Elisabeth Sadoulet is an economist and Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley who has carried out field research in China, India, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa.

She is a senior fellow at the Fondation pour les études et recherches sur le développement international (FERDI).

She names Angus Deaton, Irma Adelman, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo as having influenced her approach to economics as both a quantitative and experimental discipline, in which rigorous analysis became the basis for policy recommendations in normative work with governments, organizations, NGOs, and the private sector.

[5] Throughout her career, she has focused on "how to make agriculture into an effective instrument for development", believing that it is underused and misused, but still presents unique opportunities.

[5] Beginning with a focus on growth and poverty, her work includes vulnerability to poverty and risk, inequality and inequity, basic needs in health and education, access to assets, microfinancing, land rental contracts, technology innovation, social programs, community-driven development, adaptation to climate change, resource scarcity, cooperative management of common property resources, and governance.