David Roodman is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development currently focusing on microfinance. He is writing a book on the subject through an "open book" blog, through which he shares questions, discoveries, and chapter drafts. The book asks bottom-line questions about what we know about the benefits of microfinance, and what that implies for how we support it.

David has been architect and manager of the Commitment to Development Index since the project's inception in 2002. The Index ranks the world's richest countries based on their dedication to policies that benefit the 5 billion people living in poorer nations; it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive measure of rich-country policies towards the developing world.

David has written several papers questioning the capacity of common cross-country statistical techniques to shed light on what causes economic development. He co-authored a 2004 American Economic Review paper that challenged findings of World Bank research that aid works in a good policy environment. His non-technical "Guide for the Perplexed" builds on analysis of methodological problems and fragility in other studies. Among econometricians David is best known for his computer program xtabond2, which implements the Arellano-Bond and Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimators. xtabond2 is one of the most downloaded add-ons ever for the commercial statistics program Stata.

David previously worked at the Worldwatch Institute, where he wrote three monographs on environmental issues, and one on debt, Still Waiting for the Jubilee: Pragmatic Solutions for the Third World Debt Crisis. He authored the book The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment, which Foreign Affairs called required reading for legislators around the world." The Japanese edition garnered him a selection as one of "The Outstanding Young Persons" of 2003 by the Osaka Junior Chamber, which included an audience with the Emperor and Empress.

David spent academic year 1998–99 on a Fulbright in Vietnam. David has never taken a course in economics or statistics.