David A Lam

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

davidl@umich.edu

Field of Study: Demography, Economics, Population and Development
 
Specialization: Economic Demography, Education and Schooling, Income, Poverty and Welfare, Labor force/Employment, Population and Development
 
Regional focus: Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa
 
Education: Doctorate (Ph.D, or MD), University of California, Berkeley, Economics, 1983
 
Working languages: English
Portuguese, Spanish
 
Other association membership in population or related fields: Population Association of America (PAA), Union for African Population Studies (UAPS)
Other association membership in population or related fieldsAmerican Economics Association


Personal web page:
https://faculty.isr.umich.edu/davidl/
Curriculum Vitae:
David Lam CV June2025.pdf
Professional web page:
https://faculty.isr.umich.edu/davidl/  
 
Professional Summary:

David Lam is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Economics and Emeritus Research Professor in the Population Studies Center at the 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 Economic Demography theme convenor for the 2025 IUSSP international conference.  

 

Publications:

Lam, David, “The Next 2 Billion: Can the World Support 10 Billion People?” Population and Development Review, 2025 (special issue, Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Celebrating 50 Years of Population and Development Review). 

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.

Branson, Nicola, and David Lam, “The Economics of Education in South Africa,” in Arkebe Oqubay, Fiona Tregenna, and Imraan Valodia, editorsThe Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy, 2021

Binder, Ariel, and David Lam, “Is There a Male Breadwinner Norm? The Hazards of Inferring Preferences from Marriage Market Outcomes,” Journal of Human Resources, 2021.

 
Honorary or professional positions and awards:
 
Member of Council, IUSSP, 2013-2021.

President, Population Association of America, 2011.

Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

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

Co-Editor, IZA Journal of MIgration and Development, 2012-2019.

Chair, National Science Foundation Oversight Board for Integrated Public Use Microdata Series International (IPUMS-I) Project, 2010-2016.

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