Shareen Joshi has a BA in Mathematics-Economics from Reed College, and a PhD in economics from Yale University. Prior to her appointment at Georgetown, Shareen held a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. During the 2016-17 academic year, Shareen Joshi will serve as a fellow at the International Center for Research on Women and the School of Area and International studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.
As an applied micro-economist, Shareen uses tools from economics and statistics to understand the processes of economic development from the bottom-up. Much of her work focuses on human capital and agency, i.e. the capacity of individuals to invest in themselves and transform their lives through their own decisions. Her work on health demonstrates that maternal well-being and early childhood health are critical forms of human capital, and these can be strengthened by health care investments in some of the world’s poorest places. Her work on pollution and child health demonstrates that environmental policies can improve human capital outcomes, though such policies are quite challenging to enforce. Her work on women’s livelihoods programs in rural India suggests that collective action is an important form of human capital in poor communities, and that even large-scale rural development programs can benefit from mobilizing women to act in their own interest.
Shareen has a strong interest in studying the effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs and policies. She has received grants from the McArthur Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the World Bank, the Swedish government and Georgetown University. She has published in economics journals as well as demography and population studies. She is a referee for the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, Demography, Population and Development Review, and many other journals in economics and development studies. She is also an associate editor of The Journal of South Asian Development.
Shareen has also served as a consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Hewlett Foundation, the Government of India, the Government of Rajasthan, and several non-profit organizations. Prior to her appointment at Georgetown, she worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Company in Washington DC.
As an applied micro-economist, Shareen uses tools from economics and statistics to understand the processes of economic development from the bottom-up. Much of her work focuses on human capital and agency, i.e. the capacity of individuals to invest in themselves and transform their lives through their own decisions. Her work on health demonstrates that maternal well-being and early childhood health are critical forms of human capital, and these can be strengthened by health care investments in some of the world’s poorest places. Her work on pollution and child health demonstrates that environmental policies can improve human capital outcomes, though such policies are quite challenging to enforce. Her work on women’s livelihoods programs in rural India suggests that collective action is an important form of human capital in poor communities, and that even large-scale rural development programs can benefit from mobilizing women to act in their own interest.
Shareen has a strong interest in studying the effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs and policies. She has received grants from the McArthur Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the World Bank, the Swedish government and Georgetown University. She has published in economics journals as well as demography and population studies. She is a referee for the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, Demography, Population and Development Review, and many other journals in economics and development studies. She is also an associate editor of The Journal of South Asian Development.
Shareen has also served as a consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Hewlett Foundation, the Government of India, the Government of Rajasthan, and several non-profit organizations. Prior to her appointment at Georgetown, she worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Company in Washington DC.