Faculty
Viktoria Hnatkovska, Assistant Professor, PhD. Georgetown University, 2006
Prof. Hnatkovska’s research focuses on understanding the effects of macroeconomic changes and structural transformation on economic inequality in India. In a recent paper titled “Castes and Labor Mobility,” she and her colleagues study this relationship with application to the Indian caste system. It looks at how the poorest sections of society in India have responded to the rapid changes in the Indian economy over the past 30 years. She examines this question by contrasting the fortunes of the historically disadvantaged scheduled castes and tribes (SC/ST) in India with the rest of the workforce in terms of their education attainment, occupation choices and wages, using household survey data from successive rounds of the 1983-2005 National Sample Survey. One of the findings is that education attainment rates and wages have been converging across the two groups while SC/STs have also been switching occupations at increasing rates during this period. Moreover, inter-generational education and income mobility rates of SC/STs have converged to non-SC/ST levels. Clearly, the last twenty years of major structural changes in India have seen a sharp improvement in the relative economic fortunes of these historically disadvantaged social groups. In fact, the median wages of SC/STs relative to non-SC/STs in India have surpassed the median wages of blacks relative to whites in the USA.
Nisha Malhotra, Instructor (Tenure-track), PhD. University of Maryland, 2004
Dr. Malhotra specializes in research relating to trade and trade agreements between Canada and Asian countries.
Recent publications:
- “Growing Preferential Trade Agreements across the Globe: Lessons for Canada,” research report, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, 2007.
- “Liberalization and protection: antidumping duties in the Indian pharmaceutical industry,” (with Shavin Malhotra) Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 11(2), (2008).
- “Extent of Protection via Antidumping Action: A case study of the Vitamin C industry in India,” (with Sumeet Gulati and Shavin Malhotra), Journal of World Trade, 39(5), (2005).
- “Investing in an Emerging Market: Evidence from US Firms Investing in India,” (with Shavin Malhotra), Competitiveness Review, 17(1), (2007).
Mukesh Eswaran, Professor, PhD. University of British Columbia, 1981
Prof. Eswaran is a development economist and works on South Asia — mainly India, but also Bangladesh. The questions Prof. Eswaran deals with include:
- What sorts of sectors contribute most to poverty reduction? What is the empirical evidence? What is the theoretical wisdom on this issue?
- What are the determinants of domestic violence against women? What policies can be implemented to reduce such violence?
- What determines the degree of autonomy women in developing countries can exercise? How can women best be empowered?
- Do family status concerns impede the progress of women in South Asia by restricting their participation in the labour market? Is there a trade-off between family status and the individual status of women?
