Abhishek Shaw

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Caste and economic development
  • Affirmative action in higher education
  • New agricultural cash transfers in India
  • Geospatial applications in economics research
  • Socio-economic impacts of political conflict

Biography

Abhishek during his PhD, studied how contemporary economic life in India is shaped by caste. His current research is organised around three themes. First, examining the economic effects of caste-based inequalities, such as land ownership patterns in rural India and the role of reservations in higher education. Second, to look at how state-imposed restrictions, such as lockdowns and curfews, affect household consumption and welfare. Third, to study the impact of new agricultural cash transfers on consumption and borrowing decisions, and their impact on agricultural productivity. He is also interested to work on understanding issues around household access to water in India.

Abhishek uses a range of data sources, including household surveys (cross-section and panel) and satellite imagery, and often work with natural experiments and quasi-experimental designs. 

Before moving into academic research, he worked at Economic & Political Weekly for five years in the editorial team (2013−18) and was at The India Forum during its launch (2018−19). 

He recently completed his PhD in Management (with a specialisation in Economics) from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (2019−25). Earlier, he studied at the University of Hyderabad (Integrated MA Economics, 2006-11) and the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai (2012−13). 

Abhishek worked as a researcher (2024−25) at the Centre for Narmada River Basin Management, Narmada at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar initiated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. 

Courses

  • Field Practice

    A course designed to expose students to a variety of contexts in which economists work within the fields of development, in higher education, in public policy and with government agencies.

    Economics
    Abhishek Shaw

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Shaw, A., Rathi, S., & Chakrabarti, A.S. (forthcoming 2025). Consumption and Borrowing: Land-holding Inequality and the Effects of Cash Transfers. Journal of Economic Inequality.
  • Gupta, N., Shaw, A., & Vemireddy, V. (2023). Food supply chains and resilience to shocks: Evidence from India’s COVID-19 lockdown. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​0​2​/​a​e​p​p​.​13365 

Newspaper Articles

Commentaries and Essays

Book Reviews