Rate My Professor Rossella Calvi

Rossella Calvi is an Associate Professor of Economics at Rice University, having joined the Department of Economics in 2016 as an Assistant Professor and promoted to Associate Professor in 2024. She earned her PhD in Economics from Boston College in 2016, an MA in Economics from the same institution in 2013, and both her MSc summa cum laude and BA in Economic and Social Sciences from Bocconi University in 2010 and 2007, respectively. Earlier in her career, she served as a Research Analyst in the DG Economics External Developments Division at the European Central Bank from 2010 to 2011, a short-term consultant for the World Bank Social Protection Unit in 2014, and visiting assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin in Fall 2021 and Yale University in Spring 2022.

Calvi's research focuses on the economics of the family and gender, and development economics, examining intra-household resource allocation, gender inequality, poverty, health, and education in developing countries, especially India. Selected publications include "'Til Dowry Do Us Part: Bargaining and Violence in Indian Families" with Ajinkya Keskar (Review of Economics and Statistics, 2023), "Why Are Older Women Missing in India? The Age Profile of Bargaining Power and Poverty" (Journal of Political Economy, 2020), "The Protestant Legacy: Missions, Gender, and Human Capital in India" with Federico Mantovanelli and Lauren Hoehn-Velasco (Journal of Human Resources, 2022), "Child Poverty Among Refugees" with Theresa Beltramo, Giacomo De Giorgi, and Ibrahima Sarr (World Development, 2023), and "Long-Term Effects of Access to Health Care: Medical Missions in Colonial India" with Federico Mantovanelli (Journal of Development Economics, 2018). Her scholarship has over 1,000 citations on Google Scholar. Awards include the UniCredit & Universities Best Paper Award on Gender Economics (2016), Ralph O’Connor Award for Distinction in Teaching and Research in Economics (2020), Journal of Human Resources Excellence in Reviewing Award (2022), and Sarah Burnett Teaching Award Finalist (2022). She serves as Associate Editor for Economic Development and Cultural Change and Quantitative Economics, has organized sessions at American Economic Association and Econometric Society meetings, and held roles such as Placement Director (2022-2023) and Graduate Program Committee member at Rice.