Christoper Neilson is an applied microeconomist whose research focuses on the study of education markets and policies that promote equitable opportunities for human capital accumulation.

He uses a combination of methods to study how government policy affects students, families and education providers drawing on methods from industrial organization, labor economics and development economics. Neilson works closely with governments to help them leverage their data, existing evidence and technology, to design, evaluate and implement new education policies. These include the governments of Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic.

To support his work with governments and help them implement and test innovations, Neilson founded ConsiliumBots in 2018 to served as an incubator for ideas that combine research, policy and technology in education. To date, this NGO has developed tools that have helped over 2 million families in 7 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. See the latest research and policy impact coming out of this initiative on Smart Platforms.

At Yale, Neilson holds a joint appointment at the Economics Department and the Jackson School of Global Affairs. He is a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research Industrial Organization and Education Economics programs as well as an affiliate of the J-PAL network.