He is the author of Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works[11] (Palgrave Macmillan, hardcover 2005, paperback with afterword 2009).
He is also co-editor with Jennifer Brinkerhoff and Hildy Teegen of NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals: Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty[12] (Palgrave Macmillan, June 2007).
Smith has done on-site research and program work in several regions of the developing world including Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, India, Uganda, and the Former Yugoslavia.
Some of his recent work addresses programs to assist women smallholder farmers and problems of adaptation to climate change in low income countries,.
In addition to his work on poverty and development economics, Smith has conducted research on the economics of participation, including works councils, employee stock ownership plan, and worker cooperatives, including research in Italy, Spain, Germany, China, and India.
[17] He conducted an empirical test of the “Ward effect” theory in which worker coops would reduce output when its market price rose; Smith’s findings cast doubt on this claim, and his results implied that worker coops place positive weight on members’ employment when making production decisions.