Ralitza Dimova is a development economist, who joined the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester in 2010. She graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven with a PhD in Economics and subsequently worked as a researcher in a number of countries, including France, Germany and the US. Prior to that she lived and worked for two years in India. Her current research focuses on labour market issues in less developed countries, particularly those in Francophone West Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. She is particularly interested in the implications of intra-household decision making and social norms for labour market outcomes and food security. Her recent and ongoing field work involves behavioural field experiments.

Funded Research Projects:

• 2023-present: Making migration and migration policy decisions amidst societal transformations. The project is sponsored by Horizon Europe and is led by ISS, Netherlands.
• 2021-2022: Formal provision of childcare facilities and women's labour force participation in Jordan. The project is sponsored by the World Bank and conducted in collaboration with Interdisciplinary Research Consultants-Jordan.

• 2017-2021. Dams 2.0. Design and assessment of resilient and sustainable interventions in water-energy-food environments. Research Councils UK as part of the GCRF. Co-I (the project is led by David Hulme, GDI and Julien Harou, Engineering).

• 2015-2016. Household preferences and child labour. Field experiment from Ivory Coast. The British Academy/Leverhulme trust, PI ( with Arnab Basu, Cornell University and Monnet Benoit Patrick Gbakou, University of Cocody-Abidjan, Ivory Coast).
• 2016. Inequality of opportunity and unequal opportunities in the youth labour market. How is the Arab world different? International Labor Organization, PI (with Karim Stephan).
• 2016. Assessing skill mismatch and youth unemployment in Jordan. OECD.
• 2012-2013. The productivity and welfare implications of female empowerment through high value agriculture. UN Foundation (with Ira N. Gang, Rutgers University).
• 2009-2011. "The impact of macroeconomic policies and exogenous shocks on employment and poverty in Africa: Simulations for Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal", The British Academy,  PI. In collaboration with Latif Dramani (Senegal), Barthelemy Biao (Benin), Pam Zahonogo (Burkina Faso) and Monnet Gbakou (Cote d'Ivoire).
• 2008-2009. "Nutritional Science Insights into the Economics of Food Consumption", The Leverhulme Trust. Principal Investigator. In collaboration with Ira N. Gang and Daniel Hoffman, Rutgers University.

Ralitza is welcoming ph.d. applications in the area of development microeconomics (including behavioural development microeconomics). She is mainly interested in research related to labour market and population issues, particularly in the domain of social norms and intrahousehold allocation of resources.

She has led to completion the following ph.d. projects:

Thanh Bui (2022): Intergenerational transfers in Vietnam. Placement: University of St Andrews.

Sarah Redicker (2022): Adapting to climate variability and change in West Africa. Placement: University of Exeter.

Lina Khrais (2019): Determinants and consequences of female labour force participation in Jordan: A mixed-methods approach. Placement: consultant for the World Bank.

Peter Agamile (2019): Weather shocks, gender and intrahousehold dynamics in Uganda. Placement: The UN World Food programme, followed by the University of Washington.

Virgi Sari (2017): State of art in social exclusion in Indonesia: does the social protection scheme protect the excluded. Placement: The World Bank, followed by University College London.

Kevwe Pela (2017): Structural transformation and the dynamics of entrepreneurship in developing countries: the Nigerian labour market perspective. Placement: The World Bank.

Olabimtan Adebowale (2016): Financial sector development and household welfare: micro evidence from Nigeria. Placement: The Central Bank of Nigeria.

Juliet Ongwae (2016): User participation in ICTD systems development. The case of mobile money interventions in Kenya. Placement: Musoni, Kenya.

Lawrence Ado Kofie (2015): Distributional dimensions of educational access and attainment in Ghana. Placement: The University of Shefield, followed by the University of Manchester.