Sofia Amaral

I am an Economist at the World Bank in the South Asia Region Gender Innovation Lab.

Previously I was an Economist (Assistant Professor equivalent) at the ifo Institute and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, leading the Leibniz Junior Research Group on The Economics of Violence Against Women. I am a CESifo Research Affiliate, and an affiliate of the Center for Crime, Justice and Policing at the University of Birmingham in the UK. I am also affiliated with the World Bank's Center for Research on Women and Jobs and the Pakistan Data and Evidence Lab. 

My research interests include violence against women and children, gender, development, and economics of crime. The context of my research has been India, UK, El Salvador, Mozambique, and more recently Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

News:

• July 2025: AEA RCT Trial registry for "Behavioral Nudges and Help-Seeking Behavior in High-Stigma Professions: Experimental Evidence from Honduras"

• June 2025: AEA RCT Trial registry for "Experimental Evidence on Subsidized Transportation for Girls in Remote Contexts"

• May 2025: New policy brief for Building Entrepreneurial Mind-Sets: Evidence from a Large Scale Educational Intervention in India 

• April 2025: End Poverty in South Asia blog on personal initiative training for micro-entrepreneurs in rural South India.