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Larry Sawers Senior Economist in Residence Department of Economics

Contact
Larry Sawers
(202) 885-3770 (Work)
CAS - Economics
Kreeger - 104
As Senior Economist in Residence, I am not currently scheduled to teach classes at the university. I have no scheduled office hours. You are welcome to contact me by email at lsawers@american.edu.
Degrees
PhD, University of Michigan
BA, Duke University

Bio
Professor Sawers research interests are Global Health and Economic Development. Much of his recent research has focused on costing health interventions.
See Also
Department of Economics
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

       
  •  Economic development: Current research and a recent publications focus on the economics of health in developing countries. Topics include the economics behind the epidemic of HIV in the developing world with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa, lymphatic filariasis in India, and congenital toxoplasmosis in Brazil and Austria. Other recent publications look at the effects of policy reform in Argentina, Ecuador, and Lithuania with a special emphasis on regional development, agriculture, and/or nontraditional exports.
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  • Economic history of the United States: Recent publications and current research focus on the economics of the American Revolution, early twentieth century agriculture in the Southern United States, and the U.S. Army's choice of draft animal in the late nineteenth century.

Selected Publications

Recent Publications on Global Health, Economic Development, and Economic History   

  • “Economic costs and benefits of community-based lymphedema management programs for lymphatic filariasis in India,” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, April 2020, 1-8, Larry Sawers and Eileen Stillwaggon.
  • “Economic benefits and costs of surgery for filarial hydrocele in Malawi” PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, March 25, 2020, 1-15, Larry Sawers, Eileen Stillwaggon, John Chiphwanya, Square Z. Mkwanda, Hannah Betts, Sarah Martindale, Louise A. Kelly-Hope.
  • "Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Austria: Prenatal Screening for Prevention Is Cost-Saving," PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, July 2017, 1-24, with Andrea-Romana Prusa, David C. Kasper, Michael Hayde, and Eileen Stillwaggon. DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005648
  • "Partnership Duration, Concurrency, and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, African Journal of AIDS Research, July 2017, with Alan Isaac.
  •  "Economic Costs and Benefits of a Community-Based Lymphedema Management Program for Lymphatic Filariasis in Odisha State, India, "American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, October 2016, with Eileen Stillwaggon, Jonathan Rout, David Addiss, and LeAnne  Fox. DOI:10.4269/ajtmh.16-0286
  •  "Rush to Judgment: the STI-Treatment Trials and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the International AIDS Society, May 2015, with Eileen Stillwaggon DOI:10.7448/IAS.18.1.19844
  •  "Measuring and Modelling Concurrency," Journal of the International AIDS Society, January 2013. DOI:10.7448/IAS.18.1.19844
  •  "Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Do Not Explain HIV Epidemics in Africa: A Systematic Review of the Evidence," Journal of the International AIDS Society, September  2010, with Eileen Stillwaggon. DOI:10.1186/1758-2652-13-34
  • “HIV and Concurrent Sexual Partnerships: Modeling the Role of Coital Dilution,” Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2011 with Alan G. Isaac and Eileen Stillwaggon.  DOI:10.1186/1758-2652-14-44
  • "Power, Race, and the Neglect of Science: the HIV Epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa," in Brian King and Kelly Crewes, eds. Ecologies and Politics of Health, Rutledge, 2013.
  • "Understanding the Southern African ‘Anomaly’: Poverty, Endemic Disease and HIV,” Development and Change 41 No. 2, 2010, pages 195–224, with Eileen Stillwaggon.
  • "Cofactor Infections and HIV Epidemics in Developing Countries: Implications for Treatment," AIDS Care 20 No. 4, 488–494, 2008, with Eileen Stillwaggon and Tom Hertz. 
  • "Inequality and the Transition: Regional Development in Lithuania," Baltic Journal of Economics,6 No.1, 37;51, 2006.
  • "Nontraditional or New Traditional  Exports: Ecuador’s Flower Boom,” Latin American Research Review 40 No. 3, 40–67, 2005.
  • “Income Distribution and Environmental Degradation in the Argentine Interior,” Latin American Research Review 35 No.2, 3–33, 2000
  • "Structural Reform and Industrial Promotion in Argentina,” Journal of Latin American Studies, 33, 101–132, 2001, with Raquel Massacane.
  • “Sustainable Floriculture in Ecuador,” International Journal of Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability 1 No. 2, 3–9, 2006.
  • “El ajuste en Argentina: lecciones para el Ecuador,” (Economic Reform in Argentina: Lessons for Ecuador) Ciencias Sociales, (Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito) 20, 99–109, 2001.
  • “Farm Size, Productivity, and Public Policy in the Argentine Interior,” Journal of Developing Areas 33 No.1, 121–150, 1998.
  • The Other Argentina: The Interior and National Development, Boulder: Westview Press, 1996.
  • Economic Development Policy, 2015.
  • "Urban Primacy in Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change 37, No.4, 841–859,1989.
  • “The Navigation Acts Revisited,” Economic History Review, 45 No. 2, 262–284, 1992., reprinted in John W. Malsberger and James N. Marshall, eds., The American Economic History Reader, Routledge, 2008.   
  • “The Mule, the South, and Economic Progress,” Social Science History, 28 No. 4, 667–690, 2004.

Professional Services

Professor Sawers taught and carried out research as a Fulbright Scholar at Vilnius University in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and the Universidad Central in Quito in Ecuador, and  at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He spent several years directing the university's study abroad programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Madrid, Spain.

Work In Progress

Chinwe Eze, Charles Joseph, Ngozi, Anthony Meka, Linda Lehman, and Larry Sawers, “Impact of teaching self-care interventions on preventing and managing impairments and disability in neglected tropical skin diseases in Ogbaru local government area in Anambra state of Nigeria.”

François Perron, Eileen Stillwaggon, Martine Wallon, Larry Sawers, et al., “Benefits and Costs of Prenatal Screening for Congenital Toxoplasmosis in France.”