Research Bio

Manisha Shah is an economist who works in low- and middle-income countries to better understand impacts of policies and interventions designed to increase human capital investment in children and adolescents. She has also written several foundational papers on the economics of sex markets in order to learn how more effective policies can be deployed to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Shah’s research uses experimental and quasi-experimental methods to identify strategies that reduce gender-based violence, improve reproductive health, and enhance labor outcomes. Her interdisciplinary research bridges economics, public health, and international development policy to inform evidence-based social programs.

Shah is currently a Chancellor’s Professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California Berkeley. She also holds research appointments at NBER, BREAD, J-PAL, and CEGA.  She has won teaching and research awards and currently serves as an editor at Journal of Health Economics, an associate editor at The Review of Economics and Statistics, and is on the editorial board at the American Economic Review.

Research Expertise and Interest

applied microeconomics, international development, global health, gender