Dr. Kwadwo Opoku is a development public sector economist with over 15 years academic and professional experience in research, economic analysis, policy making and advocacy on issues of taxes and social spending. He is a former economist of Bank of Ghana. His recent work has largely concentrated on ageing populations, pension and social protection systems and their mechanisms to sustainably finance them within the Ghanaian context and lower-middle income countries. He is currently an AIAS-AUFF Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark working on ‘Sustainable Financing of Long-Term Care in Lower Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Ghana’. He has consulted for various organizations, including the World Bank, UNICEF, NDPC and Ministry of Finance. His work combines rigorous empirical methodologies with policy-relevant analysis including ex-ante and ex-post policy analysis to determine policy alternatives that better social welfare.
Research: Dr. Opoku is interested in the analysis of public policies and how economic agents can be incentivized to participate in government programs of national interest. His recent work has focused on the labour market, education and gender issues; decomposition of sources of gendered differential probabilities and wages in different employment statuses; and intergenerational income mobility; taxation of informal sector workers; and mechanisms for extending pension coverage to informal sector workers.
Selected Publications:
Opoku, K., & Domfe, G. (forthcoming). Socioeconomic determinants of poverty among older persons in rural and urban Ghana. African Journal of Ageing Studies.
Opoku, K., Domfe, G., & Boahen, E. A. (2025). Determinants of older people’s labour market decisions in Ghana. Journal of Economic Studies, 52(1), 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-07-2023-0345
Agyei-Holmes, A., Opoku, K., Atta Ankomah, R., Nechifor, V., Ferrari, E., Boysen, O., & Simola, A. (2024). Potential impacts of the African Continental Free Trade Area on agri-food sectors and food security in Ghana. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/624479
Domfe, G., Opoku, K., & Alidu, S. M. (2024). Inclusion and exclusion in Ghana’s electoral democracy: An analysis of voter registration and turnout in border communities in Ghana.
Opoku, K., Adu Boahen, E & Domfe, G. (2024). "Understanding the Gender Wage Gap in the Formal and Informal Sectors of the Ghanaian Economy" The Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies, 66 (2): 263 – 294 https://www.njess.org/journal/njess/issues
Opoku, K., Mugizu, F., & Boahen, E. A. (2024). Gender differences in formal wage employment in urban Tanzania. Development Southern Africa, 41(2), 311–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2023.2288819
Opoku, K., & Boahen, E. A. (2024). Intergenerational earnings mobility in Ghana. International Review of Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-023-00433-8
Boahen, E. A., Nunoo, J., & Opoku, K. (2023). Duration of high school education on early fertility and marriage: Evidence from a policy change in Ghana. International Journal of Social Economics. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0323
Boahen, E. A., & Opoku, K. (2023). Inequalities in labour market outcomes of school leavers: Does educational track matter? Journal of Social and Economic Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-023-00264-x
Opoku, K., & Boahen, E. A. (2021). Effects of school attendance on child labour and literacy: Regression discontinuity evidence from Ghana. International Journal of Social Economics, 48(11), 1567–1588. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-09-2020-0669
Opoku, K., Mugizu, F., & Boahen, E. A. (2021). Gender differences in formal wage employment in urban Tanzania. WIDER Working Paper 2021/99.
Boahen, E. A., Adu, K. O., & Opoku, K. (2021). Gender wage gaps in Ghana: A comparison across different selection models. WIDER Working Paper (No. 2021/10). https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2021-10-gender-wage-gaps-Ghana.pdf
Boahen, E. A., Opoku, K., & Schotte, S. (2021). Duration of pre-university education and labour market outcomes: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Ghana. Journal of International Development, 33(1), 208–232. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3519
Ackah, C., Aryeetey, E., & Opoku, K. (Eds.). (2021). Wage and employment effects of trade liberalization: The case of Ghanaian manufacturing. In C. Ackah & E. Aryeetey (Eds.), Globalization, trade, and poverty in Ghana (pp. 225–354). Sub-Saharan Publishers. https://media.africaportal.org/documents/IDL-50244.pdf
Boahen, E. A., Opoku, K., & Schotte, S. (2020). Duration of pre-university education and labour market outcomes: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Ghana. WIDER Working Paper 2020/106.
Opoku, K., Ackah, C., & Turkson, E. (2013). Trade costs and intra-regional trade flows in ECOWAS. Journal of West African Integration, 1(1), 1–43. https://www.epau.ecowas.int/?page_id=443
Technical Reports
Yoo, J.-S., & Opoku, K. (2020). Modernizing value-added tax (VAT) system. In 2019/20 KSP Policy Consultation Report Ghana: Leveraging technology to enhance domestic revenue mobilization through effective tax policy and tax administration reforms in Ghana (pp. 127–186). Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), Korea Development Institute (KDI).
Ackah, C., Opoku, K., & Wong, B. (2020). Cost-benefit analysis of skill development interventions in Ghana: Ghana priorities. National Development Planning Commission and Copenhagen Consensus Centre.