People

Jennifer C. Olmsted is a Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. She is currently Professor of Economics, Director of the Social Entrepreneurship Semester, and Director of Middle East Studies and Arabic at Drew University. She has also worked in the policy arena, most recently as the Gender Advisor at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as for the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, among other institutions. Her areas of specialization include gender, development, globalization, and labor economics. Her PhD research involved carrying out field work in the West Bank following the 1993 Gulf war. More generally, she carries out research focusing on gender, labor markets and poverty in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the role that armed conflict plays in (re)shaping norms and economic opportunities and challenges. Dr. Olmsted is guest editor of and also contributing author to a 2014 issue of Feminist Economics focusing on gender and economics in Muslim communities. Her publications have appeared in various other journals as well, including World Development, Industrial Relations, The Journal of Development Studies, Women’s Studies International Forum and The Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, as well as numerous book volumes.