Indulekha Guha
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Applied Microeconomics
- Health Economics
- Economics of Crime
- Bias-motivated Behaviour
Biography
Indulekha holds a PhD and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, United States as well as a Master’s and Bachelor’s with Honours in Economics from Presidency University, Kolkata.
Her research aims to analyse bias-motivated behaviour such as hate crimes and hate speech and their effects on the economy. Her dissertation, titled “Empirical essays on bias-motivated behaviour” addresses the relationship between legislation and hate crimes, election timing and hate crimes, and toxic speech on social media around election time.
She uses a variety of causal inference techniques to analyse survey and administrative data to inform policy to address discrimination and bias-motivated behaviour. Currently, she is interested in several research areas such as bias-motivated speech in social media, political régime changes and crimes against women in India, and gender norms surrounding older women’s self-reported health outcomes as evidenced by Indian survey data.
She has taught undergraduate courses in Microeconomics, Health Economics, and International Trade and graduate-level courses in Econometrics, Health Economics and Macroeconomics at Purdue University, United States.
Courses
Statistical Methods with R
The course trains the students in statistical methods using the open-source software R.
Advanced Microeconomic Theory
The course will delve into some selected areas of microeconomic theory where there has been active research in recent years and give students the understanding and the tools to engage with these areas.
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
Do individuals calculate their actions to suit consequences? Are individual’s choices purely self-interested? How do individual behaviours affect social institutions? And how can policies take heed to these behaviours?
Working Papers
- Guha, I. Elections and hate crimes in the United States.
- Guha, I. Penalty enhancement statutes and hate crimes.
- Guha, I, & Borwankar, S. Elections and toxicity on Twitter
Ongoing Work
- Guha, I., & Sengupta, A. Gender norms and older women’s self-reported health outcomes in India.
- Guha, I., & Chanda, T. Political régime change and crimes against women in India.