Research, Teaching, and Commentary

Edward Sayre

Humphrey Distinguised Visiting Professor of Economics, Macalester College

Professor of Economics, University of Southern Mississippi

Edward (Ward) Sayre’s research focuses on the economics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and statistical analyses of Middle East labor markets, including those of Tunisia, Palestine, and Qatar.  He also had several research projects that use applied microeconomics to a variety of topics including the economics of body donation, the determinants of economic recovery from natural disasters, and the impact of mandatory national service on wage differentials. Sayre is the co-editor (with Tarik M. Yousef) of Young Generation Awakening: Society, Economy, and Policy on the Eve of the Arab Spring (Oxford University Press, 2016). For 2021-2022, Professor Sayre is the Humphrey Distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics at Macalester. He is taking a year leave from the University of Southern Mississippi where he is Professor of Economics and Director of the School of Social Science and Global Studies. Before starting the position at USM, Sayre was a visiting research associate at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) in Jerusalem and taught at Kenyon College and Agnes Scott College. From 2010-2012 Dr. Sayre was a Non-Resident Fellow for Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution and from 2011-2016 was a Research Fellow at Fikra consulting in Doha, Qatar. Dr. Sayre also served on the Board of Directors the Middle East Economic Association from 1999 to 2015.