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Summary
Nava Ashraf is an Associate Professor in the Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. Her research combines psychology and economics, using both lab and field experiments to test insights from behavioral economics in the context of development projects in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 2005, and her BA in Economics and International Relations from Stanford University. Her experiments address behavior change in health and health services delivery, in agricultural production, and in microfinance. She has conducted research on questions of intra-household decision making in the areas of finance and fertility, with a special focus on women’s empowerment. Her research is published in leading journals including the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Professor Ashraf teaches a second year MBA course in Managing Global Health: Design, Delivery and Evaluation, and a University-wide Ph.D. course in Field Experiments. She has also taught in the first year MBA sequence on Negotiation, and is part of the Executive Education program of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, where she teaches Impact Evaluation and Performance Measurement for Nonprofit Management.
She is a Faculty Affiliate of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, dedicated to the use of randomized trials as a tool for learning what works in international development, and a Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining HBS, she worked at the World Bank on trade negotiations between Morocco and the European Union, as a consultant for several nonprofit organizations in developing countries, and as founder of a business skills training institute for women in west Africa.
She has been awarded a Queen's Jubilee Medal for service by the Government of Canada, and is the youngest person ever to receive the Order of British Columbia.
| Current Institution | Harvard Business School |
| Department | Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets |
| Disciplines | |
| Address | Room 443, Baker Library Boston Massachusetts United States Phone: 617-495-5058 |
Profile viewed 209 times
Education
Harvard University
Ph.D.,
Economics
(2005)
Harvard University
M.A.,
Economics
(2003)
Work Experience
Associate Professor
Harvard Business School
(2010 - Present)
Assistant Professor
Harvard Business School
(2005 - 2010)
Achievements
- International Growth Centre: “Selection and Compensation of Community Health Workers in Zambia” and “Negotiating a Better Future” Women in Public Policy Program (WAPPP) and Exxon Mobil: “Negotiating a Better Future” 3ie: “Determinants of Fertility Demand” (2011)
General
Publication Summary
Published Papers
- Ashraf, Nava, James Berry, and Jesse M. Shapiro. "Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia." American Economic Review 100, no. 5 (December 2010): 2383-2413.
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "Female Empowerment: Further Evidence From a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." World Development 38, no. 3 (March 2010): 333-344.
- Ashraf, Nava, Xavier Gine, and Dean Karlan. "Finding Missing Markets (and a Disturbing Epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91, no. 4 (November 2009).
- Ashraf, Nava. "Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines." American Economic Review 99, no. 4 (September 2009): 1245-1277.
- Ashraf, Nava, Iris Bohnet, and Nikita Piankov. "Decomposing Trust and Trustworthiness." Experimental Economics 9, no. 3 (September 2006).
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." Quarterly Journal of Economics 121, no. 2 (May 2006). (Winner of the 2006 TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award Certificate of Excellence.)
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "Deposit Collectors." Art. 5. Special Issue on Field Experiments. Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy 6, no. 2 (2006).
- Ashraf, Nava, Colin Camerer, and George Loewenstein. "Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist." Journal of Economic Perspectives 19, no. 3 (summer 2005). (Read an interview about this article in HBS Working Knowledge.)
Book Chapters
- Ashraf, Nava, Margaret McMillan and Alix Peterson-Zwane. "My Policies or Yours: Do OECD Agricultural Policies Affect Poverty in Developing Countries?" In Globalization and Poverty, edited by Ann Harrison. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. (Read the New York Times article citing this paper .)
Other Papers
- Ashraf, Nava, Oriana Bandiera, and Kelsey Jack. "No Margin, No Mission? A Field Experiment on Incentives for Pro-Social Tasks." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-008, August 2011. (Revised June 2012.)
- Ashraf, Nava, Erica Field, and Jean Lee. "Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia." 2010. (under revision at American Economic Review.)
- Ashraf, Nava, Gunther Fink, and David N. Weil. "Evaluating the Effects of Large-Scale Health Interventions in Developing Countries: The Zambian Malaria Initiative." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 16069, June 2010.
- Ashraf, Nava, Diego Aycinena, Claudia Martinez A., and Dean Yang. "Remittances and the Problem of Control: A Field Experiment Among Migrants from El Salvador."
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "SEED: A Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." 2004. (Policy Paper.)
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "Testing Savings Product Innovations Using an Experimental Methodology." Asian Development Bank Technical Note Series, No. 8, 2003.
- Ashraf, Nava, Nathalie Gons, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin. "A Review of Commitment Savings Products in Developing Countries." Asian Development Bank Economics and Research Department Series, No. 45, 2003.
HBS Course Materials
- Ashraf, Nava, and Natalie Kindred. "Community Health Workers in Zambia: Incentive Design and Management." Harvard Business School Case 910-030.
- Ashraf, Nava, Neil Buddy Shah, and Rachel Gordon. "Deworming Kenya: Translating Research into Action (A)." Harvard Business School Case 910-001.
- Ashraf, Nava, Neil Buddy Shah, and Rachel Gordon. "Deworming Kenya: Translating Research into Action (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 910-027.
- Ashraf, Nava, Neil Buddy Shah, and Rachel Gordon. "Deworming Kenya: Translating Research into Action (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 910-002.
- Ashraf, Nava, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin, and Marc Shotland. "Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (A)." Harvard Business School Case 909-062.
- Ashraf, Nava. "Impacting Global Health." Harvard Business School Case Method Teaching CD 912-702.
- Ashraf, Nava, and Claire K. Qureshi. "Oral Rehydration Therapy." Harvard Business School Case 911-035.
- Rangan, V. Kasturi, Nava Ashraf, and Marie Bell. "PSI: Social Marketing Clean Water." Harvard Business School Case 507-052.
- Ashraf, Nava, Rachel Gordon, and Cathy Ross. "Roll Back Malaria and BCG: the Change Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 910-023.
- Ashraf, Nava, and Natalie Kindred. "Uptake of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests." Harvard Business School Case 911-007.
Books
Other Publications
