Eeshani Kandpal

Alabama has the worst maternal mortality in the United States at 60 deaths per 100K live births. For reference, California has 18 deaths per 100K live births.

But Dr. Oz thinks it’s “cool” that American citizens do not have access to good reproductive healthcare in the wealthiest nation in history.

In this, @mrao.bsky.social and I look at the gender of senior economic leadership across Latin America and the Caribbean from 1960-2020:

- an overwhelmingly male club (no women until ‘89, very few even since)
- the women who break through are more likely to have a PhD than men

Read 👇 for more.

Is Lead Poisoning a Missing Link in the Fight Against Malnutrition? Lead exposure is increasingly recognized as a major global health problem, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Much of the research and policy attention to date has focused on it...

We know lead poisoning impacts children's cognition, schooling, and more. But what about other core development priorities?

@leecrawfurd.bsky.social and @eeshani.bsky.social take a look at the underobserved interaction between lead and child nutrition:
https://go.cgdev.org/45DyaRV

Where Are the Women? Gender and Technocracy among Economic Advisers in Latin America and the Caribbean We analyze data on senior economic advisers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) from 1961 to 2020 and find a striking and persistent gender gap at the very top of economic decision-making across ...

Economic policy is framed as technocratic—but leaders are appointed through political processes.

Analyzing data from 1961–2020, @mrao.bsky.social & @eeshani.bsky.social find a persistent gender gap among economic decision-makers in Latin America & the Caribbean:
https://go.cgdev.org/4qbFQSL

A Window Into the Wage Gap: What’s Behind It and How to Close It - National Women's Law Center Women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid only 83 cents for every dollar paid to men.

The gender wage gap has widened for two consecutive years, the first time that's happened since data collection started in 1960 nwlc.org/resource/wag...

Where Are the Women? Gender and Technocracy among Economic Advisers in Latin America and the Caribbean We analyze data on senior economic advisers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) from 1961 to 2020 and find a striking and persistent gender gap at the very top of economic decision-making across ...

I'm surprised and depressed. "...time alone won’t close that gap—it will require intentional efforts to rethink how economic leadership is identified and appointed." www.cgdev.org/blog/where-a... @eeshani.bsky.social

NEW @cgdev.org BLOG with @eeshani.bsky.social - Is Lead Poisoning a Missing Link in the Fight Against Malnutrition?

www.cgdev.org/blog/lead-po...

Women's Power in the Household (Forthcoming Article) - We examine women’s household power in low- and middle-income countries, synthesizing theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence on its measurement, determinants, and consequ...

Forthcoming in the JEL: "Women's Power in the Household" by Seema Jayachandran and Alessandra Voena. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Opinion | Renee Good wasn’t the first person shot in her car by ICE. The justification followed a familiar script. Mike Fox: The officer who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis might never have to defend his actions before a judge or jury.

Great piece by my Cato colleague. “Since July, immigration agents have shot at least six people behind the wheel of a vehicle. The same playbook is used each time: the agent says they “feared for their life” as a vehicle was “weaponized” against them. Juries should decide, but we tie their hands.

What PEPFAR’s 2024 Data Reveal About the Mounting Risks For Women and Children For more than two decades, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been one of the most successful global health investments in history. Since 2003, it has helped save an esti...

PEPFAR treated 14.4m women in 2024—the largest share of individuals served.

As the program faces major uncertainty, analysis from @eeshani.bsky.social and Brian Webster shows who relies on PEPFAR and what disruptions could mean for women and children:
https://go.cgdev.org/4aaa44f

Our findings 20 years post conflict: Childhood trauma from conflict has lasting psychological and social effects that may be missed by standard economic measures.

📣 Child abductions are still tragically commonplace in conflicts around the worldtoday.

cgdev.org/publication/ch…

New work with @alessandracassar.bsky.social @mirandainez.bsky.social Christine Mbabaze Mpyangu and @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social

📣What does life look like for the Ugandan women who were taken as children by the Lord Resistance Army in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, & are now adults raising families of their own? 📣

➡️ New @CGDev blog post, on our study @alessandracassar.bsky.social @eeshani.bsky.social @mirandainez.bsky.social

Miranda I. Lambert Texas A&M University Economics Job Market Candidate 2025-2026 Development | Experimental | Gender

And check out my amazing co-author @mirandainez.bsky.social’s awesome JMP and webpage here:

sites.google.com/view/miranda...

📢 In a new paper with @alessandracassar.bsky.social @mirandainez.bsky.social Christine Mbabaze Mpyangu @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social, we study how childhood abductions cast a long shadow into adulthood among women in northern Uganda.
Blog: www.cgdev.org/blog/childho...
#gender #conflict #mentalhealth

What PEPFAR’s 2024 Data Reveal About the Mounting Risks For Women and Children For more than two decades, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been one of the most successful global health investments in history. Since 2003, it has helped save an esti...

"The question is not whether PEPFAR will change, but whether its evolution will uphold the dignity, rights, and survival of those who depend on it."

New analysis by @eeshani.bsky.social and Brian Webster shows who relies on PEPFAR and what disruptions could mean:
https://go.cgdev.org/4aaa44f

So pleased to learn that @seyeabimbola.bsky.social has been promoted to full professorship!

Bravo, Seye! 🎉

Keep up the inspiring work!!

What PEPFAR’s 2024 Data Reveal About the Mounting Risks For Women and Children For more than two decades, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been one of the most successful global health investments in history. Since 2003, it has helped save an esti...

PEPFAR treated 14.4 million women in 2024—the largest share of individuals served.

As the program faces major uncertainty, new analysis by @eeshani.bsky.social and Brian Webster shows who relies on PEPFAR and what disruptions could mean for women and children:
https://go.cgdev.org/4aaa44f

We bought one a few years back. Some of the best money we’ve spent in a while.

Sometimes nudges backfire. www.cgdev.org/publication/...

The American Economic Association's Committee on the Job Market surveyed Economics Departments in the U.S. regarding their plans to hire assistant professors this cycle (2025-26). 29.7% said that their department was under a hiring freeze.
1/3
#EconSky #EconJobMarket

Thoughtful and thorough piece on the risk to independent research at World Bank of latest reorg. To every economist everywhere working on global development: Read this and resist. @charlesjkenny.bsky.social @eeshani.bsky.social

The World Bank Group Reorganization: A Retreat from Research Quality? A recent PowerPoint presentation presents the outline for the institutional structure of “The WBG Knowledge Bank.” But a knowledge bank owes it to its stakeholders impartial and transparent considerat...

The World Bank plans to “operationally align” its research arm. But the changes could undermine its ability to deliver rigorous, independent analysis free from client or internal pressure.

More from @charlesjkenny.bsky.social and @eeshani.bsky.social ⬇️
https://go.cgdev.org/43vNSgK

Thanks @daveevansphd.bsky.social !

The most challenging fieldwork, but such important (and sad) findings.

Plugging @mirandainez.bsky.social who has done more work on men & women who were abducted as children. She studies how this childhood trauma impacts IPV later in life #econjobmarket

Stay tuned for follow-up, where we conduct an RCT involving vulnerable women in this area - half abducted as children - to assess the impact of:

1) cash only

2) cash+group life-skill training

3) cash+group mental health counseling

W/ @eeshani.bsky.social & @mirandainez.bsky.social

What's the long-term impact of being abducted during an armed conflict? editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conf... In Uganda, 20 years after the conflict: "Formerly abducted women still exhibit significantly higher rates of depression and perceived stress, heightened stress responses..."

Screenshot of working paper: The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct

📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣

"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu

Gender parity in hiring hasn't translated into parity in promotion at IFIs.

To help close this gap, Kelsey Harris & @eeshani.bsky.social launch a new phase of work to analyze data, spotlight solutions, & help IFIs strengthen women’s leadership pipelines:
https://bit.ly/3KxW4qa

A Populism That’s Really of the People? Poverty, Protest, and Regime Collapse in South Asia The emergence of youth- and student-led protests raises a hopeful but uncertain question: will these movements deliver differently once in power? Having toppled governments, can they translate mass mo...

Amid the emergence of Gen Z-led protests, @eeshani.bsky.social asks: Can they translate mass mobilization into pro-poor policy, evidence-based decision-making, & transparent governance?

Here's what they could mean for stability & governance in South Asia:
https://bit.ly/3KwlN2j

The World Bank Group Reorganization: A Retreat from Research Quality? A recent PowerPoint presentation presents the outline for the institutional structure of “The WBG Knowledge Bank.” But a knowledge bank owes it to its stakeholders impartial and transparent considerat...

Independent research at risk at the World Bank?!??!? Ouch/No! On why that's a bad idea: www.cgdev.org/blog/world-b... @eeshani.bsky.social @cgdev.org