e-portfolio

Ahalya R. Ahalya is a Doctoral researcher of economics at Department of Humanities and Social sciences, IIT Delhi. Her areas of interest include development economics, advanced econometrics, macroeconomics and financial economics. She has completed her B.A. (Hons) Economics from Ramjas college, Delhi University and M.A. (Economics) from Gokhale Institute of [email protected] Politics and Economics, Pune. Her current research involves the study of the impact of middle class and social fragmentation on economic growth and social development. This involves use of various secondary data sources and advanced econometric techniques. She has earlier presented her work at conferences in IGIDR, Mumbai and ISI, Delhi

Aleksandar Stojanović In adition to his doctoral research in Economics (Collegio Carlo Alberto, Italy) and Law (Univeristy of Gent, Belgium) Aleksandar lectures in Law and Economics at International Univestity College of Turin, serves as a research associate at Eating City Platform and as organiser for INET YSI Finance, law and economics Working Group. Aleksandar’s primary research [email protected] interest is to empirically verify the theory of economic development based on the establishment of clear and strong property rights. At present, he focuses on this issue in in relation to large scale land acquisition (2004-2010) and connected process of internal evolution of property system (2010-2016) in Nigeria.

Aneesha Chitgupi During my Bachelors (Commerce), the upsurge of global financial crises left a deep imprint on the frailty of the financial world around us. From analyzing financial systems, accounting principles and asset pricing, my interest shifted to understanding the complexity of the economic-sphere enveloping us. This propelled me to study Masters in [email protected] Economics. Presently, I am pursuing PhD at Institute for Social and Economic Change (Bengaluru) which focuses on the impact of macroeconomic conditions including the changing age structure of the population on India’s external sector, specifically on its current account under the Balance of Payments framework.

Anshika Sagar Anshika Sagar is a Ph.D Scholar in the Department of Economics of the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. She is working on a Government scheme under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), 2009 which provides Freeship Quotas in primary education for children belonging to Economically and Socially Disadvantaged Groups. The study involves looking at the impact of these reservations on student outcomes based on a primary survey in Delhi and using [email protected] secondary data from schools. It also includes a theoretical framework that looks into the issue of targeting in public programs and its welfare implications.

Arpita Biswas Arpita Biswas is a doctoral student in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a research assistant at the Political Economy Research Institute. Her research interests include political economy of development, critical urban theory, feminist economics, political economy of environment, and comparative economic systems. Her thesis work explores the topic of Spatial Restructuring of the city of Delhi with particular focus on [email protected] understanding why the whole urban renewal strategy has accelerated since the 1990s, and what the long-term implications of this strategy are. Using qualitative and quantitative data generated from legal records, archival, ethnographic and Geographical Information System based work, Arpita intends to understand if urban renewal strategies are primarily leading to a new enclosure movement in Delhi.

Asmita Verma Asmita Verma is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in economics from the department of humanities and social sciences, IIT Delhi. She has completed her B.A.(h) in economics from SRCC, University of Delhi and M.A. in economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her research interests include health economics, demography, development economics and econometrics. For [email protected] her dissertation, she is working on healthcare service delivery in India and its implications for certain health, specifically maternal and child health, and demographic outcomes in the country.

Danish Khan Danish Khan is a doctoral student at department of Economics, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Danish did his bachelors in Economics and International Studies from University of Utah, USA. In his dissertation, he analyzes the interplay of spatial and class dimensions of the processes of development in the post-colonial state of Pakistan. Danish has taught at [email protected] Keene State College in New Hampshire, USA and he has also worked as a Research Fellow on United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals at the Planning Commission of Pakistan. Danish frequently writes for English daily newspapers like The News International and Express Tribune.

David Garcés Urzainqui David Garcés Urzainqui is a PhD candidate in Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His current research focuses on inequality and economic mobility in developing countries, and his broader interests include social networks, structural transformation and labor markets. He holds an MPhil in Economics from the Tinbergen Institute and a MSc. in International Economics and Economic Policy from Goethe [email protected] University Frankfurt.

Divya Gupta Divya Gupta is, currently, a PhD candidate at the Delhi School of Economics. Previously, she did her masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and bachelors in economics hons from University of Delhi. Issues around gender and gender- biased discrimination have always interested her. For her thesis, she is working on evaluating government response to bridging [email protected] gender gaps. Her research interests revolve around issues of gender, education and economic development. She is also interested in dancing, which she practices often. She's a graduate in north Indian classical dance form, Kathak.

Elma Demir Since 2010, Elma Demir is part of the Goldsmiths University of London working as researcher in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on international projects funded by the EC through the European Research Council (ERC). She conducts interdisciplinary mixed-method political economy and socio-legal research. Aside academic work, Elma worked as researcher for the NATO BH HQ, the Prime Minister, Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Since 2013, Elma is part of the World Bank’s regional Urban Partnership Program as social development expert in BiH on issues of urban governance, direct democracy, social inclusion, and open data policies. Elma holds MA in Globalization Studies from the Dartmouth College (USA) and BA in Political Sciences from the University of Sarajevo. Her E-mail ID is: [email protected]

Garima Agarwal Garima Agarwal is a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics. Her areas of interest include development economics with a focus on gender, education and health. Her doctoral work revolves around the economic consequences of biological constraints, especially menstruation, on women in developing countries. Based on insights from interactions with women in urban and rural settings across India, she plans to undertake a primary survey to [email protected] test various hypotheses in this regard. Through her research, she aims to identify policy measures that can mitigate the negative effects of such constraints on female schooling and work access.

Ilse Oehler Ilse holds a BA in International Relations from ITAM (Mexico), an MSc in Public Policy from UCL (UK) and is currently doing her PhD at UT Austin (USA). She has worked in the public sector for more than 10 years at the Ministry of Social Development, the Office of the President of Mexico, and as a YP at the OECD, among others. Using the case of Mexico and drawing from a rich [email protected] theoretical framework that synthesizes insights from principal-agent and organizational culture models, her dissertation will examine the conditions under which we may expect structures and rules governing M&E to lead to varying levels of organizational learning and the use of evidence in policy decision making.

Julian Harvey Boys Julian is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at SOAS, University of London. His research is on policy space in the global trade system, particularly how regional trade agreements between developing countries affect the possibility for developmental trade and industrial policies, taking the East African Community as a case study. Before the PhD Julian worked principally as a government economist, first in the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) [email protected] and then in Haiti’s Ministry of Trade and Industry as an ODI Fellow. He has also worked as a consultant for international organisations, social businesses and NGOs.

Manuel Alejandro Estefan Davila Manuel Alejandro Estefan Davila is a PhD student of Economics at University College London (UCL) and a doctoral scholar at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He holds a Master in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics from ITAM. Before becoming a post-graduate student, he was a senior policy analyst at the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico. He specialises in the fields of Development, Labor Economics, and Public Finance. In his doctoral dissertation, he [email protected] studies (1) the consequences of globalisation for labour markets and societal change in developing countries, (2) the causes of low tax-to-GDP ratios in these countries, and (3) how human capital accumulation affects structural change in labour markets of low- and middle-income economies.

Mariam Elizabeth Mariam is a researcher in Economics from Kashmir. She is a Doctoral Student in Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her MPhil research examined the questions of State Intervention and structural change in Jammu and Kashmir. Her PhD work tries to further the understanding of development processes in Jammu & Kashmir and focuses on transformative entrepreneurship and SMEs innovation in turbulent environments. Her research interests are in [email protected] the field of Political Economy, entrepreneurship, Economics of Education, Game Theory and Conflict Economics. She is particularly interested in looking at development processes in Conflict Zones and ways to help reduce cost of conflict on Youth and their capabilities. Before starting her Doctoral Studies she taught Economics in Kashmir University for four years.

Neha Agarwal Neha Agarwal recently completed her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California-Riverside in June 2018. Her broad research interests are in labor economics, development economics, and demography. Before pursuing her Ph.D., she completed her Master’s in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and Bachelor’s degree in economics from KiroriMal [email protected] College, University of Delhi. Currently, her research spans topics related to female employment in India and marriage in developing countries. For further information, please refer to the website: http://bit.ly/nehaeco

Nicolás Aragón My name is Nicolas Aragon, I am an economist working ainly in macroeconomics and specifically in causes and solutions to crises. I obtained my Ph.D in Economics at the European University Institute (Italy) and before I obtained a Bachelor from University of La Plata (Argentina). I have an interest in development and the interplay with the macroeconomy. [email protected] Currently I am working on a structural model of poverty.

Panchali Banerjee I am currently doing my PhD research from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in Corruption Economics under supervision of Professor Vivekananda Mukherjee. I completed my Masters in Economics from University of Calcutta in 2012 followed by MPhil in Jadavpur University. I presented a part of my thesis at a conference in NIPFP and ISI, New Delhi in 2015 and also at [email protected] Heidelberg University and Technical University (Dresden) in 2016. An earlier version of a part of my work was circulated as Working Paper #152 in NIPFP. In my spare time I love to read novels, or listen to music. I occasionally dabble in creative writing as well.

Rama Dasi Mariani Rama Dasi Mariani is a post-doc researcher in Economics at Sapienza University of Rome and member of the INEQ research group on inequality issues. Winner of the award “Premio di Ricerca Di Vagno 2017” with a project on the natives’ attitudes towards immigrants. Her research interests include microeconomic and economic policy issues, with a particular [email protected] focus on the economics of migration. In the PhD thesis, she worked on the labour market effect of immigrant workers and the political costs of migration inflows. She is currently involved in international research projects dealing with the effect of immigration on the production structure of European Countries and the economic integration of immigrants.

Rubén Poblete Rubén Poblete-Cazenave is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at University College London. His research interests are in Applied Microeconomics, particularly in Development Economics, Political Economy and Behavioral Economics. Specifically, he is interested in topics related to corruption and accountability, crime, and conflict. His current research project analyses the role of legal institutions on political accountability, and whether politicians holding office can influence the judiciary. Before [email protected] starting his Ph.D. he worked as an economist at the Central Bank of Chile’s Financial Research Unit. He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the University of Chile.

Sam Van Noort I am a political economist interested in the process of economic development in comparative perspective. Currently I am a PhD student at the University of Cambridge where I am supervised by Dr. Ha-Joon Chang (Faculty of Economics and Centre of Development Studies). My academic interests are guided by the question why some countries are poor while others are rich. My research focuses in particular on the role of state capacity, [email protected] private property rights security, and international trade in economic and human development.

Sofia Torreggiani I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Economics at SOAS, University of London. My research aims at analysing impacts and drivers of participation and the position of countries and firms into global value chains with a specific focus on developing economies. Prior to joining the Department of Economics at SOAS, I have worked as a Consultant at the FAO and during my M.Sc. I have interned with UNIDO, with the Economic Affairs sofi[email protected] Office at the Italian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and with the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.

Tushar Bharati Tushar Bharati is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of Southern California. His primary research fields are development economics, with a focus on issues related to education, health, and political economy of developing countries, and agricultural economics. Tushar also holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Kirori Mal College. [email protected] Tushar is set to join the University of Western Australia as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Economics in December 2018.