Economics Archives - Welcome to

Chalantika Chakraborty

Ms. Chalantika Chakraborty is a PhD candidate at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi. With a background in economics, her research lies at the intersection of energy economics, industrial and climate policy. Her doctoral research examines energy consumption trends across Indian industries and studies how industrial output and energy use respond to market-based mechanisms such as the perform, achieve and trade policy. She has presented her work at international platforms including the International Association for Energy Economics conference and World Sustainable Energy Days.

Chalantika holds a master’s degree in economics from Cotton University in Guwahati, Assam. During college, she was actively involved in the National Service Scheme and contributed to several social outreach initiatives through NGO volunteering. Prior to joining PhD, she worked on multiple research projects.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Chalantika is conducting comparative research of India and the U.S. to examine how policy design influences industrial energy efficiency, emissions reduction, and decarbonisation pathways in developing and advanced economies. Beyond academia, she nurtures a deep love for India’s rich musical and dance traditions, spanning classical and folk forms. She holds two bachelor’s degrees in music, has received professional training in Kathak and Rabindra Nritya and performed at several events. She enjoys writing, reading Ruskin Bond, and learning regional music that connects her more deeply with the places she lives in.

Tanu Gupta

Dr. Tanu Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Southampton Delhi (UoSD), Gurugram. Before joining UoSD, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. She earned her BA (Hons) in economics from the University of Delhi and her MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics. She received her PhD in economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai. She was a Visiting PhD Scholar at UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, from September to November 2021, and is an active member of Environment for Development (EfD).

Dr. Gupta’s research is primarily in development economics, with a focus on environment, labor, and identity. She has published in reputed international journals and has received several research grants including J-PAL and ICIMOD. In addition to academic publications, she writes for policy platforms such as IndiaSpend, Policy Edge, and Ideas for India to reach a wider policy audience.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Gupta is studying household demand for electric stoves and how demand responds to various subsidy and price levels. The project will examine whether access to electric cooking reduces reliance on traditional solid fuels and lowers household air pollution and related health risks.

Sweta Sen

Dr. Sweta Sen is an Assistant Professor at the Madras School of Economics (MSE), Chennai. She pursued BSc in economics (Hons) from Serampore College, affiliated with the University of Calcutta in 2011, and an MSc in economics specializing in applied econometrics, environmental economics, and international economics from University of Calcutta in 2013. She was awarded an MS by Research in 2016 and a PhD in Economics in 2023, both from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Before joining MSE, she was Senior Researcher at the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.

Dr. Sen’s research lies at the intersection of climate change impacts, disaster risk reduction, household behavior under uncertainty, and sustainable development. She has published extensively in major Scopus-indexed international journals. She has worked as a consultant in the World Bank on quantifying renewable energy drivers across Indian states, and is currently the Co-Project Director of an ICSSR longitudinal study on post-tsunami housing reconstruction and livelihood revitalization along India’s vulnerable coastlines. Dr Sen has qualified in the UGC NET examination, is a recipient of the Berkner Fellowship from the American Geophysical Union and a SANDEE Fellow. She is also actively engaged in student mentorship.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Sen is investigating how geo-climatic risks — particularly cyclonic shocks and extreme weather events — shape household time use decisions. During her fellowship, she aims to apply geo-spatial techniques and remote-sensing data to economic outcomes and generate policy-relevant insights for climate adaptation planning in both developing and developed country contexts.

Pradip Das

Mr. Pradip Das is a consultant in the Inclusive Financial Systems team at the Gates Foundation, India, where he focuses on advancing digital financial inclusion for underserved communities. His work spans BC (business correspondent) agent network strengthening, digital merchant payments, and financial services for women, encompassing grant oversight, impact assessments, and the design of new financial inclusion initiatives in partnership with the Government of India.

Prior to the Gates Foundation, Pradip served as a Resident Representative at the World Bank Group, providing technical assistance to the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), a flagship initiative under the Ministry of Rural Development implemented in partnership with the World Bank and IFC. Earlier, he led a nationally recognized, CSR award-winning financial inclusion project at CRISIL Foundation in Assam and served as Mission Executive at the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission where he developed state-level policies and launch strategies for community development programs.

Pradip holds a postgraduate diploma in environmental management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Pradip is pursuing a Master of Science degree in economics at Arizona State University. His studies will sharpen his analytical skills to design and evaluate evidence-based digital finance interventions to improve formal credit access for underserved and women entrepreneurs in rural and low-income communities in India.

Tanika Chakraborty

Dr. Tanika Chakraborty is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, specializing in Development Economics. Before joining IIM Calcutta, she worked at IIT Kanpur and DIW Berlin, after completing her PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. She is affiliated to IZA Bonn, CESifo Munich, and the Global Labor Organization.

Dr. Chakraborty’s research primarily focuses on informing policies that address human capital inequality. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Demography, and the Journal of Comparative Economics, among others. In addition to publishing in academic journals, she writes for print media and policy platforms such as VoxDev, Project Syndicate, and Ideas for India to reach out to a wider policy audience. She has also partnered extensively with various government bodies in India and served as an expert on the Minimum Wage committee of the Government of India.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence (Research and Teaching) Fellowship at City College, City University of New York, Dr. Chakraborty is expanding on her ongoing research, exploring effective ways of reducing inequalities in health, a key component of human capital. She is examining the widespread shift in healthcare delivery models, from direct public provision to public-private partnerships. She will engage with students to develop a course on health policy that combines perspectives from the US and India. The goal is to contribute to the global dialogue on rising healthcare costs and growing health inequalities.

Khadija Aslam

Khadija Aslam is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She has completed her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and her B.Sc. in Economics from Presidency university. She has previously received the Ford Foundation fellowship for academic excellence in her master’s programme and has qualified the UGC-NET exam for assistant professorship in India. She has also been a recipient of the JRF and the SRF fellowship.

Khadija’s interest lies at the intersection of behavioural economics and development economics. How difference in religious beliefs and cultural practices transcends into varying social choices and economic outcomes prompted her research on the influence of religion on borrowing behaviour. In her earlier work, she has explored the differential impact socio-religious groups have on child health outcomes. Through her research, Khadija aims to understand how the tenets of Islam can influence a Muslim’s preference and the institutions that may then emerge as an outcome of this interaction. She believes that while religious or cultural norms may be perceived as hard to rationalize or too outdated to internalize, what economists often oversee is that these set of traditions when followed by a sizeable group of people and over a long period, in itself may trigger alternative structures conducive to existing institutions thereby generating a sub-economy.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at Barnard College, Columbia University, Khadija examines the impact of residential segregation on intergenerational mobility in educational outcomes. Drawing on historical data on urban planning within cities, her research investigates how patterns of segregation and class dynamics shape access to opportunities and produce long-lasting effects across generations.

Besides Economics, Khadija enjoys good conversations, good food and sitcoms.

Subhankar Mukherjee

Dr. Subhankar Mukherjee is Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He joined IIT Kanpur in 2019, after completing his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata with specialization in economics. Dr. Mukherjee obtained his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and worked in the corporate sector for nearly 10 years before joining his Ph.D..

Dr. Mukherjee’s research interests are in the areas of economics of development and applied microeconomics. His research has been published in journals, such as The European Journal of Development Research, Applied Economics, Indian Growth and Development Review, and Economic & Political Weekly. He has also written articles for media outlets, such as The Hindu, Business Line and Ideas for India.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellowship, Dr. Mukherjee is analyzing the factors behind low utilization of crop insurance products among Indian farmers. Specifically, he is focusing on the role of awareness-building programs in improving the utilization rate of these products, and the differential impact of such programs on various caste-based groups and their take-up decisions.

Asad Tariq

Asad Tariq is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He completed his MA in economics with distinction from Jamia Millia Islamia, and BA from the University of Allahabad. His research interest lies at the intersection of development economics, politics, and religion. His work aims to document the discrimination against marginalised groups in India and investigate possible policy measures that aid their upliftment and development.

During his Ph.D., he has been awarded the Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship in 2023 which sponsored 12 months of research at the Imperial College London. He is also a recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission, India. He has presented his work at multiple national and international conferences. He has also been a part of multiple research projects under the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India) and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research among others.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Brown University, Providence, RI, Asad is evaluating the influence of Members of Legislative Assembly from religious minority backgrounds in India on the provision of public goods targeted towards minorities. He also hopes to compile a collection of essays employing econometric methods to illuminate the challenges faced by Indian marginalized groups. When he is not crunching numbers using econometric models, Asad can be found at a picket, savouring nihari-paya in the labyrinthine alleys of Purani Dilli and Okhla, or reading Allama Iqbal’s poetry.

Anjana Thampi

Dr. Anjana Thampi is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Jindal Global Law School, O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. She received her BA (Hons.) from the University of Delhi in 2009, and MA from the University of Hyderabad in 2011. She completed her MPhil in 2014 and PhD in 2019 from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, under the supervision of Prof. Jayati Ghosh. Her doctoral thesis explored the impact of two food provisioning programmes on child nutrition and inequality in India. She was awarded the UGC Junior Research Fellowship in 2013.

Her areas of research include food security and nutrition, climate and sustainability, inequality, gender, and labour. She has published journal articles and book chapters and contributes opinion pieces on contemporary issues. She has also presented her work at national and international workshops and conferences.

Dr. Thampi’s postdoctoral project, supported by the Fulbright-Kalam fellowship, would assess the potential of a strengthened employment guarantee programme to address the climate and livelihoods crises in India. The study would estimate the green jobs created through a universal employment guarantee in India, its budgetary requirement, and suggest ways to finance it. The global Green New Deal, green job guarantee proposals in the United States, and international experiences of job guarantee would be compared with the experiences of the rural job guarantee in India. This project would have policy implications for India and the global project to address the climate crisis.

Digvijay Singh Negi

Prof. Digvijay S Negi is an A ssistant P rofessor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, Maharashtra. Before joining IGIDR, he was a postdoctoral F ellow at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Prof. Negi obtained his Ph D in E conomics from the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, and a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

His introduction to academic research happened at the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research as a research associate. Ever since then, he has been interested in seeking solutions to multiple policy challenges faced by Indian agriculture. His primary research areas are agricultural economics, international trade, risk and insurance, and development economics. More recently, pushed by student collaborators at IGIDR, he has started venturing into other related areas of research which include health and nutrition and issues in cultural norms and gender.

Prof. Negi has published several research articles in reputed national and international journals. He also won a graduate student travel grant from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) to attend the annual AAEA (2018) conference in Washington DC; and travel support from the International Association of Agricultural Economics to attend the 30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (2018), Vancouver, Canada.

For his Fulbright-Nehru project, he plans to study the viability and applicability of satellite imagery and remotely sensed data in designing index-based crop insurance contracts suitable for Indian farmers.