Abishek Choutagunta

Education

Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg.

Ph.D. in Economics , 2018 -2023 (Completed), Dissertation: Essays on the Political Economy of Centripetal Federalism in India.

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Stefan Voigt and Prof. Dr. Erich Gundlach.

Ph.D. in Law , 2018-2025 (Expected), Dissertation: Essays on the Political Economy of Constitutional Compliance.

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Stefan Voigt and Prof. Dr. Franziska Weber.

Erasmus University Rotterdam; University of Hamburg; Warsaw School of Economics.

European Master in Law and Economics, 2016-2017.

Thesis: Effects of Labour Regulation on Firm-level Productivity in India.

Madras School of Economics, Central University of Tamil Nadu.

Integrated B. Sc + M. Sc. in Economics, 2011-2016.

Thesis: Evaluating Asian Free Trade Agreements in Asia.

Positions

Research Associate, DAAD PRIME Postdoctoral Fellow at the Chair for Regional Economics and Public Finance, Ruhr University Bochum. (07/2025 - Present)

Research Affiliate, Emergent Ventures India Fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. (07/2023 - 06/2025)

Research Associate for Prof. Dr. Jerg Gutmann, Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg. (07/2021-12/2022)

Intern, Asian Development Bank, Manila in the Private Sector Operations Department for analyzing transfer pricing mechanisms. (07/2017-12/2017)

Research Associate, Madras School of Economics, Chennai for a State Finance Commission project on Rural and Urban Local Body Financing. (06/2016-2016)

Summer Intern, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning in the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai for analyzing banking datasets. (05/2014-07/2014)

Summer Intern at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum for a project on the Procyclicality of Basel-II norms in India. (05/2013-07/2013)

Conference Presentations and Talks

Silvaplana Workshop in Political Economy. July 2022.

Asian Law and Economics Society Annual Conference. December 2021.

European Association of Law and Economics Annual Conference. September 2021.

International Constitutional Law Society Annual ICON-S Mundo Conference. July 2021.

Delhi School of Economics, Centre for Development Economics. April 2021.

European Public Choice Society Annual Conference. April 2021.

Southern Economic Association Annual Conference. November 2020.

Asian Law and Economics Society Annual Conference. August 2018.

Scholarships and Associations

Awarded the 2023 Emergent Ventures India Fellowship at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University.

Awarded the 2022 Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University (Declined).

Recipient of the 2021 Merit Scholarship for International Students at the University of Hamburg.

Recipient of the 2018 Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship at the Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg.

Member of the Editorial Board. Madras School of Economics Annual Magazine, Athena, (ISSN: 2347-6125), 2014 – 2016.

Refereeing activity

Journal of Institutional Economics (2x)

Constitutional Political Economy (6x)

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (1x).

References

Available on request.