Louise Fox

Louise Fox is a nonresident senior fellow in the Africa Growth Initiative (AGI), which is part of the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Her work at Brookings focuses on youth employment, inclusive growth, and poverty reduction. Her previous positions included chief economist at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), visiting professor of development economic policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and various positions at the World Bank.

During her 27-year career at the World Bank, Fox advised governments in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe on how to develop, implement, and evaluate effective policies for employment, social security, and poverty reduction. Among the positions she held were: lead economist and poverty advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, and lead economist for transition economies.

Fox’s most recent published work has been on employment, labor markets, and labor regulation, women’s economic empowerment, poverty reduction and inclusive growth, and the political economy of poverty reduction, all with respect to sub-Saharan Africa. She has also published in the areas of pension reform, reform of child welfare systems, social protection, public expenditure in the social sectors and poverty reduction, female-headed households and child welfare, stabilization policies and poverty reduction, the social costs of adjustment, and the economic history of poverty and inequality in Brazil. Her most recent book is "Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," published by the World Bank in 2014.