Hayatullah Ahmadzai is an applied economist and External Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade (CREDIT) at the University of Nottingham, UK, and is based in North Carolina. From 2011 to 2015, he served as an Assistant Professor at Kabul University, Afghanistan. He holds a Ph.D. in Development and Agricultural Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK, and a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Purdue University, USA. His research spans over a decade of academic and policy-oriented work across South Asia, the MENA region, and Sub-Saharan Africa. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of agricultural development, rural livelihoods, and climate resilience, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Using applied econometrics and causal inference methods, his work examines how agricultural systems respond to shocks—from conflict and market failures to environmental stressors like sand and dust storms.
His recent projects have explored agricultural diversification as a strategy for enhancing food security, transaction cost barriers to rural market access in Afghanistan, and the productivity and welfare impacts of environmental degradation and natural disasters in Iraq, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. He has also contributed to research on the adoption of non-traditional crops such as quinoa in marginal environments and regional studies on salinity, land degradation, and climate adaptation. His work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Food Policy, The Journal of Development Studies, Middle Eastern Development Journal, Journal of Social and Economic Development, PLOS ONE, and Sustainability, as well as in book chapters and policy briefs or reports. With experience in both academic and policy settings in Afghanistan and the MENA region, he brings grounded insights into regional development challenges. He is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, evidence-based policy, and mentoring scholars from conflict-affected regions to support inclusive, sustainable development.
Selected Publications:
Ahmadzai, H. & Morrissey, O. (2025). Climate shocks, household food security and welfare in Afghanistan. Food Policy, 134, 102910.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102910Ahmadzai, H. & Morrissey, O. (2025). Crop diversification and farm household welfare during conflict: Afghanistan 2011–2017. The Journal of Development Studies, 61(3), 381–399.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2024.2404576Ahmadzai, H., Malhotra, A., & Tutundjian, S. (2023). Empirical analysis of impacts of sand and dust storms on agricultural productivity in Mongolia. PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0269271.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269271Ahmadzai, H., Tutundjian, S., & Elouafi, I. (2022). Policies for sustainable agriculture and livelihood in marginal lands: A review. Sustainability, 13(16), 8692.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168692To learn more about his research, publications, and full CV, please visit
Hayat’s personal website or
Google Scholar page.
