Bill Burke

William J. (Bill) Burke is an Agricultural Economist with a focus on Africa that began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa, where he served from 2001 to 2003. He earned Masters and Doctoral degrees from Michigan State University in 2009 and 2012 respectively. In early 2010 Bill returned to Africa to begin a long-term overseas assignment in Lusaka, Zambia. In addition to carrying out fieldwork as a doctoral candidate, his time in Zambia was spent providing research, outreach and capacity building services for the USAID and SIDA funded Food Security Research Project. His work in Zambia focused on several aspects of the heavily subsidized maize and fertilizer sectors. After completing his PhD, he remained in Zambia as an Assistant Professor, International Development, until joining FSE in September of 2012. Bill speaks Mandinka and, in addition to economics, has a Bachelor’s degree in theater.

Outside of his work in Africa, Bill is the author of the “craggit” command in Stata, which facilitates the estimation and interpretation of John Cragg’s more flexible alternative to the popular “tobit” model for corner solution dependent variables.