Population Association of America and served on the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on Population. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, the UN Population Division, and the South Africa Presidency.  He was co-chair of IUSSP’s Panel on Population and Poverty 2003-2006 and was Population and Development theme convenor for the 2013 IUSSP international conference.  

 

Publications:

Lam, David, Leticia Marteleto, and Vimal Ranchhod, “The Influence of Older Classmates on Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Cape Town, South Africa,” Studies in Family Planning, June 2013, 44(2): 147-167. 

Lam, David “How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons from Fifty Years of Extraordinary Demographic History,” Demography, November 2011, 48(4): 1231-1262. (Population Association of America Presidential Address).

Lam, David, Cally Ardington and Murray Leibbrandt, “Schooling as a Lottery: Racial Differences in Progress through School in Urban South Africa,” Journal of Development Economics, July 2011.

Lam, David, and Leticia Marteleto, “Stages of the Demographic Transition from a Child’s Perspective: Family Size, Cohort Size, and Schooling,” Population and Development Review, June 2008

Duryea, Suzanne, David Lam, and Deborah Levison, “Effects of Economic Shocks on Children’s Employment and Schooling in Brazil,” Journal of Development Economics, 84 (1): 188-214. 2007.

 
Honorary or professional positions and awards:
 
Member of Council, IUSSP, 2013-2017.

President, Population Association of America, 2011.

Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn

Editor, IZA Journal of Labor and Development, 2012-present.

Chair, National Science Foundation Oversight Board for Integrated Public Use Microdata Series International (IPUMS-I) Project, 2010-present.

Member, Committee on Population, National Academy of Sciences, 1997-2003.

Fulbright Research Scholar, Award for Research in South Africa, 1997-98

Board of Directors, Population Association of America, 1995-97.

Fulbright Research Scholar, Award for Research in Brazil, 1989-90

Population Association of America, Dorothy S. Thomas Award, 1983
Research grants:
See CV