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ABOUT
I am most broadly interested in state capacity - both empirically and as constructed through legal frameworks - as it bears on institutional responses to poverty. As urban migration patterns shift and become increasingly complex in response to rural-urban disparities - among other factors - understanding and strengthening state capacity to address growing poverty and socioeconomic disparities in cities is of particular significance. My research interests have been developed through my undergraduate coursework in political science and urban studies at Trinity College. For more information on my current research interests, please see the focus areas section of this site.
As a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics, I am currently engaged in research surrounding the social and institutional determinants of poverty in the United States. Concurrently, I have been involved in ideating and implementing interventions addressing poverty through collaboration with state agencies in India. My most recent project, 'Wonder on Wheels,' harnessed my research on the domestic migration patterns of migrant construction workers in Bengaluru, India. The intervention I ideated and executed - a mobile school bus traveling between anganwadi (government school) sites in Bengaluru - has been scaled to reach 161,700 individual student interactions per year, in collaboration with the Freethinking Foundation and the Karnataka state Ministry of Women and Child Development. For more information on my research and project implementations, please see the projects section of this site.
Current Focus Areas
1. Poverty.
I am primarily interested in the structural and institutional causes of urban poverty, and the dimensions of such causes that either exacerbate or insulate against further hardship. I have previous experience researching poverty in Karnataka, India. My current work as a research specialist at the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics within the University of Pennsylvania examines the social determinants of poverty in the United States. With experience studying poverty in the Global South and the Global North, I am increasingly interested in comparative work placing such research in conversation with each other.
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2. Institutional Responses to Poverty.
Within the study of poverty, I am especially interested in state capacity in institutional responses to poverty, particularly in the context of rapid and irregular urbanization. My research informing the development of the 'Wonder on Wheels' pilot program involved explorations of changing urban migration patterns and the deficiencies of associated state responses. My intervention - the 'Wonder on Wheels' bus pilot program and subsequent expansion - involved rich collaborations with the Karnataka state government, deepening my understanding of state capacity in addressing poverty, particularly poverty exacerbated and influenced by urban growth and change.
3. Legal Frameworks and State Responses to Poverty.
Arising from the insight that law and political economy are deeply entrenched - that political institutions and the economy are created and maintained through the law - I am further interested in the legal frameworks guiding state capacity in responses to poverty. For instance, at the scale of a single country, how do existing legal frameworks guide state and local-level responses to poverty? At a more global level, how do international legal frameworks impact the effectiveness of poverty reduction strategies in the Global South?
contact
CONTACT
Thank you for your interest in my work. To learn more about my projects or research, or to get in touch with me, please email me at ghoshn@sas.upenn.edu.
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