Valerie Mueller is a Nonresident Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit and an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. Prior to joining the university, she was a Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI in Washington, DC.

Mueller’s research falls largely into three main themes. The first quantifies rural household vulnerability to climate variability, focusing on migration, nutrition, and health markers in Africa and Asia. The second area uses randomized controlled trials to identify mechanisms to improve the delivery of rural services (legal justice for women, agricultural extension, and the equitable allocation of irrigation water) in East African countries. Her third area of research focuses on the prospects of youth employment in Africa. She has a co-edited volume published at Oxford University Press in 2019, which studies the evolution of youth employment and its role in the structural transformation process in Africa. 

Mueller’s research contributions have been featured in Nature Climate Change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Economic Review, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the Journal of Development Economics, and have received significant media coverage in over 15 major media outlets (including Le Monde, Science, and Scientific American). Despite her presence in the research community, she remains involved in the field and aims to provide relevant technical expertise by repeated interaction with donor communities, local policymakers, and government officials.

Mueller’s personal website can be found here.