Michael R Carter is Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis and directs the BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab and the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative. His research examines poverty dynamics and productive social safety nets, the impact of violence on aspirations and hope, small farm uptake of improved technologies, and features a suite of projects that design, pilot and evaluate index insurance contracts as mechanisms to alleviate chronic poverty. Carter is a fellow of NBER, BREAD and the American Agricultural Economics Association and has served on advisory boards for numerous academic journals and international development NGOs.