Rate My Professor Vikram Maheshri

Vikram Maheshri is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Houston, where his work in Business & Economics centers on applied microeconomics, urban economics, and political economy. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010 and his S.B. in Mathematics and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003. Joining the University of Houston in 2011 as an Assistant Professor, he progressed to Associate Professor in 2018 and Professor in 2025. Previous appointments include Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester's W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy (2010–2011), Research Assistant at The Brookings Institution (2003–2005), Visiting Scholar at Rice University (2024), and Visiting Fellow at Collegio Carlo Alberto on multiple occasions (2018, 2020, 2024).

Maheshri's research interests include sorting and segregation, safety, migration, and algorithmic economics. His publications appear in prestigious journals, such as “A Unified Empirical Framework to Study Neighborhood Segregation” with Gregorio Caetano (Quantitative Economics, 2025), “Migrants at Sea: Unintended Consequences of Search and Rescue Operations” with Claudio Deiana and Giovanni Mastrobuoni (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024), “The Race Between Deterrence and Displacement” with Giovanni Mastrobuoni (Review of Economics and Statistics, 2021), “School Segregation and the Identification of Tipping Behavior” with Gregorio Caetano (Journal of Public Economics, 2017), and “On the Social Desirability of Urban Rail Transit Systems” with Clifford Winston (Journal of Urban Economics, 2007). He has earned significant grants, including Arnold Ventures (2024, $69,999), NSF SCC-PG (2021, $149,999), and AAA Research Grant (2014, $15,000), alongside honors like the Grace Katagiri Prize (2007) and Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor (2008). Maheshri contributes to university governance as a member of the Economics Executive Committee, Faculty Senate, and PhD Admissions Committee.