Jonathan Kydd (academic)

Professor Jonathan Kydd (born 1951 in Hemel Hempstead) is a leading expert in Agricultural Development Economics, has examined the demand and supply constraints affecting poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, and has argued for dramatic policy reform and increased attention to governance issues in the region.[1] Professor Kydd garnered notoriety for his analysis of the 2001/2002 food crisis in Malawi,[2] Malawi's redeployment of labour in the 1970s,[3] and his analysis of Zambia's transition to coffee crops.[4]

Professor Kydd is currently Dean of the University of London International Programmes (which has a current enrolment of over 50,000 students) and Visiting Professor at the Imperial College London.[5] Prior to his appointment at the University of London, Professor Kydd was Director of the Distance Learning Programme, Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, which focuses on international development and poverty reduction, sustainability, environment, biodiversity, economics and agribusiness. While in the latter role, Professor Kydd was instrumental in helping to create the MSc in Applied Environmental Economics, a programme which now boasts over 1000 students and over 40 courses.[6]

Professor Kydd has extensive experience in Africa (he was Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Malawi in the early 1980s[7]) and the natural resources sector, together with a particular interest in the role of the private sector in development. His subject expertise is in agricultural policy analysis (especially links between the agricultural sector and the macro economy); economic liberalisation and structural adjustment; the role of the agricultural sector in the transition from central planning to the market; rural development and finance; food security and agricultural projects.[8]

Professor Kydd is a non-executive director of CDC Plc, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets.[9]

  1. ^ Poulton, Kydd and Dorward, "Overcoming Market Constraints on Pro-Poor Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa" Development Policy Review, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 243-277, May 2006 [1]
  2. ^ Kydd, Dorward and Vaughan, "The Humanitarian Crisis in Southern Africa: Malawi," Submission to the International Development Committee, October 2002 [2]
  3. ^ Christiansen and Kydd, "The Return of Malawian Labour from South Africa and Zimbabwe" The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Jun., 1983), pp. 311-326. [3]
  4. ^ Kydd, "Coffee after Copper? Structural Adjustment, Liberalisation, and Agriculture in Zambia" The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Jun., 1988), pp. 227-251.[4]
  5. ^ "Professor Jonathan Kydd appointed Dean of University of London External System" 18 May 2007 "News and Events - External Programme - University of London". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  6. ^ "Working on the land", Imperial College London Website
  7. ^ Christiansen, Robert E.; Kydd, Jonathan G. (11 November 2008). "CJO - Abstract - The Return of Malawian Labour from South Africa and Zimbabwe". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 21 (2). Journals.cambridge.org: 311–326. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00023296. S2CID 154296176. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  8. ^ Jonathan Kydd Bio, World Bank Website
  9. ^ CDC Board of Directors, Website