HumanitarianMatters Consulting is an independent research practice — working with UN agencies, national governments, and international NGOs on the questions where careful evidence makes a real policy difference.
Most of my work sits in the overlap between development economics, public finance, and governance — country-level, evidence-led, and built to be acted on. I take on engagements where the methodological bar is high and the policy stakes are real.
Country and regional diagnostics drawing on frontier indices, including UNCTAD's Productive Capacity Index and its Satellite SIDS variant. Built to inform national strategies and multilateral programming.
Modelling the effectiveness of development financing across the SDGs, including spillover effects between sectors and across financing sources. For ministries and UN country teams that need finance to work harder.
Subnational and cross-country research on corruption, accountability, and institutional quality — drawing on our peer-reviewed Subnational Corruption Database covering 1,473 regions across 178 countries.
I take on a small number of engagements at any one time, chosen for substantive fit. Each piece of work is built to deliver to the standards of the commissioning institution and to stand up to peer review.
Applying UNCTAD's newly developed Satellite SIDS Productive Capacity Index to identify the structural constraints on Dominican productive transformation. Descriptive and qualitative policy analysis to inform UNCTAD ALDC's engagement with the country.
Read the case noteA quantitative model designed to assess the effectiveness of development spending across the SDGs and across financing sources, accounting for spillover effects between goals. For use by the Government of Comoros and the UN Country Team.
Read the case noteI sit at the intersection of academic research and operational policy work — and I think the best of both should travel together.
HumanitarianMatters Consulting is led by Lamar Crombach, an applied development economist with a doctorate from ETH Zürich and earlier degrees from Radboud University. My work draws on a decade of research at the intersection of development economics, public finance, and governance — published in the Journal of Public Economics, Nature's Scientific Data, the European Journal of Political Economy, and other peer-reviewed venues.
HumanitarianMatters is a solo practice. When an engagement calls for it, I assemble a small team drawn from a wider network of trusted researchers in development economics, public finance, and governance. I take on engagements only where there is genuine substantive fit — and a clear path to a deliverable that decision-makers can act on.
For a full overview of my background, visit my LinkedIn or personal website.
Decisions about scope, method, and deliverables follow from these. They're also the things I'd want to know before commissioning anyone myself.
Every engagement starts with the right method for the question — drawn from peer-reviewed research and tested in real-world policy contexts. The method is the deliverable's foundation, not an afterthought.
Reports are written for decision-makers, not academic audiences. Even the most rigorous analysis is worthless if it cannot be read, acted on, and defended in front of a board.
I take on a small number of engagements at any one time — only where there is clear methodological and policy fit. If the substance isn't right, I'll say so and suggest someone better placed.
Limitations, methodological caveats, and uncertainties are disclosed in every report. Findings stand on their own — and stand up to peer scrutiny if commissioning institutions choose to publish.
Alongside engagements, I maintain an active research agenda on corruption and development. Two outputs are central to it.
A peer-reviewed open dataset covering 1,473 regions across 178 countries from 1995 to 2022, built from over 800 surveys and 1.3 million respondents. The first index of its kind to combine grand and petty corruption at subnational level on a global scale.
Read the paperAn open-access platform I founded as the home of the Subnational Corruption Database — with visualization tools, country profiles, and methodological documentation. Used by researchers, multilateral institutions, and journalists working on governance and accountability.
Visit Corruption RadarA small set of recent papers. The full list of writing — research articles, policy notes, and chapters — is updated quarterly.
I respond to substantive enquiries within two working days.
contact@hum