Raji Jayaraman is an associate professor of economics at ESMT Berlin and co-director of the Forward Society (FOS) Lab. Her research in development and labor economics examines how institutions, incentives, and social structures shape peopleโs prospects in work and education and ultimately, their ability to make a living. She combines experimental and quasi-experimental methods to study questions ranging from the effect of incentives and peers in labor markets, to behavioral and design interventions in education and training. Increasingly, she works in research-practice partnerships (RPPs): working closely with practitioners and using data-driven evidence to understand problems their communities face, design possible solutions, and evaluate their effectiveness in improving real-world education, labor, and environmental outcomes.
Her work has been published in outlets including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Development Economics. In addition to her roles at ESMT Berlin, and FOS she holds a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto. Raji holds a PhD in Economics from Cornell University, an M.A. in International & Development Economics from Yale University, and a B.A. (Jnt. Honours) in Economics & Finance from McGill University.
