About

Pamela Jagger is a professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, with a courtesy appointment at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. She is an applied political economist whose research focuses on the dynamics of poverty and environment interactions in low-income countries. She leads the interdisciplinary Forest Use, Energy, and Livelihoods (FUEL) Lab and is the Director of the National Science Foundation funded Energy Poverty PIRE in Southern Africa (EPPSA), a five-year collaborative program supporting research and training on energy access in Southern Africa. Her research organization encompasses three themes: quantifying the role of forest and environmental resources in household consumption and income generation, understanding how contributions change in response to land use, conservation, development projects, and population dynamics; examining the livelihood impacts of changes in environmental governance and institutions on access to environmental goods and services; and understanding household energy access, including the effectiveness of interventions designed to mitigate energy poverty. Dr. Jagger has worked as a policy research scholar with organizations such as the World Bank, Resources for the Future, the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the Center for International Forestry Research.

Research topics

• Economic growth
• Engineering
• Economics
• Natural resource economics
• Mechanical engineering

Selected publications

• Shining light on the scale, use, and impact of household solar for achieving energy access in rural Malawi

  Energy Research & Social Science · 2026-02-26

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Unlocking financial inclusion through solar technology adoption in Malawi

  Energy Economics · 2026-01-10 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Financial inclusion and energy access are development priorities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in rural areas. Many households in SSA struggle to attain access to financial services including mobile money, bank accounts, and informal loans, which allow households to mitigate financial risks by relieving capital constraints and promoting investment and asset accumulation. At the same time, over 600 million people in SSA had no electricity access in 2023. Off-grid solar is considered one of the most cost-effective, feasible, and rapid solutions to provide energy access for rural households. Using data from a 1138-household two-wave quasi-experimental impact evaluation focused on solar technology adoption and impacts in rural Malawi, we explore the association between financial inclusion and solar technology adoption. We hypothesize that adoption of solar technologies catalyzes use of mobile money – a financial inclusion mechanism common throughout SSA. We find that households with solar home systems and standalone solar technologies have 40 and 32 percentage points higher chances to use mobile money, respectively. Through mediation analysis, we confirm that access to reliable phone charging is the main pathway connecting solar adoption and mobile money use. We also observe an approximately two-fold increase in participation in informal savings groups associated with solar adoption, likely through increased access to mobile money, which allows people to easily and securely pool finances. The connection between solar adoption and increased access to two key financial inclusion mechanisms suggests a win-win outcome for policymakers seeking to improve energy access and opportunities for economic growth in rural Africa. • Decentralized home solar technology adoption is associated with financial inclusion. • Solar-enabled at-home mobile phone charging encourages mobile money adoption. • Mobile money use can lead to informal savings group participation in rural Malawi.

  PublisherDOI

• Building the evidence base for REDD+: Study design and methods for evaluating the impacts of conservation interventions on local well-being

  UNC Libraries · 2025-04-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Deforestation and biomass fuel dynamics in Uganda

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-18

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Impacts of Improved Cookstove Interventions on Personal Exposure to Carbon Monoxide and Particulate Matter in Zambia

  UNC Libraries · 2025-10-09

  articleOpen access

  Eighty‐four percent of sub‐Saharan African households rely on polluting fuels (e.g., wood, charcoal) for cooking, leading to high levels of household air pollution (HAP). While switching to modern fuels/stoves could decrease HAP levels, they are not always available or affordable. Improved biomass cookstoves could provide an intermediate step supporting transitions from traditional biomass to clean burning fuels/stoves. We conducted two stove intervention trials in Lusaka, Zambia using targeted marketing/incentives to motivate participants to use improved biomass stoves, either the Mimi Moto (pellet) or the EcoZoom (charcoal). Before the intervention, 65% of participants exclusively used charcoal, while 27% relied on electricity to some extent for cooking. We measured 24‐hr personal exposure to CO ( n  = 747) and PM 2.5 ( n  = 90) of primary cooks. We implemented several statistical approaches to estimate the effects of interventions on exposure: household‐specific endline minus baseline exposure, ranksum testing, difference‐in‐differences analyses, and cross‐sectional analyses. We found that switching from traditional charcoal stoves to either intervention stove was not associated with significantly reduced exposures. However, cooks using electric stoves independent of the intervention did have significantly lower CO exposures than those using traditional charcoal, with greater electric stove use corresponding to greater exposure reductions. Variability in exposure was dominated by seasonal, regional, and neighborhood differences rather than household stove/fuel choices. A focus on HAP exposure from cooking in urban settings is unlikely to yield expected exposure reductions. Policy makers should consider pollution reduction policies/interventions that target ambient air quality in tandem with HAP‐mitigating strategies to address air pollution health burden. Plain Language Summary In 2019, almost 7 million deaths worldwide were linked to air pollution. In sub‐Saharan Africa, 84% of households use polluting fuels like wood and charcoal for cooking, which leads to high levels of air pollution. While cleaner energy options such as electricity could reduce pollution, they are often not accessible or affordable. Improved biomass cookstoves might offer an intermediate solution, helping people transition from traditional fuels to cleaner options. We conducted two studies in Lusaka, Zambia to encourage traditional stove users to switch to improved biomass stoves, either the Mimi Moto (using wood pellets) or EcoZoom (using charcoal). We measured exposure to carbon monoxide and particulate matter among household cooks. We found that switching to improved stoves did not significantly reduce exposures compared to traditional charcoal use. However, cooks using electric stoves did have lower exposures, with greater exposure reductions as more meals were cooked with electricity. Factors such as season and neighborhood also had substantial impacts on exposure. This suggests that focusing only on reducing pollution from cooking in urban areas may not be enough to improve health. Policymakers should consider broader strategies that also target outdoor air quality to effectively address the health risks of air pollution. Key Points In two interventions, the use of improved biomass stoves was not associated with reduced personal exposures Household cooks using existing electric stoves did have significantly lower exposures than traditional charcoal users Changes in exposure were dominated by seasonal, regional, and neighborhood differences rather than household stove/fuel choices

  PublisherDOI

• Can off-grid household solar provide sustainable energy for all? Adoption and sustained use of solar technologies in Malawi

  Energy Research & Social Science · 2025-08-12 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Malawi has one of the lowest rates of electricity access globally, particularly in rural areas where just 5.6 % of households have electricity access. Like many African countries, Malawi is working towards universal electricity access by promoting decentralized solar technologies. We analyze data from a two-wave quasi-experimental quantitative impact evaluation involving 1371 households in rural Malawi to characterize solar technologies and their capacity, explore determinants of adoption of solar home systems and standalone solar panels, and characterize the dynamics of adoption and dis-adoption. We observe a 4.5 percentage point increase in solar ownership over the 12-month study period, with 33.7 % of households owning a solar device by 2023. However, solar device capacity is low (median capacity of 6 W), limiting use to mobile phone charging and limited lighting services. Socioeconomic status and financial inclusion are important factors influencing solar adoption. Wealthier households are 2.5 times more likely to adopt solar home systems and 1.8 times more likely to adopt standalone solar panels. Between 2022 and 2023, 10.8 % of solar-owning households adopted additional solar devices, with wealthier households 30 % more likely to adopt additional devices. In contrast, 28.6 % of solar-owners dis-adopted. Our results highlight challenges for achieving universal energy access through household solar technologies. Low energy capacity suggests limited potential to provide high quality energy services. We recommend a more explicit focus on device capacity in measuring energy access, and targeted financial support and incentives to enhance the adoption, scale up, and long-term use of solar technologies.

  PublisherDOI

• Tenure and Forest Income: Observations from a Global Study on Forests and Poverty

  UNC Libraries · 2025-10-25

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Looking for Medium-term Conservation and Development Impacts of Community Management Agreements in Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains National Park

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-18

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Impacts of Improved Cookstove Interventions on Personal Exposure to Carbon Monoxide and Particulate Matter in Zambia

  GeoHealth · 2025-09-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Eighty‐four percent of sub‐Saharan African households rely on polluting fuels (e.g., wood, charcoal) for cooking, leading to high levels of household air pollution (HAP). While switching to modern fuels/stoves could decrease HAP levels, they are not always available or affordable. Improved biomass cookstoves could provide an intermediate step supporting transitions from traditional biomass to clean burning fuels/stoves. We conducted two stove intervention trials in Lusaka, Zambia using targeted marketing/incentives to motivate participants to use improved biomass stoves, either the Mimi Moto (pellet) or the EcoZoom (charcoal). Before the intervention, 65% of participants exclusively used charcoal, while 27% relied on electricity to some extent for cooking. We measured 24‐hr personal exposure to CO ( n = 747) and PM 2.5 ( n = 90) of primary cooks. We implemented several statistical approaches to estimate the effects of interventions on exposure: household‐specific endline minus baseline exposure, ranksum testing, difference‐in‐differences analyses, and cross‐sectional analyses. We found that switching from traditional charcoal stoves to either intervention stove was not associated with significantly reduced exposures. However, cooks using electric stoves independent of the intervention did have significantly lower CO exposures than those using traditional charcoal, with greater electric stove use corresponding to greater exposure reductions. Variability in exposure was dominated by seasonal, regional, and neighborhood differences rather than household stove/fuel choices. A focus on HAP exposure from cooking in urban settings is unlikely to yield expected exposure reductions. Policy makers should consider pollution reduction policies/interventions that target ambient air quality in tandem with HAP‐mitigating strategies to address air pollution health burden.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Money matters: Does access to financial services foster household energy transitions in Africa?

  Energy Research & Social Science · 2025-08-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Population, land use & health dynamics; Biomass fuel use in sub-Saharan Africa

  NIH · $829k · 2012–2018

• Evaluating the Welfare and Forest Cover Impacts of Uganda's Forest Sector Governance Reform

  NSF · $25k · 2012–2014

• PIRE: Confronting Energy Poverty: Building an Interdisciplinary Evidence Base, Network, and Capacity for Transformative Change

  NSF · $4.8M · 2018–2025

Frequent coauthors

• John Pender

  Economic Research Service

  21 shared

• Erin O. Sills

  16 shared

• D. Sserunkuuma

  Makerere University

  15 shared

• Ephraim Nkonya

  International Food Policy Research Institute

  12 shared

• Gerald Shively

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  11 shared

• William D. Sunderlin

  Center for International Forestry Research

  11 shared

• Kathleen Lawlor

  11 shared

• Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo

  Australian National University

  10 shared

Labs

• FUEL LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., SPEA

  Indiana University

• M.Sc., Rural Economy

  University of Alberta