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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Danielle Resnick

Danielle Resnick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit and a Non-Resident Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on the political economy of agricultural policy and food systems, governance, and democratization, drawing on extensive fieldwork and policy engagement across Africa and South Asia.

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Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Danielle Resnick

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Dr. Danielle Resnick currently is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Global Economy and Development Program. Key research areas include the political economy of agricultural policy and food systems, decentralization, urban governance, informality, and democratization. She has conducted analysis, policy outreach, and/or fieldwork in a wide range of countries, including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Zambia.

Her work has appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Food Policy, Nature Food, and World Development, among others. She has authored or co-edited several books, including The Political Economy of Food System Transformation: Pathways to Progress in a Polarized World (with Johan Swinnen, OUP/IFPRI, 2023), Ghana’s Economic and Agricultural Transformation: Past Performance and Future Prospects (with Xinshen Diao, Peter Hazell, and Shashi Kolavalli, OUP/IFPRI, 2019), and Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies (Cambridge University Press, 2014).  Her analysis and commentary also have been featured in several popular outlets, including Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, National Public Radio, Radio France International, France24, and Voice of America.

She has served in several advisory roles, including currently on the UN’s High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition for the 2024 report on Strengthening Urban and Peri-Urban Food Systems and on the advisory group for the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice. She previously was a member of the Lead Expert Group for the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GloPan) for the 2020 report on Future Food Systems. Dr. Resnick further serves as a country expert for the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and currently sits on the editorial boards of Journal of Development Studies, Regional and Federal Studies, and Populism.

She received her PhD in Government from Cornell University, MSc in Development Studies from London School of Economics, and BS in International Political Economy from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Languages spoken: English, French

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Publications

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Working Paper

Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms

2025Chugh, Aditi; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms

Global calls to repurpose agricultural support toward more sustainable and equitable food systems have intensified scrutiny of fertilizer subsidies. While political economy constraints often hinder reform, the exact manifestation of these constraints is rarely examined. To clarify the specific mechanisms at play, this paper systematically reviews peer-reviewed studies from 2000 to 2025 and identifies 38 fertilizer subsidy reform cases across 15 countries. We code political economy factors influencing outcomes at different stages of subsidy adoption and redesign. The analysis shows that ideational factors around self-sufficiency, the private sector, and the social contract, as well as the institutional structures impacting policymaking, are central to successful subsidy introduction. Electoral incentives play a role at both the policy introduction and redesign phases. Yet, political economy factors are not the only prominent drivers. In fact, technocratic considerations about underperformance or corruption became more prominent during redesign efforts but were also present in more than 80 percent of failed cases. This reaffirms that while technocratic factors, including the availability of research and evidence are necessary for subsidy design improvements, they are not sufficient on their own. By distinguishing which political economy factors matter and how they interact with broader policy process dynamics, this study provides a more actionable foundation for anticipating and managing challenges to fertilizer subsidy reforms and repurposing more broadly.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chugh, Aditi; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Chugh, Aditi; and Resnick, Danielle. 2025. Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2397. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180322

Keywords

Fertilizers; Subsidies; Reforms; Policies; Political Ecology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Brief

Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending

2025Hill, Ruth Vargas; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending

Worldwide, government spending on subsidies in agriculture, fishing, and fossil fuels amounts to a staggering $1.25 trillion annually. Subsidies play a significant role in every country’s fiscal policies, regardless of income level or spending patterns. Spending on energy and agricultural subsidies consistently accounts for 2%-3% of GDP on average across income levels and make the production and transportation of food cheaper. Spending on these subsidies is coming under increasing scrutiny as governments struggle to mobilize additional revenue to meet important development targets amid rising debt distress, dwindling aid resources, and citizen protests against unpopular tax increases. One solution proposed by a growing consensus of voices is to repurpose expensive subsidies towards expenditures that generate higher development benefits. While these subsidies aim to address low agricultural productivity, high food prices, and other critical challenges, their continuing predominance in food system investments raises important questions: Is this an effective way to spend public funds on such a large scale? If not, can some of the money currently going to subsidies be used to finance other needed investments (that may in turn make subsidies themselves more effective) and if yes, what type of investments can they fund? This note explores these questions, focusing specifically on fertilizer subsidies, a major source of government support for farmers, especially in low-income countries, where they comprise a quarter of all subsidy spending (as well as one-tenth of such spending on in high income countries).

Year published

2025

Authors

Hill, Ruth Vargas; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Hill, Ruth Vargas; and Resnick, Danielle. 2025. Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178861

Keywords

Fertilizers; Prices; Subsidies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Brief

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

2025Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen
Details

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

Subsidies are price distortions aimed at shifting incentives to generate a desired behavioral response. Agrifood system input subsidies aim to reduce the cost of components—such as fertilizer, fuel, animal feeds, vessels, and machinery—needed by farmers, fisherfolk, ranchers, and pastoralists to improve productivity. Such subsidies may occur in multiple forms, including vouchers that enable beneficiaries to receive a discount, a direct reduction in input retail prices borne by the state or distributors, or through tax reductions and exemptions. The cost of agricultural subsidies, inclusive of fertilizer subsidies, are estimated at USD 635 billion a year (Damania et al. 2023) while fisheries subsidies, including for fuel, fisheries management, and non-fuel tax exemptions, are estimated to total approximately USD 35 billion (Sumaila et al. 2019). While they can support poorer constituencies in the agrifood system who could not otherwise afford such inputs, subsidies can be prone to corruption and leakage to elites, generate negative environmental externalities, and place undue pressure on public sector finances (Amaglobeli, Benson, and Mogues 2024; Damania et al. 2023; Jayne et al. 2018). In addition, they can generate distributional conflicts among different constituencies—both within countries and across countries—and these conflicts can undermine program implementation as well as hinder needed reforms.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen

Citation

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; and Schutter, Marleen. 2026. Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs. CGIAR Policy Innovations Science Program Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181537

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Subsidies; Political Ecology; Fish; Fertilizers; Farm Inputs

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Events

Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take? A Dialogue on IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report
Series/Special Event

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November 6, 2024, 1:00 – 5:00 pm

Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take? A Dialogue on IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy flagship publication arrives at a pivotal moment, as the importance of addressing food systems for better nutrition continues to gain global recognition. With United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 29th Conference of the Parties taking place in November, the SUN Global Gathering on the horizon and the Nutrition […]

Debt Distress and the Right to Food in Africa
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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October 2, 2024, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Debt Distress and the Right to Food in Africa

More than half of low-income countries are at risk of debt distress or have already defaulted. The debt crisis, while exacerbated by recent crises, has been looming for several years. According to the United Nations, 3.3 billion people now live in countries that spend more on interest repayments than on education or health, and in […]

Tackling the Hidden Costs of our Food Systems
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

June 6, 2024, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Tackling the Hidden Costs of our Food Systems

Hybrid Event: June 6, 2024 at 9:30am-11:00am EDT. This event will have a discussion on the hidden costs of food systems and the remedies to reduce economic burdens, while moving toward more sustainable, health-promoting, and socially inclusive food systems.

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News

February 18, 2026 | In the News

Sudan: how warring factions gained influence in the country’s food system – and what it means for the current conflict (The Conversation)

The importance of understanding the political economy incentives that drive large-scale conflict.

February 19, 2025 | In the News

Ecowas breakup could push up food prices and worsen hunger in west Africa (The Conversation)

The Conversation Africa published this op-ed by Danielle Resnick, IFPRI Senior Research Fellow, on the recent Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) breakup, or “Sahelexit,” and the implications for West African food security and regional cooperation. “The exit from Africa’s largest political and economic union threatens to disrupt flows of goods, services and people. […]

July 02, 2024 | Press Release

Global crisis: 1.7 billion people in urban and peri-urban areas face food insecurity

New UN report highlights urgent need to strengthen urban and peri-urban food systems for global food security and nutrition.

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