Adam McCarty, Chief Economist

Adam McCarty first came to Vietnam in 1990 for his doctoral studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. He returned in 1991 to conduct six months of fieldwork surveying the incomes and expenditures of 1,000 Hanoi households. Adam has subsequently worked as a consultant conducting policy research and project evaluations for donor agencies, including the World Bank, UNDP, and most bilateral donors.

During 1996-1998, Adam was a Lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He then moved to the Institute for Social Studies (ISS) in the Netherlands to run a Masters in Development Economics programme at the National Economics University in Hanoi. In 2001, Adam joined Mekong Economics Ltd., where he is Chief Economist. At Mekong Economics, Adam has led donor and corporate client projects in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and East Timor. He was M&E Advisor for the Vietnamese Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (World Bank) for three years. In 2009, he was Team Leader for an 11-country survey of 5,050 enterprises for the World Bank (and for another 3,000 China enterprise survey in 2012). Adam's work and publications about Vietnam has covered microfinance, state enterprise reform, rural development impact evaluations, trade policy, aid effectiveness, M&E, and the education sector.