Mallika Thomas

I am a research economist in the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and I am a non-resident fellow in the Economic Studies section of the Brookings Institution.

My areas of research are labor economics, personnel economics, the economics of the family, and, more specifically, in human capital formation, including the formation of skills, on- and off-the-job, employer-sponsored training, as well as higher education and the return of skills within the household. Within labor economics, I study such topics as the gender gap in promotions, and how parental leave policies interact with employer beliefs - and potentially - with employer-based discrimination, to impact the existing gender gap in promotions.  I study inequality in both earnings and in non-wage benefits at the firm level, the valuation of non-wage benefits and how workers' valuations of these benefits interact with labor policies differently at the low and high ends of the wage distribution, and the gender gap in college attainment and potential policy solutions.  My research is motivated by examining the causes of persistent wage inequality and the consequences of policy responses. 

Prior to my appointment at the Minneapolis Fed, I was Assistant Professor of Economics at Cornell University, in the Department of Economics and in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where I was an affiliate of the Cornell Population Center and the Cornell Center for the Study of Inequality.  I was also a fellow in the Economic Studies section at the Brookings Institution from 2020 to 2022.  From 2018-2019, I was Visiting Fellow in Princeton University's Industrial Relations section, in the Department of Economics.  I received my Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and B.S. in Physics and Economics from Yale University.  Previously, I worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and at the Harvard Kennedy School, in the Center for International Development.

Research Interests: Labor Economics, Personnel Economics, Human Capital/ Economics of Education, Economics of the Family

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this website are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis or the Federal Reserve System.