Faculty

Vidya Mahambare

Union Bank Chair Professor of Economics and Director, Research

Area of Expertise: Microeconomics, Monetary policy, Gender and employment, International Trade, Development Economics

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Vidya is a 2020 and 2022 joint winner of the Emergent Ventures Grant by The Mercatus Centre, George Mason University to study the causes and consequences of low female labour force participation in India. She also received the World Bank South Asia Gender Lab grant in 2022 and the Azim Premji University research grant in 2021 with her colleagues.

In August 2021 she was appointed as a member of the Expert Committee of the State Planning Commission of Tamil Nadu, India, set up to draft the state policy on 'Employability and Skilling in Transitioning Economy'.

She has an MSc in International Trade and Finance, and a doctorate in Economics from Lancaster Management School, UK. Vidya's doctoral work was supported by a grant from the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (UK), a rare distinction accorded to international students. Vidya is a recipient of the Pandurangi Prize for securing the first rank in the masters in economics from the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.

She has been invited to speak on television channels such as Bloomberg, BBC, NDTV, and WION to discuss the challenges and prospects for the Indian economy, based on her research related to growth, employment and public policies. She regularly writes opinion articles in popular media including Bloomberg Quint, Mint, Times of India, Economic Times, Hindu Business Line, Hindustan Times, Financial Express, Business Standard, and The Print among others and her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Asia.

Prof. Vidya's core teaching expertise lies across macroeconomics and microeconomics, both of which she has taught in full-time MBA programs at Great Lakes. She also teaches a highly appreciated customised course combining the relevant dimensions of micro and macroeconomics in the executive MBA and corporate programs for mid-and senior-level executives. Her elective course – Applied Behavioural Economics' attracts students from all domains including marketing and finance – where they learn how cognitive biases affect decision making, and implications for businesses and individuals. Vidya has also taught the economics courses to the RBI's newly recruited officers in the Bank's training college at Chennai.

Prior to joining GLIM, Vidya was a Director and Principal Economist at CRISIL and earlier, with Cardiff Business School, UK.

Research Interests

Employment and labour markets, Monetary policy and central banking, gender norms, health and social welfare outcomes

Research Grants

  • The World Bank South Asia Gender Lab grant, December 2022 for research on Worker Turnover in the Indian textile industry: Pre- and Post-Pandemic Variation by Gender and Labour Mobility (with Sowmya Dhanaraj)
  • Emergent Ventures research grant, Mercatus Centre, George Mason University, US (October 2022) to work on Causes and consequences of low female labour force participation in India (with Sowmya Dhanaraj).
  • Azim Premji Unversity’s External Research Grant, March 2021 for research on Informal employment in India: Dynamics, Determinants and Welfare Implications (with Sowmya Dhanaraj and Sankalp Sharma)
  • Emergent Ventures research grant, Mercatus Centre, George Mason University, US (April 2020) to work on Employment and circular migration in India (with Sowmya Dhanaraj).
  • The AIM – AMA Sheth Foundation grant 2019 for research on Consumer Decision Making about Financial Products: How Chit Funds offer dual options (Sridhar Samu)

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • The Political Budget Cycles in the Presence of a Fiscal Rule: The Case of Farm Debt Waivers in India, Journal of Policy Modelling, 2022 44 (3), 701-721 (with Sowmya Dhanaraj and Pragati Mittal)
  • Women's challenging commutes in southern India: A case of the metropolitan region of Chennai, Cities, 2022, 127, 103738 (With Sowmya Dhanaraj)
  • Women Employment, Identity Backlash and Partner Violence in Urban India, Feminist Economics, 2022, 28 (1), 170-198 (with Sowmya Dhanaraj)
  • Differential Impact of Diversity in Policy Communication, Economics Letters, 2021, 209, 110142 (With Jalaj Pathak)
  • Family structure, education and women employment in rural India, World Development, 2019, 115, 17-29  (with Sowmya Dhanaraj)
  • From Income to Household Welfare: Lessons from Refrigerator Ownership in India", Journal of Quantitative Economics, 2018, 16(2), 573-588 (with Sowmya Dhanaraj and Poonam Munjal)
  • Preference asymmetry and international reserve accretion in India” (with N. Srinivasan and M. Ramachandran), Applied Economics Letters, 2009, 16(15), 1543 – 1546
  • Dynamics of inflation in India: Does the new inflation bias hypothesis provide an explanation? (with N. Srinivasan and M. Ramachandran), Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, 2008, 1(2), 199-212
  • How does ownership structure affect capital structure and firm value? Recent evidence from East Asia, (with N. Driffield and S. Pal) Economics of Transition, 2007, 15(3), 535-573
  • UK monetary policy under inflation forecast targeting: is behaviour consistent with symmetric preferences? (with N. Srinivasan and M. Ramachandran), Oxford Economic Papers, 2006, 58 (4), 706-21
  • Modelling Inflation in India: A Critique of the Structuralist Approach (with N. Srinivasan and M. Ramachandran), Journal of Quantitative Economics, 2006, New Series 4 (2), 45-58
  • South Africa’s Labour Market- Towards 2015’ (with Patrick Minford), Economic Intelligence Quarterly (ed. George Djolov), South African Chambers of Commerce (CHAMSA), South Africa, November 2005
  • Monetary Policy Framework of the Bank of England and the European Central Bank: Some Useful Insights” (with N Srinivasan). Indian Economic Review, 2004, 39 (2), 371-381

Books and Books chapters

  • "Should Britain Leave the EU? An Economic Analysis of a Troubled Relationship" (with P. Minford et al), Institute of Economic Affairs and Edward Elgar, London, 2nd revised edition), December 2015
  • Women and work, India Development Report 2022, Oxford University Press (with Dhanaraj, S.),
  • The Socio-economic profile of the state of Tamil Nadu", book chapter in Socioeconomic Profile of Rural India, Vol I: South India, For the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for IAS training, forthcoming
  • 'Gender Empowerment' in 'Sustainable Development Goals: An Assessment of the Challenge Facing Urban India' commissioned by Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), forthcoming
  • South Africa's Labour Market- Towards 2015' (with Patrick Minford), Economic Intelligence Quarterly (ed. George Djolov), South African Chambers of Commerce (CHAMSA), South Africa, November 2005
  • Foreign direct investment in India (with Balasubramanyam VN), in Foreign Direct Investment: Six Country Case Studies, (eds) Balasubramanyam VN and Wei Y, 2004, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, ISBN: 1-84376-467-9.

Media Appearances

Media Articles (Over 140)

2023

2022

Recent Invited speech/Panel discussions

Associations

  • Cornell University
  • Chicago Booth
  • Skema Business School
  • Universite Bordeaux
  • IESEG
  • Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
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