Chris Barrett's fundamental research objective is to help reduce unnecessary human suffering manifest in ill health, malnutrition, poverty, vulnerability to manmade and natural disasters, and the degradation of the natural resources that support many poor people’s future well-being.

He is the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, an international professor of agriculture in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and a professor in the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy.