I am currently an Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University

I have a BA in Mathematics-Economics from Reed College, and a PhD in economics from Yale University. Prior to my appointment at Georgetown, I was a post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. During the 2016-17 academic year, I served as a fellow at the International Center for Research on Women and the School of Area and International studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. Between 2006-2008, I took a break from academia and worked at McKinsey and Company in Washington DC. I grew up in Jaipur, India where I attended the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya.

As an applied micro-economist, my research focuses on the economic, political, and social benefits of investing in women.  Most of my work focuses on South Asia, particularly India.  My recent peer-reviewed research features three specific themes:

1. Health — I examine the long-term economic and demographic impacts of large-scale policies such as family-planning programs, maternal and child-health programs, and environmental programs;
2. Collective action and local politics – I use data from my own field-studies to examine the long-term impact of collectives such as women’s farmer cooperatives, women’s savings groups, and public interest litigators in India;
3. Social identity – I examine how facets of social identity such as religion, endogamous marriage and caste, all have long-term economic consequences for women.