Yan is a Research Analyst at the Environment, Production & Technology Division. Her research focuses on poverty alleviation and different strategies to escape the poverty trap: sustainable development, livelihood strategies, public investment in rural services, technology adoption, and gender disparity.

Yan has a M.S. in Economics from Georgetown University and is currently working on her PhD in Economics at the George Washington University. Her dissertation research focuses on inequality, welfare, labor and human capital.

Current Research:

• Bt. Cotton Contribution Assessment in India
• Integrated Water Valuation and Livelihood Analysis in Cambodia
• Knowledge, Attitude and Capacity Practices in Climate Change
• Project in Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods
• The Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change in Bangladesh

Countries of Expertise:

• Ghana
• Cambodia
• Bangladesh
• India
• China

Regions of Expertise:

• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Asia

Language Skills:

• Chinese
• English

Selected Publications:

• Sun, Yan, Esther Mwangi and Ruth Meinzen-Dick. “Is Gender an Important Factor Influencing User Groups’ Property Rights and Forestry Governance? Empirical Analysis from East Africa and Latin America”. The International Forestry Review, Volume 13, No. 2, 2011
• Mwangi, Esther, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Yan Sun. “Gender and Sustainable Forest Management in East African and Latin America”. Ecology and Society, Volume 16, No. 1, 2011.
• Gender and Governance in Rural services. Insights from India, Ghana and Ethiopia. Asante, Felix, Afua Branful, Marc Cohen, Regina Birner, Peter Gaff, K. Gayathridevi, Leah Horowitz, Mamusha Lemma, Tewodaj Mogues, Nethra Palaniswamy, Zelekqwork Paulos, Katharina Raabe, Josee Randrimamonjy, Madushree Sekher, Yan Sun and Fanaye Tadesse. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. 2010. View
• You, Liangzhi, Claudia Ringler, Ulrike Wood-Sichra, Richard Roberson, Stanley Wood, Tingju Zhu, Gerald nelson, Zhe Guo, and Yan Sun. 2011. What is the Irrigation Potential for Africa? A Combined Biophysical and Socioeconomic Approach. Food Policy, Vol. 36, pp. 770-782
• Sun, Yan, Felix Asante and Regina Birner. 2010. Opportunities and Challenges of Community-based Rural Drinking Water Supplies. IFPRI Discussion Paper series 01026, International Food Policy research Institute, Washington, D.C. 20006 View
• Sun, Yan, Esther Mwangi and Ruth Meinzen-Dick. 2010. Gender, Institutions and Sustainability in the Context of Forest Decentralization Reforms in Latin America and East Africa. CIFOR Brief No. 25, August 2010. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia. View
• McCarthy, Nancy and Yan Sun. 2009. Participation by Men and Women in Off-farm Activities: an Empirical Analysis in Rural Northern Ghana. IFPRI Discussion Paper 852, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington D.C. View