people

Aashish Mehta

Aashish Mehta
Global & International Studies Program
UCSB
Associate Professor

Aashish Mehta is a development economist whose recent research is focused on structural transformation, education and wage inequality.  His recent papers use labor force and census data to examine why wage differences between workers with different educational backgrounds grew in many developing countries as they liberalized their economies.  He has published papers and book chapters on labor markets in India, Indonesia, Mexico, The Philippines and Thailand, and is currently working on a project pooling employment and trade data from several Asian economies to examine the linkages between education and export diversification.  Prior to joining UC-Santa Barbara, he served at the Asian Development Bank, providing analytical support for work on electricity sector reforms and corruption, and writing about macroeconomic developments in the region.  He is also a Senior Collaborator at the NSF funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society.

Grants, Awards and Distinctions:

Mapping the Global Race for National Security Technologies. 2013-2014. Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (Co-grantee with Luciano Kay). $11,000.

Social Science Research Grant Program. 2013-2014. How interconnected are global labor markets? $8,000.

Publications

Mehta, Aashish and Alison Brysk. Forthcoming. 
"Do rights at home boost rights abroad? Sexual equality and humanitarian foreign policy."
Journal of Peace Research. 
Research Themes:
Mehta, Aashish, Jesus Felipe, Pilipinas Quising and Sheila Camingue. 2013. 
"Where have all the educated workers gone? Services and wage inequality in three Asian economies."
Metroeconomica.
Mehta, Aashish, Shikha Jha and Pilipinas Quising. 2013. 
"Self-targeted food subsidies and voice: Evidence from the Philippines."
Food Policy. 
Mehta, Aashish and Wei Sun. 2013. 
"Does industry affiliation influence wages? Evidence from Indonesia and the Asian Financial Crisis."
World Development. 
Mehta, Aashish and Shikha Jha.
"Corruption, Food Subsidies and Opacity: Evidence from the Philippines"
Economics Letters. Volume 117, Issue 3, December 2012, Pages 708-711.
Mehta, Aashish and Rana Hasan.
"The effects of trade and services liberalization on wage inequality in India"
International Review of Economics and Finance (2012). 75-90.
Mehta, Aashish, Patrick Herron, Yasuyuki Motoyama, Richard Appelbaum and Tim Lenoir.
"Globalization and De-Globalization in Nanotechnology Research: The role of China"
Scientometrics (2012).93: 439-458.
Mehta, Aashish and Rana Hasan.
"Economic Liberalization and Rising College Premiums in Mexico: A Reinterpretation"
World Development (2012). vol. 40, issue 9, pages 1908-1920.