缅北禁地

I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Economics at 缅北禁地 Business School. I am also the Research and Impact Co-Lead for the Economics Subject Group (since September 2023). I am a Research Fellow at Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) and a Fellow at Global Labor Organization (GLO). I was previously Research Fellow at United Nations University's World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland (2015-18).

My fields of specialization are development economics and behavioural economics. Within these fields, I have three areas of interest: (i) education, skills and labour markets; (ii) political economy of development; and (iii) caste and gender-based disadvantage and discrimination. I use both observational and experimental data in my research. My work focuses mainly on India and Vietnam. 

I am engaged on 3 funded projects: "Energy Transition and Climate-Smart Agriculture in Vietnam" funded by the Danida Fellowship Centre (2024-2028), "Living Deltas" Hub funded by the UKRI GCRF (2019-24) and "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Vocational Education in Vietnam" funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2020-24). 

Educational qualifications

Ph.D Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2015

M.A. Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2008

B.A. Economics, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, 2006

Prospective PhD students: I am happy to supervise students in my areas of interest. Please drop me an email with a CV and a research proposal if you are interested in being supervised by me. 

Working papers

, UNU-WIDER Working Paper 61/2016 (with Christophe J. Nordman)

      In the media: 

When The Rain Falls: In-Utero Weather Shocks and Child Health in Guyana (with Nichola Williams & Sara Maioli)

Selected works-in-progress

Assessing the Effectiveness of Soft Skills Training and Job Counselling: Experimental Evidence from Vietnam (with Saurabh Singhal, Finn Tarp, Diego Ubfal and Lore Vandewalle)

Achieving Gender Equality and Female Empowerment: An Examination of the Role of Media (with Tom Lane, Pushkar Maitra and Rajesh Ramachandran)

COVID-19 and Preferences for Equality in Vietnam (with Minh Chau Tran, Saurabh Singhal and Finn Tarp)

A Risk-Risk Tradeoff Analysis of Cyclone-Related Morbidity Risks (with Susan Chilton, Darren Duxbury and Irene Mussio)

Impact of Stubble Burning Bans on Environmental Quality: Evidence from Vietnam (with Saurabh Singhal and Finn Tarp)

Blogs/interviews/book reviews

, The Story Beneath, 26 August 2024

. The Conversation UK, 14 May 2021

. VoxDev, 12 March 2021

, 4 December 2020 (also published in the of Ideas for India on 5 February 2021)

UNU-WIDER Research Brief, October 2020

缅北禁地 REACH magazine, Spring 2020

. EADI Blog, 29 May 2019

, book review of The Economics of Religion in India by Sriya Iyer, Books and Ideas, 16 May 2019 

, The Conversation UK, 15 May 2019 (republished in , , , and )

, VoxEU.org, July 2018 (video)

 at Brookings Institution, DC, 8 November 2017 (video)

, Ideas for India, 7 November 2017 (reprinted in )

, NewsDeeply, 6 September 2017

, The Conversation Global, 8 November 2016 (republished in )

, Econ Films, September 2016 (video)

, Ideas for India, 23 September 2013 (republished in )

Media coverage of my research

, LiveMint, 10 February 2018

, LiveMint, 10 January 2018

, The Wire, 11 December 2017

, LiveMint, 18 October 2016

, LiveMint, 19 August 2016

, Business Standard, 27 March 2016

, Indian Express, 27 February 2016

, Wall Street Journal India, 12 December 2012

Conferences, seminars, and policy panels (since 2015)

2024: University of Sheffield (invited seminar); Third Scotland and Northern England Conference in Applied Microeconomics; Nordic Conference in Development Economics; Copenhagen, Durham Development Economics Workshop

2022: Nordic Conference in Development Economics, Helsinki

2021 (online): Academy of Management (invited panel on Racial Justice and Organisations); International Economics Association (invited session); INET Young Scholars' Initiative South Asia (invited webinar); UNU-WIDER (invited seminar); Graduate Institute, Geneva (invited seminar)

2020 (cancelled/postponed due to Covid-19): CSAE Conference, Oxford; University of Exeter (invited seminar); International Economics Association, Indonesia (invited session)

2019: University of Kent (invited seminar); University College Dublin (invited seminar); Royal Economic Society Women's Mentoring Retreat, Warwick; Development Economics and Policy Conference, DIW Berlin; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Copenhagen; Workshop on Social Economy for Young Economists, Bologna; DIAL Development Conference, Paris; Workshop on Labour and Family Economics, University of York; University of Nottingham (invited seminar); University of Reading (invited seminar). 

2018: ASSA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia (invited discussant); Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Helsinki.

2017: Leuven Education Economics Research Workshop, Leuven; HECER Labour Seminar, Helsinki (invited seminar); Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Gothenburg; International Economics Association World Congress, Mexico City; 4th DIAL Conference, Paris; 4th SITES-IDEAs Development Conference, Rome; NEUDC 2017, Tufts; Girls’ Education Research and Policy Symposium at Brookings, Washington, DC (invited panelist); Queen’s University Belfast; 缅北禁地 Business School.

2016: ASREC Europe, Copenhagen; UNU-WIDER Conference on Human Capital and Growth, Helsinki; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Oslo; Women in Economics (WinE) Mentoring Retreat, Geneva; UNU-WIDER Conference on Responding to Crises (chair & session organizer); The Choice Lab Seminar, NHH Bergen (invited seminar).

2015: UNU-WIDER 30th anniversary conference (invited discussant); 3rd DIAL Conference, Paris; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Copenhagen; 10th IZA/WB Conference on Employment and Development, Bonn; Midwest International Economic Development Conference, Madison; Royal Economic Society Conference, Manchester.

Teaching Experience

缅北禁地 Business School

2025-26: Development Economics (UG)

2023-24: Development Economics (UG)

2021-22: Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (UG)

2020-21: Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (UG)

2019-20: European Economics (UG), Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Economic Analysis (UG), Dissertation supervision (PG)

2018-19: European Economics (UG), Applied Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (PG)

Helsinki Centre for Economic Research (HECER)

2015-18: Guest Lecturer for Development Economics (PG) 

2015: Co-supervisor, MA thesis by Emmi Hentila, Aalto University

PhD Supervision Experience

Completed:

• Scott Kirkman (with John Wildman and James Law), graduated 2021, social mobility and risky behaviour
• Nichola Williams (with Sara Maioli), graduated 2023, health and education in Guyana
• Liangxun Xie (with Nils Braakmann and John Wildman), graduated 2024, public sector and public infrastructure

Ongoing:

• Alexandra Neill (with Diogo Souza Monteiro and Alex Hughes), since 09/2021, reducing food waste in the restaurant sector in North-East England
• Sijia Liang (with Till Weber and Matt Walker), since 09/2022
• Millie Beckett (with Till Weber and Darren Duxbury), since 09/2024

• Articles

  • Kamei K, Sharma S, Walker MJ. . Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2025, 237, 107138.
  • Sharma S, Siddique A. . SSRN 2024. Submitted.
  • Chilton S, Duxbury D, Mussio I, Nielsen JS, Sharma S. . Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 2024, 68, 1-23.
  • Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. . The Journal of Development Studies 2023, 59(4), 472-489.
  • Nordman CJ, Sharma S, Sunder N. . Economic Development and Cultural Change 2022, 70(3), 1041-1063.
  • Markussen T, Sharma S, Singhal S, Tarp F. . European Economic Review 2021, 138, 103842.
  • Sharma S, Singhal S, Tarp F. . Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2021, 185, 125-137.
  • Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. . Review of Economics and Statistics 2020, 104(3), 587–601.
  • Nordman CJ, Sarr LR, Sharma S. . Oxford Economic Papers 2019, 71(3), 687-708.
  • Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. . Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 2019, 81, 39-46.
  • Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. . Journal of Economic Psychology 2019, 70, 1-11.
  • Sharma S, Tarp F. . Review of Development Economics 2018, 22(4), 1385-1389.
  • Sharma S, Tarp F. . Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2018, 150, 432-445.
  • Deshpande A, Sharma S. . Small Business Economics 2016, 46(2), 325-346.
  • Sharma S. . Journal of Economic Psychology 2015, 50, 113-123.
  • Sharma S. . Journal of Comparative Economics 2015, 43(1), 204-226.
  • Sharma S. . Small Business Economics 2014, 42(1), 153-164.
  • Deshpande A, Sharma S. Entrepreneurship or survival? Caste and gender of small business in India. Economic and Political Weekly 2013, XLVIII(28), 38-49.

• Book Chapters

  • Sharma S. . In: Ashwini Deshpande, ed. Handbook of Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action. Singapore: Springer, 2023, pp.615-631.
  • Nordman CJ, Sharma S. . In: John Rand and Finn Tarp, ed. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Vietnam. Oxford University Press, 2020.