Nayana Bose,

Nayana Bose is an Associate Dean of Faculty and an Associate Professor of Economics at Scripps College. She is a Development Economist whose research and teaching interest lies at the intersection of Development Economics and Applied Econometrics. She is primarily interested in analyzing the effect of public policy on economic development by focusing on issues of poverty, education, health, gender, intergenerational human capital outcomes, autonomy, and decision making. Her current recent research focus is on the role of media influencers on vaccination decisions. This year, she is also working with a team to develop and study the effectiveness of an AI companion app to address issues of loneliness and social isolation among the elderly population. She is passionate about student research and has guided young scholars on a broad range of research topics.

She is committed to issues of women’s empowerment and has published papers focusing on the role of greater property rights for women on their wellbeing as well as intergenerational outcomes. This research explores whether greater financial security for women affects their reproductive choices, overall decision-making power (which includes purchasing and financial decisions, mobility, and health care choices), as well as exposure to domestic violence. Her earlier work evaluated the impact of one of the largest anti-poverty programs in world, the Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, on household well-being, household budget allocation decisions, and marginalized groups. She also studied the program from a political economy perspective by assessing how female versus male political leaders implemented the public works program.

She received her PhD from Vanderbilt University in 2015. She has won the Scripps Faculty Research Grant and the Mary Wig Johnson Faculty Excellence in Research Award. She has published in World Development, Review of Development Economics, Oxford Development Studies, and American Economic Review.