Amrita Sanyal

PhD Economics, Purdue University

Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics,

Wesleyan University

Welcome!

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University (2023-2025). I teach Labor Economics, Public Economics, and Economics of Discrimination. I completed my PhD at Purdue University in August 2023. 

My fields of specialization are Applied Microeconomics, Labor and Public Economics. Specifically, I work on exploring the causes, consequences and solutions to the issues of under-representation of women in STEM fields in college, STEM occupations and the gender earnings gap. More broadly, my research interests include handling large datasets and using econometric methods to find causal estimates of the effects of education and related policies as well as studying issues like discrimination in all its forms.

Why should we, as economists, expend time and resources to study the issue of gender gap in STEM? There are several economic consequences of women being under-represented in STEM fields. It contributes to the gender earnings gap. It is economically inefficient. And it implies that scientific inventions may not adequately account for the needs of half of the population.

In my job market paper, I explore how teacher gender affects girls' high school STEM performance and preference (Revise and Resubmit in the Journal of Human Capital). I use Chilean administrative education data to look at how having a female teacher in high school affects girls' Math performance and preference for STEM subjects when enrolling in college. In another project, my co-author and I explore how change in mother's marital and employment status affects children's gender attitudes. My PhD dissertation evaluated how the 2009 Race to the Top program and the adoption of common K-12 standards - the most-used policy promoted by program - affected students' high school and post-secondary performance and career choices, as well as the gender gaps in these outcomes.