I grew up in Ethiopia during a turbulent time which sparked my early interest in development economics, setting me on an improbable journey to pursuing graduate studies in Economics at Berkeley. My research seeks to gauge the causal impacts of various policy interventions and institutions on development, with a focus on the African continent.  With appointments at United college, the Economics department, and the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) at the University of Waterloo, I aim to build a research portfolio that has some relevance to policy making for economic development in low-income regions.