Summary
Anaka Aiyar is Assistant Professor of Economics. Prior to joining the University of Nevada, Reno, she was a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. She finished her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California, Riverside.
Research interests
Anaka studies the impact of health policies on health and nutrition. She has three primary research interest areas – 1. Studying health insurance impacts on health & labor, 2. Studying challenges to achieving food security and 3. Working on methodological developments in these topics. She has received several honors and awards including the Postdoc Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership at Cornell University, Taraknath Das Foundation Grant in Aid, Columbia University and the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award at the University of California, Riverside.
She worked as a health-policy researcher prior to graduate school. She has experience working closely with policy makers in designing and implementing impact evaluations of health policies in India. Her experience has inspired her to conduct research that helps deliver high-quality cost-effective health care in resource poor contexts.
Publications
Aiyar, Anaka, Sunaina Dhingra & Prabhu Pingali, "Transitioning to an Obese India: Demographic and Structural Determinants of the Rapid Rise in Overweight Incidence", Economics & Human Biology (accepted 2021)
Aiyar, Anaka, Andaleeb Rahman & Prabhu Pingali, "India's rural transformation and rising obesity burden"; World Development, 138 (2021)
Aiyar, Anaka, and Joseph R. Cummins. "An Age Profile Perspective on Two Puzzles in Global Child Health: the Indian Enigma & Economic Growth" , Journal of Development Economics, 148 (2021)
Aiyar, Anaka, "Unintended consequences of targeted health insurance on intra-household resource allocations", Journal of Development Studies, vol 57, no 3, (2021): 502-518
Aiyar, Anaka, and Prabhu Pingali. " Pandemics and food systems-towards a proactive food safety approach to disease prevention & management." Food Security (2020) 12, pages 749–756
Aiyar, Anaka, and Srinivas Venugopal. " Addressing the ethical challenge of market inclusion in base-of-the-pyramid markets: A macromarketing approach." Journal of Business Ethics 164, no. 2 (2020): 243-260.
Pingali, Prabhu, Anaka Aiyar, Mathew Abraham, and Andaleeb Rahman. Transforming food systems for a rising India. Springer Nature, 2019.
Pingali, Prabhu, and Anaka Aiyar. " Diversity in Development: Inter‐state Differences in the India Growth Story." World Food Policy 4, no. 2 (2018): 57-77.
Pingali, Prabhu, and Anaka Aiyar. " Food, agriculture, and nutrition policy: Looking ahead to 2050." Agriculture and food systems to 2050 (2018).
Agarwal, Neha, Anaka Aiyar, Arpita Bhattacharjee, Joseph Cummins, Christian Gunadi, Deepak Singhania, Matthew Taylor, and Evan Wigton-Jones. " Month of birth and child height in 40 countries." Economics Letters 157 (2017): 10-13.
Teaching
Health Economics (Fall 2020)
Principles of Statistics II (Spring 2021)
Awards
Postdoc Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership, Cornell University, 2019
Dissertation Year Fellowship, University of California, Riverside, 2016
Grant in Aid, Taraknath Das Foundation, c/o The South Asia Institute, Columbia University, 2013
Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award, University of California, Riverside, 2011 to 2016
Education
Ph.D. Economics (2016)
University of California, Riverside
Masters in Economics (2013) (MA)
University of California, Riverside
Masters in Economics (2006) (MSc)
Madras School of Economics, Anna University
Chennai, India
Bachelor of Economics (2004)
Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University