Leigh Linden
Affiliation
- Faculty Fellow, Department of Economics
School of International and Public Affairs
Research
Leigh Linden is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University with appointments in both the Department of Economics and the School of International and Public Affairs. He received a PhD from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology in 2004 and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997. As an economist, he specialize in the fields of development and labor economics, exploring the microeconomic determinants of income inequality and poverty. He is particularly interested in the use of social programs to improve the well-being of children from poor communities. Methodologically, he specializes in the use of randomized trials both to assess the efficacy of social programs and to test economic theories of human behavior.
His current projects fall into two general lines of investigation. First, he is interested in how the incentives and services offered by educational institutions affect children's educational experiences. These projects include evaluations of remedial education, computer assisted learning, and English language programs in India and a conditional-cash-transfer program in Bogota, Colombia. He is also interested in how individual, household, and social factors that influence the behavior of children, especially with respect to education and the development of human capital. His current work in this area includes investigations of child trafficking, discrimination, the role of peer networks, and the effects of communal violence on children.
Finally, Leigh has a second strand of research investigating political economy issues in developing countries, specifically India. Through these investigations, he strives to understand the role of institutional structures and election rules in determining the outcomes of elections and eventually the allocation of resources. His current work investigates the disadvantage that incumbents in India face relative to other candidates in Indian national parliamentary elections.
See Also
- Research grants undertaken by Leigh Linden
- Seed grant: Education Production and Peer Networks for Out-of-School Children in India
