In memoriam of Agricultural & Resources Economics Professor Elisabeth Sadoulet

Elisabeth “Betty” Sadoulet, a well-known scholar and advisor in international development economics and professor emerita at UC Berkeley, passed away on October 17, 2025. 

Professor Sadoulet joined the UC Berkeley Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics (ARE) in 1985 after earning a PhD in Economics from the University of Geneva in 1982. Sadoulet was a leading figure in development economics, which focuses on improving economic, social, political, and environmental conditions in developing countries. After her retirement in 2017, she remained active as a Professor of the Graduate School, continuing to publish in her field and mentoring many graduate students who are now domestic and international leaders in academia, development organizations, and government.

Within the broader field of development economics, Sadoulet’s research covered topics such as growth strategies, agricultural technologies, microcredit, conditional cash transfers, property rights over land and environmental sustainability. She conducted field research around the world and advised organizations and governments, including the United Nations, the World Bank and the Mexican government. She was also a co-founder of the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), a Berkeley research hub that works towards rigorous, evidence-based solutions for global poverty through projects in areas like health, education, and economic development.

“Betty Sadoulet is a unique, heroic figure in her generation of development economists,” said MIT Professor of Economics and Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. “[She was] kind and approachable and committed to the social good, while deeply serious when it came to the quality of research.”

Her book Development Economics: Theory and Practice, co-authored with longtime collaborator and ARE Professor Emeritus Alain de Janvry, offers a comprehensive history and introduction to the major economic development issues worldwide. Now in its second edition from Routledge, the foundational text is used in many development economics classrooms.

Among her many other achievements, Sadoulet was a senior fellow at the Fondation pour les Études et la Recherche sur le Développement International (FERDI) in France, an honorary life member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, and a fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA), as well as a board member of the UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research. She received the Publication of Enduring Quality Award at the AAEA & Western Agricultural Economics Association Joint Annual Meeting in 2021. She was the editor of the World Bank Economic Review from 2010 to 2013, and served on editorial boards for multiple other publications, including Agricultural Economics, the Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies, Revue d’Economie du Développement, and World Development. 

Professor Sofia Villas-Boas, current chair of ARE, commended Sadoulet’s influence as a faculty mentor to students in the department. “Professor Sadoulet helped shape the careers of generation after generation of graduate students — mentoring them through research projects in developing countries, launching them into impactful careers in academia and leading international organizations, and continuing to guide them throughout their professional journeys,” she said. 

“Sadoulet elevated the standards of our PhD program like no one else, instilling in us a deep appreciation for rigorous empirical economic analysis and the critical importance of identification in isolating causality,” said Gordon Rausser, a professor emeritus in ARE and former dean of Rausser College of Natural Resources. 

Sadoulet received the College of Natural Resources Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016. “That she continued contributing meaningful work until the very end was characteristic of someone who saw scholarship not as a job, but as a calling,” said ARE Professor Ethan Ligon. 

“Betty was a passionate researcher and a dedicated advisor,” said Frederico Finan (PhD ’06 in Agricultural & Resource Economics), a former student of Sadoulet who is now a faculty member in the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley. “But perhaps even more importantly, she was a kind and generous human being who reminded us never to lose sight of the deeper purpose of our work — to improve the lives and opportunities of those living in poverty around the world.”

A funeral and burial service was held in Lyon, France, on Oct. 25, 2025. The Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, along with Professor Alain de Janvry and former students and colleagues of Professor Sadoulet, are planning a memorial conference in Spring 2026. Those interested can contact the ARE chair at [email protected].