Yonatan holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Otago. He has completed a master's in International and Development Economics at the Australian National University. Yonatan worked as a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Bahir Dar University and taught Econometrics at the University of Otago. 

Yonatan has extensive expertise in quantitative modelling and analysis of socioeconomic wellbeing. His PhD project involved the application of quasi-experimental designs (instrumental variables estimation, propensity score matching and fixed-effects estimation) to large scale longitudinal and pooled-panel datasets to identify key determinants of child wellbeing and human capital. Since 2018, Yonatan’s research has focused on Indigenous outcomes and social policies in areas of employment, education, housing, health and wellbeing.

Yonatan has been involved in major reseach and evaluation projects funded by state/territiory governments, commonwealth departments and community-controlled organisations.

Yonatan has published extensively in leading academic journals such as The Journal of Development Studies, Social Science and Medicine, and BMJ Global Health.

Yonatan's research interests lie in the areas of Indigenous wellbeing, human development, development economics and applied microeconomics.

PhD Economics Otago; MA Int. & Dev't Economics ANU; BA Economics AAU

• Child/youth outcomes
• Labour market outcomes
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy
• Health and wellbeing
• Impact evaluation of social policies
• Social capital and neighbourhood effects