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Senior Research Economist at EBRD in London
Imperial College London, Visiting Researcher
CEPR Research Affiliate, Development Economics
My work contributes to understanding how unfair circumstances and uncertainty of returns impact individual decision-making. I investigate these topics through the lens of behavioral economics. Using experimental economics, randomized controlled trials and household surveys for my research, I aim to establish links between the laboratory environment and the field. I completed my PhD at the University of Maryland in 2011.
Gender and Inclusion: Gender and finance, Inequality of opportunity, Ex-ante inequality
Uncertainty and perceptions: Migration, Attitudes towards risk and uncertainty, Uncertainty and entrepreneurship
Development Economics: Public service professionals, Non-monetary incentives, Gender and finance
Areas of interest and current research:
Circumstances out of our control should not determine our economic success, but they do. Michelle's work estimating inequality of opportunity in middle income countries can inform policy-makers on barriers to growth. Unfair access to finance is a particularly limiting form of inequality of opportunity. Michelle is currently developing a project with co-authors that examines interventions to reduce gender bias in lending to small and medium firms.
First time entrepreneurs and first time migrants face similar uncertainty environments. Migrants that return home may be disproportionately likely to become entrepreneurs. Is there a relationship between ambiguity attitudes, economic migration and entrepreneurship?
Non-monetary incentives can be used to complement wages and professional and social norms influence worker effort. For example, Michelle has studied whether image concerns can be used to incentivize professionalism among judges in Tajikistan. She also has looked at the power of esteem for motivating doctors.
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