Saumitra Jha
Assistant Professor of Political Economy
Assistant Professor of Economics and of Political Science (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences
(2012-2013) Joint Fellow at the Center for Study of Democratic Politics and the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance,
Princeton University
Welcome. I'm an economist in the political economy group at the Stanford GSB. My research uses a combination of economic theory and empirical analysis to investigate the processes by which cultural and political institutions have developed historically, and to draw new strategies for contemporary development policy. I am particularly interested in formal and informal mechanisms that have been successful in fostering tolerance and cooperation among members of different social and ethnic groups.
Research Fields
- Primary: political economics, economic history, comparative politics, development economics.
- Secondary: theory (contracts, decisions and incentives), industrial organization.
Specific Research Interests
- Financial innovations and political development
- Ethnic and religious tolerance
- Globalization, trade and their effects on ethnically diverse societies
- Radical political change and the aftermath of conflict
- The political economy of South Asia
- Institutions and economic growth
Courses
- POLECON 683 Political Development Economics (PhD)
- POLECON 230/ 239 Strategy Beyond Markets (MBA and Sloan)
- POLECON 231 Strategy Beyond Markets: Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Economies (MBA)
- GSBGEN 203 The Global Context of Management (MBA)
