Tillmann von Carnap successfully defends his thesis

On 1 June Tillmann successfully defended his thesis "Markets and marketplaces: Essays on access and transformation in remote rural economies".

Professor Ingvild Almås introducing the grading committee and welcoming guests and the opponent

Samuel Asher at Imperial College London acted as opponent.

Tillmann with his thesis

Following an extraordinary global reduction in extreme poverty over the last century, progress on eliminating poverty has slowed. The latest figures show that the number of extremely poor people has in fact risen in sub-Saharan Africa, and an ever-larger share of them live in remote rural areas. Tillmann's thesis consists of four chapters asking how people in such regions can efficiently get access to income opportunities and essential services. 

Empirically studying remote rural areas is challenging, because – almost by definition – data is scarce. Measurement of outcomes is typically based on household surveys, which provide great detail, yet often capture only specific moments in time and are, due to their costly collection, limited in scope. Therefore, another theme connecting the four chapters is their reliance on various forms of satellite data which can help overcome these critical data scarcities. 

Tillmann will join the University of Oslo as Assistant Professor in 2024 after a one year post doc at the Stanford University Center on Food Security and the Environment.

Read more about Tillmann's thesis