{"id":11,"date":"2018-01-29T14:44:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T18:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:26:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:26:41","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5\" style=\"width: 264px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5\" class=\" wp-image-5\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2018\/01\/BJ-1.23.18-Lakshmi-Iyer-13275-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2018\/01\/BJ-1.23.18-Lakshmi-Iyer-13275-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2018\/01\/BJ-1.23.18-Lakshmi-Iyer-13275-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2018\/01\/BJ-1.23.18-Lakshmi-Iyer-13275-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo by Barbara Johnston\/University of Notre Dame)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I am an economist at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nd.edu\/\">University of Notre Dame<\/a>. My primary fields of research are political economy and development economics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2026\/07\/Iyer_CV_2026_June.pdf\">CV<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Positions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>University of Notre Dame<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Professor of <a href=\"http:\/\/economics.nd.edu\">Economics<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/keough.nd.edu\">Global Affairs<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Academic Director,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/biglab.nd.edu\">Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Principal Investigator, <a href=\"https:\/\/rooneycenter.nd.edu\/research\/representation-of-women-lab\/\">Representation of Women (ROW) Lab<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Principal Investigator, <a href=\"https:\/\/pulte.nd.edu\/projects\/innovating-green-pathways-to-prosperity\/\">Innovating Green Pathways to Prosperity<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Faculty affiliate: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kellogg.nd.edu\/\">Kellogg Institute for International Studies<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nd.edu\/\">Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies; <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/genderstudies.nd.edu\/\">Gender Studies Program;<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/realestate.nd.edu\">Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/pulte.nd.edu\/\">Pulte Institute for Global Development<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iza.org\/\"><em>Institute of Labor Economics (IZA):<\/em><\/a> Research Fellow<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibread.org\/bread\/\"><em>Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)<\/em><\/a><em>:<\/em> Affiliate<\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ideasforindia.in\/\">Ideas for India<\/a>: <\/em>Editorial Board Member<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NEW!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Journal article: Chaudhary, Latika, and <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2025\/04\/Chaudhary_Iyer_AdminDevolution_April2025_Full.pdf\">The Importance of Being Local? Administrative Decentralization and Human Development<\/a>.\u201d <em>Economic Journal,<\/em>\u00a0136 (678): 2016\u20132040. August 2026.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Updated working paper: <span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Holman, Mirya, <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\"> and Christina Wolbrecht. &#8220;<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem\" href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2026\/08\/HIW_StackedDeck_July2026.pdf\">A Stacked Deck: Ambition, Supply, Demand, and Women&#8217;s Access to Political Power.&#8221;<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\"> July 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Video: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=78ElKa2ZpHM\">Representation of Women (RoW) Lab<\/a>, Rooney Democracy Institute, June 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Forthcoming book: Wolbrecht, Christina, Mirya Holman, <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>, Samantha Chapa, Fiona Rodger, and Emma Schroder. <em>Gender and Local Political Ambition<\/em>. Cambridge University Press (Elements in Gender and Politics). May 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Updated working paper: Lancker, Kira, <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>, Faraz Usmani, James Allen IV, Molly J. Doruska, Samba Mbaye, Aminata Sylla, Bineta Sow, Jason R. Rohr and Christopher B. Barrett. &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2026\/05\/Lancker_etal_MotivationalCrowding_May2026.pdf\">Do private incentives crowd out public good donations? Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2025\/03\/Lancker_etal_MotivationalCrowding_Mar2025.pdf\">.<\/a>&#8221; May 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Podcast: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.podscan.fm\/podcasts\/voxdev-development-economics\/episodes\/s7-ep17-the-long-shadow-of-british-rule-indias-colonial-legacy\">The long shadow of British<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podscan.fm\/podcasts\/voxdev-development-economics\/episodes\/s7-ep17-the-long-shadow-of-british-rule-indias-colonial-legacy\">rule: India&#8217;s colonial legacy<\/a>,&#8221; interviewed by Tim Phillips, <em>VoxDevTalks<\/em>, April 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Updated working paper: Wolbrecht, Christina, Mirya Holman and <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fi\/roh3zmf42id94y7pp8bwu\/WHI_TurningVotesIntoPower_Mar2026.pdf?rlkey=v5fxuscw1vlj4681i52sjjmqk&amp;dl=0\">Turning Votes into Power: New Women Voters and Access to Local Governance<\/a>.&#8221; March 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Book chapter: Bhalotra, Sonia, and <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/B96C4D153F36FF070B29752D541C43E1\/9781009769488c13_267-296.pdf\/women_and_the_economy.pdf\">Women and the Economy<\/a>.\u201d In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/books\/cambridge-economic-history-of-modern-south-asia\/7AA489623B9E7B621FE2FB1E6090E5EE\"><em>The Cambridge Economic History of Modern South Asia<\/em><\/a>, edited by Latika Chaudhary, Tirthankar Roy, and Anand Swamy. Cambridge University Press, 2026.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">New working paper: Iyer, Lakshmi, Coleson Weir and Susan Ostermann. &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2026\/03\/IWO_Political-Influence_Feb2026_Full.pdf\">Redrawing the Lines: Did Political Incumbents Influence Electoral Redistricting in India?<\/a>&#8221; February 2026.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Journal article: Fertig, Alexander, Alexandra Hartman, <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>, and Edmund Malesky. 2026. \u201c<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem\" href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2024\/03\/FHIM_Field_of_Her_Own_March2024.pdf\">A Field of Her Own: Property Rights and Women\u2019s Agency in Myanmar<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">.\u201d <em>Journal of Politics, <\/em>88(1): 192-204.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Updated working paper: Vivek Moorthy, <strong>Iyer, Lakshmi<\/strong> and Paloma Lopez de mesa Moyano. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fi\/4toqkwgim60qr7s9rwv38\/MIL_PapalVisits_Jan2026Full.pdf?rlkey=7xuq5mv5duxnymkwg5qeywj62&amp;dl=0\">Social norm salience and fertility: Evidence from Papal visits.<\/a>&#8221; January 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>New working paper: Molina-Garz\u00f3n, Adriana, <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>, Phani Devarakonda, Valena McEwen, Braden Roosevelt, Nicolas Tsypin, Aemro Worku, Poulomi Ghosh, Ellis A. Adams, Krister P. Andersson, and Daniel C. Miller. &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/files\/2025\/12\/MolinaGarzon_etal_SystematicReview_2025Dec1.pdf\">Can interventions Reduce Rural Poverty While Conserving the Environment? A Systematic Review of Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trials<\/a>.&#8221; December 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Award: <a href=\"https:\/\/provost.nd.edu\/faculty-recognitions\/all-faculty-team\/2025-lakshmi-iyer\/\">Notre Dame All-Faculty Team<\/a>, September 2025. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XrdR5aopzNs\">Video<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>New working paper: <strong>Iyer, Lakshmi,<\/strong> Susan Ostermann and Coleson Weir. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fi\/84fvwdasg1j97etpfx5dy\/IOW_Delimitation_2States_Aug2025.pdf?rlkey=lf8smrgz0pjptq2leebwdp052&amp;dl=0\">Political Incumbents and India\u2019s Electoral Redistricting: Evidence from Two States<\/a>.&#8221; August 2025. [Revised version of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbs.edu\/faculty\/Pages\/item.aspx?num=46005\">Iyer and Reddy (2013)<\/a>].<\/li>\n<li>Blog post: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/voxdev.org\/topic\/institutions-political-economy\/how-expanding-voting-rights-shaped-politics-india\">How expanding voting rights shaped politics in India<\/a>,&#8221; (with Guilhem Cassan and Rinchan Mirza), <a href=\"https:\/\/voxdev.org\/\">VoxDev<\/a>, August 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Book chapter: Clots-Figueras, Irma and <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong>. 2025. &#8220;Gender and Natural Experiments in Developing Countries.<span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">&#8221; Chapter 6 in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.e-elgar.com\/shop\/usd\/handbook-of-experimental-development-economics-9781800885363.html\"><i style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Handbook of Experimental Development Economics<\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">, edited by Utteeyo Dasgupta and Pushkar Maitra, Edward Elgar.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Journal article: <\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Iyer, Lakshmi<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">, and Coleson Weir. 2025. &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jdeveco.2025.103576\">The Colonial Legacy in India: How Persistent are the Effects of Historical Institutions?<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">&#8221; <em>Journal of Development Economics<\/em>, 177: 103576.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Journal article: Holman, Mirya, <strong>Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong> and Christina Wolbrecht. 2025. &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1561\/115.00000094\">Governing the Gilded Age City: Local Institution Building in the United States<\/a>.&#8221; <em>Journal of Historical Political Economy<\/em>, 5 (2): 215-237.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Journal article: Cassan, Guilhem, <strong style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Lakshmi Iyer<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">, and Rinchan Ali Mirza. 2025. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0022050725000038\">Enfranchisement, Political Participation and Political Competition: Evidence from Colonial and Independent India<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Journal of Economic History, <\/em>85 (1): 33-71<em style=\"font-size: 1rem\">.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am an economist at the University of Notre Dame. My primary fields of research are political economy and development economics. CV Positions University of Notre Dame Professor of Economics and Global Affairs Academic Director,\u00a0Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab Principal Investigator, Representation of Women (ROW) Lab Principal Investigator, Innovating Green Pathways to Prosperity Faculty affiliate: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2909,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":144,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":788,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lakshmi-iyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}