Hubert Nii-Aponsah


PhD fellow

Research group(s):
1. Economics of Knowledge and Innovation
2. Structural Change and Economic Development
8. Population, Development and Labour Economics
4. Governance and institutions

Hubert Nii-Aponsah is an Economist and Governance specialist with extensive operational and analytical experience in public sector development. His experiences cover leading research projects, and creating global datasets and indexes, notably the GovTech Maturity Index, which measures progress in public sector digital transformation in 198 economies. He also has significant operational experience in initiating and managing World Bank Public Financial Management (PFM) projects, as well as academic experience teaching both undergraduate and graduate-level quantitative courses, including Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Statistics, Data Science and Econometrics.

Prior to working with the World Bank, he was the Resident Economist and Deputy Head of the Center for Economic Governance and Political Affairs at Imani Center for Policy and Education where his work on the Imanifesto research project received extensive local media coverage, an international award from the Atlas Foundation, and recognition as one of the best policy reports by the 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index published by the University of Pennsylvania. Hubert holds a masters degree in Economics from Central Michigan University and is presently a PhD Fellow in the Economics and Governance of Technological Change at Maastricht University (UNU-MERIT). His core research interests encompass the drivers, effects and linkages between modern automation technologies (such as AI), labour market outcomes, GovTech, and trade.

Hubert's research investigates the effects of the adoption of new automation technologies on the future world of work with regards to labour productivity growth, wages, and employment in advanced and developing countries, His research also links advanced and developing regions through automation-induced reshoring and considers automation disruption in the Gender, Age and Skills dimensions of the labour markets of both regions.




Selected publications by Hubert Nii-Aponsah


Books (monograph or edited volume)
Dener, Cem, Hubert Nii-Aponsah, Love E. Ghunney & Kimberly D. Johns, 2021, Publication: GovTech Maturity Index: The State of Public Sector Digital Transformation, World Bank, Washington DC, More information


UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Nii-Aponsah, Hubert, Bart Verspagen & Pierre Mohnen, 2023, Automation-induced reshoring and potential implications for developing economies, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2023-018
Nii-Aponsah, Hubert, 2022, Automation exposure and implications in advanced and developing countries across gender, age, and skills, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2022-021


Research reports
Dener, Cem, Kimberly D. Johns, Hubert Nii-Aponsah & World Bank, 2022, Publication: GovTech Maturity Index, 2022 Update: Trends in Public Sector Digital Transformation, World Bank, Washington DC, More information
Nii-Aponsah, Hubert, Stefan Reppen & Andew Ntim, 2016, 2016 IMANI Pre-election Report: Critical Analysis of Political Promises in Ghana, Imani Africa, Ghana, More information
Nii-Aponsah, Hubert, Isidore Kpotufe, Brian Dzansi & Festus Ankrah, 2016, Imanifesto: Assessing Political Manifestos in Ghana, Imani Center for Policy and Education, Ghana, More information
Nii-Aponsah, Hubert, 2016, Business Environment Report (2011-2016), Imani Africa, Ghana, More information


Briefs
Dener, Cem, Kimberly D. Johns, Hubert Nii-Aponsah & World Bank, 2023, Publication: GovTech Maturity Index, 2022 Update - West and Central Africa Regional Brief, World Bank, Washington DC, More information
Dener, Cem, Kimberly D. Johns, Hubert Nii-Aponsah & World Bank, 2023, GovTech Maturity Index, 2022 Update — East Asia and Pacific Regional Brief, World Bank, Washington DC, More information
Dener, Cem, Kimberly D. Johns, Hubert Nii-Aponsah & World Bank, 2023, GovTech Maturity Index, 2022 Update — Europe and Central Asia Regional Brief, World Bank, Washington DC, More information


Data sets
Dener, Cem, Hubert Nii-Aponsah & World Bank, 2020, 2022 GovTech Dataset, World Bank, Washington DC, More information


UNU-MERIT