Christopher Udry is the King Professor of Economics and the co-director of the Global Poverty Research Lab at Northwestern University. He serves a scientific advisor for IPA's Social Protection Program. He is a development economist whose research focuses on rural economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa. His current research examines technological change, risk and financial markets, gender and households, property rights, psychological well-being and economic decision-making and a variety of other aspects of rural economic organization.

He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Board Member of Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.