Aashish Mehta

Profile portrait of Aashish
Professor & Vice Chair - Global Studies
Faculty Affiliate - Economics

Office Hours

Check back in Fall 2024, or email if urgent.

Office Location

SSMS 2111

Specialization

Fields: Development Economics; Labor Economics; Political Economy.

Topics: Structural transformation; Globalization; Employment; Education; Public Services.

Bio

I am a development economist. I trained in economics and energy policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I completed a PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics. Before joining UCSB, I worked at the Asian Development Bank, supporting electricity sector reforms and studying the implications of structural transformation for employment and education policy across the region.  My research examines the economics of development and change (including globalization and industrialization), employment, education and inequality. I also work closely with collaborators in economics, political science and other disciplines on institutional aspects of economic development, including public services provision, corruption, gender-based violence, colorism and commodity price management. 

I received UCSB’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017.

Academic Vita

Research Associate, Broom Center for Demography

Publications

Journal Articles

Titles link to final journal articles and to non-paywalled working papers.

Economics / Political-Economy

Cognate Disciplines

Books

Working Papers (excluding those already published in journals)

Book Chapters and Reports for Public Agencies

Invited Online Articles

In the works..

  • What does economic growth do to public services corruption? (with Amit Ahuja).
  • Does studying economics change your political perspective? (with Zachary Bleemer)
  • Trade liberalization and inequality as if businessmen existed (with Andrew Dawson, Miguel Flores Segovia and Asha Sundaram)
  • On the pitfalls of estimating production functions with value data (with Jesus Felipe and John McCombie)

Courses

Global 12: How to Think Like a Quantitative Social Scientist [syllabus - Fall 2023]
Global 130: Global Economy and Development [syllabus – Fall 2023]
Global 136: Global Imbalances  [syllabus - Spring 2024]
Global 224: Global Studies Research Methods [syllabus - Fall 2018]
Global 234: Globalization and Markets (a.k.a. Microeconomics for Global Studies) [syllabus – Winter 2013]
Global 236: The Global Economy (a.k.a. Macroeconomics for Global Studies) [syllabus – Spring 2021]