Welcome! My name is Vikas PD Gawai. I am a Ph.D. (Job Market) candidate at the Department of Ag. and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will be on the job market for 2023-24 cycle. I will be available for interviews at SEA (Nov 2023), APPAM (Nov 2023) and ASSA (Jan 2024) meetings.

I am an Applied Economist focusing on policy evaluations related to health, aging, and human capital in the US and India. My research has three broad focus areas. The first explores the impact of technologies like high-speed internet (Broadband) and the Green Revolution on health, welfare, human capital, and social security access. Secondly, I study the lasting effects of early life shocks on later health and intergenerational well-being. My third research agenda evaluates the effects of different educational policies on human capital.

I employ advanced quantitative methods, including recent developments in difference-in-differences (DID) and multiple regression discontinuity design (MRDD), along with novel data, to address critical policy questions. I have received funding from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) in addition to other sources.

Please find my CV here.

Academic Affiliations

  • Graduate Fellow, Center for Demography, Health, and Aging (CDHA), Center for Demography and Ecology (CDE), UW-Madison
  • Research Fellow, Retirement and Disability Research Center (RDRC), UW-Madison
  • Diversity Fellow, School of Public Affairs, American University
  • Graduate Fellow, Institute of Research on Poverty (IRP), UW-Madison

Vikas PD Gawai


Email: gawai@wisc.edu

Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison