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Ashwini Deshpande serves as Professor and Head of the Department of Economics and Academic Director of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University. She is also a Visiting Professor at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics. Deshpande obtained her PhD in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi in 1994, an MA in Economics from the same institution in 1987, and a BA (Hons) in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi in 1985. Her professional trajectory includes serving as Professor at the Delhi School of Economics from 2007 to 2018, Reader (Associate Professor) from 2000 to 2007, Senior Lecturer from 1997 to 2000, post-doctoral research fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from 1998 to 2000, and lecturing positions at Ramjas College from 1990 to 1993 and 1996 to 1997.
Deshpande's research centers on the economics of discrimination and affirmative action, particularly caste and gender disparities in India, building on her early work on the 1980s international debt crisis. She authored "The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India" (Oxford University Press, 2011; paperback 2017) and "Affirmative Action in India" (Oxford University Press, 2013). She edited the "Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action" (Springer, 2023) and other volumes including "Global Economic Crisis and the Developing World" (Routledge, 2012). Her journal articles appear in leading publications such as World Development, Journal of Population Economics, Demography, Economics and Human Biology, and Economic and Political Weekly. Recent contributions include "Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women’s work between income generation, expenditure-saving and unpaid domestic responsibilities in India" with Naila Kabeer (World Development, 2024), "An Indian Enigma? Labour Market Impacts of the World’s Largest Livelihoods Program" (Journal of Population Economics, 2024), and "Covid-19 and Caste Inequalities in India: The Critical Role of Social Identity in Pandemic-induced Job Losses" (Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 2023). Among her honors are the EXIM Bank Award for outstanding dissertation (1994), VKRV Rao Award (2007), SKOCH Award for Gender Economics (2022), and Fellowship of the International Economic Association (2023). She holds fellowships with IZA, GLO, and UNU-WIDER, and was on the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association from 2017 to 2023.