Robert Garlick is an economist studying labor markets in low- and middle-income countries, particularly how to reduce search and matching frictions to increase employment, earnings, and productivity. He also studies how labor markets intersect with government policies on education, income support, public works employment, and transport, alongside some methodological research on survey design and applied econometrics. He is an associate professor of economics at Emory University and previously worked at Duke University and in the World Bank's Development Research Group. He is affiliated with BREAD, CGD, IPA, IZA, and J-PAL. He holds a PhD in economic and public policy from the University of Michigan along with master's and undergraduate degrees from the University of Cape Town.