David Roodman

Research Fellow
droodman@cgdev.org

Expertise

Debt and Debt Relief, Economic Growth, Foreign Aid, Commitment to Development Index.

Initiatives

Research Topics

Education

B.A. Harvard University

Background

David Roodman has been architect and project manager of the Commitment to Development Index since the project's inception in 2002. The Index ranks the world's richest countries based on their dedication to policies that benefit the 5 billion people living in poorer nations; it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive comparative measure of rich country policies towards the developing world.

Roodman's current interests include microfinance. His Microfinance as Business report, with Uzma Qureshi, shows that financial imperatives can explain much about how microfinance is conducted, from the emphasis on credit to the focus on women.

Roodman has written several papers questioning the capacity for common cross-country statistical techniques to shed light on what causes economic development. He co-authored a 2004 American Economic Review paper that challenged findings of World Bank research that aid works in a good policy environment. His non-technical "Guide for the Perplexed" builds on analysis of methodological problems and fragility in other studies. Among econometricians Roodman is best known for his computer program xtabond2, which implements the Arellano-Bond and Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimators. xtabond2 is one of the most downloaded add-ons ever for the commercial statistics program Stata.

Roodman previously worked at the Worldwatch Institute, where he wrote three monographs on environmental issues, and one on debt, Still Waiting for the Jubilee: Pragmatic Solutions for the Third World Debt Crisis. He authored the book The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment. The Japanese edition garnered him a selection as one of "The Outstanding Young Persons" of 2003 by the Osaka Junior Chamber, which included an audience with the Emperor and Empress.

Roodman spent academic year 1998–99 on a Fulbright in Vietnam. Upon returning, he became interested in financial markets and has since beaten his benchmark by 74 percentage points (61 after inflation adjustment). Roodman has never taken a course in economics or statistics. He majored in theoretical mathematics at Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1990.