Hi! 

I am Manisha, and I recently graduated with a PhD in Development Economics from Maastricht University and United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) in June 2026.  

My research focuses on various development issues, with primary interests in gender, institutions, labor markets, and economic inequalities. In my PhD dissertation, I've examined how regressive gender norms prevalent in developing countries interact with climate change to produce adverse outcomes for women in the long run. My research has been published in World Development and is forthcoming in The World Bank Economic Review.

Beyond my dissertation, my research interests include exploring the long-run impacts of historical and cultural institutions and colonial legacies on developmental outcomes. I am also interested in studying the effects of large-scale infrastructure programs on economic disparities within and between different socioeconomic groups. 

In Fall 2024, I was a visiting PhD fellow at UNU-WIDER in Helsinki.

Feel free to reach out or ask if you'd like to know more! E-mail ID :.mukherjee@merit.unu.edu ; m.mukherjee@maastrichtuniversity.nl

You can find my LinkedIn profile here.