Prakarsh Singh

Prakarsh Singh

Program Chair, Data Science, Economics & Business (DSEB)

Chair Professor of Economics, Plaksha University

PhD, London School of Economics

Area of Expertise:

Applied Microeconomics Development Economics Personnel Economics

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About Prakarsh Singh
Prof. Prakarsh Singh is Chair Professor of Economics, Director of the Lab for Economic Behaviour in Organisations (LEO) and Program Chair for the Data Science, Economics and Business (DSEB) major.
 
With over 15 years of research in academia and industry with invited presentations at 100+ leading global academic and policy institutions, he has a track record of collaborating with the world’s leading economists and scientists, obtaining research grants, and making policy impact. His papers have been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, including,  Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Economics of Education Review, European Economic Review and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Conflict Resolution. His research projects have been funded by the Gates Foundation (Grand Challenges), The World Bank, United Nations and State governments in India. Work has led to policy impact and 500+ citations. His areas of research and teaching include personnel economics, health economics, behavioral economics, microeconomics, and economics of conflict.
 
He has taught at the world's top-ranked liberal arts colleges (Amherst and Swarthmore College), with visiting positions at University of Pennsylvania, University of Navarra (Spain) and Liberal Arts Initiative (China). His courses have been featured in the world's leading economic education journal, Journal of Economic Education.
 
Before Plaksha, Prof. Singh was a Science leader at Amazon where he led an innovative team of economists, scientists and business intelligence engineers that curated Strategic Insights for Amazon's leaders across Prime Video, Human Resources and Prime Pricing.
Research

  1. "The effect of traffic cameras on police effort: Evidence from India", joint with Emily Conover and Daniel Kraynak.  Journal of Development Economics. Published by: Elsevier.   

  2. "Performance bonuses in the public sector: Winner-take-all prizes versus proportional payments to reduce child malnutrition in India", joint with William Masters, 2020. Journal of Development Economics. Volume 146, September. Published by: Elsevier.  

  3. “Impact of Caregiver Incentives on Child Health: Evidence from an Experiment with Anganwadi Workers in India”, joint with William Masters, 2017. Journal of Health Economics. Volume 55, September, Pages 219-231. Published by: Elsevier. 

  4. “Incentives, Information and Malnutrition: Evidence from an experiment in India”, joint with Sandip Mitra, 2017. European Economic Review, Volume 93, pages 24-46. Published by: Elsevier. 

  5. “Performance Pay and Information: Reducing child undernutrition in India”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2015, Vol 112, pp. 141-163, April. Published by: Elsevier.

  6. “Gender-Differential Effects of Terrorism on Education: The Case of the Punjab Insurgency 1981-1993”, joint with Olga Shemyakina, 2016. Economics of Education Review. Volume 54, October, Pages 185–210. Published by: Elsevier.

  7. “Searching for Religious Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from an Artefactual Field Experiment among Anganwadi Workers in India”, joint with Utteeyo Dasgupta and Subha Mani, 2020. Review of Development Economics, 24 (2): 362-382. Published by: Wiley.

  8. "Effects of an mHealth intervention for community health workers on maternal and child nutrition and health service delivery in India: protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation", joint with Nimmagadda S, Gopalakrishnan L and Avula R, et al, 2019. BMJ Open 2019. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025774 . Published by: BMJ Journals.

  9. “Learning and Behavioral Spillovers of a Nutritional Information Campaign”, 2016. Journal of Development Studies, vol 53(6). Pages 911-931. Published by: Taylor & Francis Group. 

  10. “Impact of Ethnic Civil Conflict on Migration of Skilled Labor", joint with Julie Christensen and Darius Onul, 2016. Eastern Economic Journal. Pages 1-12. doi:10.1057/s41302-016-0069-7. IZA Working paper 10094. Appendix. Published by: Springer.

  11. “Concessions and Repression in Conflict” joint with Akifumi Ishihara, 2016. BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, Volume 16, Issue 2, pp. 865–899. DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0017, January. Published by: De Gruyter.

  12. “The Effects of Child Physical Maltreatment on Nutritional Outcomes: Evidence from Peru”, 2015. joint with Alvaro Morales. Journal of Development Studies, Vol 51, Issue 7, pp. 826-850, August. Published by: Taylor & Francis Group.

  13. “Growth Recovery after Civil Conflict: A Fractional Integration Approach”, joint with Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana, 2015. Defence and Peace Economics, vol 27 (4), pages 453-479, August. DOI: 10.1080/10242694.2015.1072375. Published by: Taylor & Francis Group.

  14. “A Research-Based Development Economics Course for Undergraduates”, joint with Hongye Guo and Alvaro Morales. The Journal of Economic Education, 2015, Vol 46 (3), pp. 274-284, June. Published by: Taylor & Francis Group.

  15. “The Impact of Ethnic Violence in Kenya on Wheat and Maize Markets”, joint with Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana, 2015. Journal of African Economies, vol 24 (4), pages 502-529. May. Published by Oxford Journals, Oxford University. 

  16. "Economics of Civil Conflict: Evidence from the Punjab Insurgency," 2015. Journal of Punjab Studies,  vol 22 (2). pages 231-248. University of California-Santa Barbara.

  17. “Impact of Media on Domestic Violence Norms: Evidence from India”, joint with Kuhuk Bhushan, The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 2014, Vol 9 (1), pages 57-62. Published by: Economists for Peace and Security.

  18. “Economic Growth and Recovery after Civil Wars”, joint with Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana, 2014. Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy (Special Issue), Volume 20, Issue 4, Pages 565–574, October. Published by: De Gruyter.

  19. “Impact of terrorism on investment decisions of farmers: Evidence from the Punjab Insurgency”, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2013, vol 57(1), pages 128 – 153. Published by: Sage Journals.

  20. “A Dream Experiment in Development Economics”, joint with Alexa Russo, The Journal of Economic Education, 2013, vol 44(2), pages 158-168. Published by: Taylor & Francis Group.

  21. “Insurgency, crime, and agricultural labor expenditure: Evidence from Punjab, 1978-1990”, The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 2012, vol 7(2), pages 33-40. Published by: Economists for Peace and Security.

Awards

• Recipient of the  Spirit of Plaksha award for 2025 for embodying the Plaksha values of Curiosity, Rigor, Enterprising, Authentic, Thankful and Exemplary.

• Invited as a Keynote speaker at various institutions in India and abroad.

• Produced marketing optimization models for video streaming company to help allocate $1B in spend across titles and media.

• Evaluated the impact of remote work on employees’ attrition, promotion and satisfaction. 

• Measured innovation, collaboration and workforce productivity in industry (3 joint papers with Nobel Laureate, David Card).

• Led the science of nudging managers through a talent management tool.

• Publications in top-ranked field journals including Journal of Development Economics (2x), Journal of Health Economics, European Economic Review, Economics of Education Review and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization with a Grand Challenges Explorations Grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and funding by World Bank and United Nations University.

• Recipient of AAEA’s Quality of Research Discovery and Best Paper Awards. 

• Main Organizer of the LEO Economics Conference (2024, 2025, 2026). The annual conference showcases the best research in Economics in India.

• Main Organizer of LAC-DEV Economics conference in 2013 and Co-organizer, 2014-2017. The annual conference showcases the best research in Development Economics at leading Liberal Arts Colleges.

• Designed innovative courses in Personnel Economics, Development Economics, Microeconomics, Health & Conflict, and Econometrics with excellent teaching evaluations.

• Visiting positions at University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, University of Navarra (Spain) and Liberal Arts Initiative in China.

Research Interests
  • Randomized Controlled Experiments
  • Child Undernutrition
  • Incentives in the Workplace
  • Marketing Optimization
  • Civil wars and Terrorism
  • Discrimination
Past Associations
  • Senior Economist Manager, Amazon (2017-current)
  • Assistant Professor of Economics, Amherst College (2011-2018)
  • Visiting positions at University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, University of Navarra (Spain) and Liberal Arts Initiative in China
Education
  • PhD in Economics, London School of Economics (2011)
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