I am an Associate Professor of Economics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Previously, I was an academic visitor and a Teaching Associate in Economics at the University of Manchester, UK.  I hold a PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. I am an experienced teacher with a Fellowship of the HEA (FHEA) in recognition of personal and institutional commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching in higher education against the UK Professional Standards Framework in teaching and learning support.

I am also a passionate researcher with a broad range of collaborations with researchers across the social sciences. The bulk of my research interests aims to understand the structural drivers and historical events that distort social contracts and strongly impede development in many countries. Social contract― the idea that when citizens and governments have common interests, they are intrinsically motivated to create an effective state that reduces inequality and ensures shared prosperity for all. Under this social contract framework, the government is obligated to carry out the constitutional functions of ensuring a socially efficient redistribution of wealth, strengthening social order and upholding justice, and maintaining solidarity against internal and external threats.  Citizens, in turn, are expected to pay taxes from their income to fund government budgets, and through the ballot (election), sanction or reward governments based on how well they perform their constitutional obligations. 

I develop context-specific models that illustrate the conditions leading to the breakdown of the social contract and poor development outcomes. First, I examine situations where governments primarily rely on non-income tax sources for revenue, such as the high reliance of government budgets on natural resource windfalls in many countries rich in natural resources. This reliance can distort incentives for governments to be accountable in upholding constitutional functions and limits citizens' understanding of governments’ spending, which then reduces their ability to reward or sanction poor performance. Second, since social contract theory is based on the idea of unanimous agreement and mutual consent among people in pre-state societies, I analyze social contract dynamics in artificial states. These artificial states often arise from European colonial border arrangements, where pre-state societies had little or no say in their national affiliations. I investigate whether the colonial legacies of opportunistic institutions or the development of human capital in former European colonies promote or hinder mutual reciprocity between citizens and their governments. 


More recently, I have become interested in understanding how fluctuations in temperature and precipitation affect economic and human welfare outcomes in advanced economies. Previous studies have shown that temperature and rainfall variations can induce substantial economic fluctuations in poor countries but have a less significant impact in rich countries. However, despite investments in adaptations and physical constraints in wealthy countries, the scepticism and preferences of political parties, driven by voters' ideological cleavages over climate change, may reduce policy support for vulnerable firms facing supply chain distortions and employees facing reduced labour productivity due to climate change. 
 
  My research addresses policy-relevant questions in development economics, environmental economics, agricultural economics, resource economics, and the political economy of development. I generate testable predictions using economic theories and utilise cutting-edge Econometric identification techniques to test the hypothesis. I have produced working papers that have been accepted for presentation at reputable international conferences. These include the Royal Economic Society, the Economic History Society, the Conference of the Centre for the Studies of African Economies (CSAE), The Econometric Society Conference (Africa Meeting), the Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (EAERE), the Agricultural and Applied Economics Conference, and the International Conference of Agricultural Economics (ICAE). 
 
 My research has been funded by the STEG Small Research Grant (CEPR) and the Centre for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley. I am also an academic editor at PLOS ONE and a LEAP alumnus, as well as an assessor for the University of Manchester's Leadership in Education Awards Programme (LEAP). 
 
 Previously (final year at undergraduate level), I was the elected President of the Student Union (over 30,000 student body) at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Equally, I was a JAMB/COWBELL scholar in recognition of my outstanding performance (top 10 highest scores out of over a million candidates) in the entrance exam for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.