Shamika Ravi
Director of Research - Brookings India
Senior Fellow - Governance Studies
Senior Fellow - Brookings India
Dr. Ravi is Director of Research at Brookings India and a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies Program, at Brookings India and Brookings Institution Washington D.C. She is also Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. She leads the Development Economics research vertical at Brookings India, where the focus is on financial inclusion, health, gender inequality and urbanisation. Dr. Ravi is a visiting professor of Economics at the Indian School of Business where she teaches courses in Game Theory and Microfinance. She is affiliated with the Financial Access Initiative of New York University and is an independent director on the board of Microcredit Ratings International Limited. She was part of the Enforcement Directorate of Microfinance Institutions Network in India and has served as independent director on boards of several leading microfinance institutions.
Professor Ravi publishes extensively in peer-reviewed journals and writes regular opinion pieces in major newspapers. Her research work has been featured and cited by BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times and most national and regional newspapers and magazines in India. Here are some of her recent peer-reviewed publications:
- “Why India Is Ready for a Universal Basic Income, How It Could Cut Poverty and Bureaucracy”. Foreign Affairs, 2017
- “What Explains Childhood Violence? Global Macro and Micro Correlates” (with R. Ahluwalia). The Journal of Psychology, Health and Medicine, 2017
- “Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution in Consumption in the Presence of Inertia: Empirical Evidence from a Natural Experiment”, (with M. Kapoor). Management Science, 2016
- “Health and Morbidity in India: 2004 – 2014” (with R. Ahluwalia and S. Bergkvist). Brookings India Report, December, 2016.
- “Building Smart Cities in India: Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam” (with A. Tomer, A. Bhatia and J. Kane). Brookings Institution Report, 2016
- “Failure vs. Displacement: Why an Innovative Anti-Poverty Program Showed No Net Impact in South India”, (with J. Morduch, and J. Bauchet). Journal of Development Economics, 2015
- “Workfare as an Effective Way to Fight Poverty: The Case of India’s NREGS” (with M. Engler), World Development, 2015
- “Women Voters in Indian Democracy: A Silent Revolution”, (with M. Kapoor). Economic and Political Weekly, Volume - XLIX No. 12, 22 March 2015
Dr. Ravi is Director of Research at Brookings India and a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies Program, at Brookings India and Brookings Institution Washington D.C. She is also Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. She leads the Development Economics research vertical at Brookings India, where the focus is on financial inclusion, health, gender inequality and urbanisation. Dr. Ravi is a visiting professor of Economics at the Indian School of Business where she teaches courses in Game Theory and Microfinance. She is affiliated with the Financial Access Initiative of New York University and is an independent director on the board of Microcredit Ratings International Limited. She was part of the Enforcement Directorate of Microfinance Institutions Network in India and has served as independent director on boards of several leading microfinance institutions.
Professor Ravi publishes extensively in peer-reviewed journals and writes regular opinion pieces in major newspapers. Her research work has been featured and cited by BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times and most national and regional newspapers and magazines in India. Here are some of her recent peer-reviewed publications:
- “Why India Is Ready for a Universal Basic Income, How It Could Cut Poverty and Bureaucracy”. Foreign Affairs, 2017
- “What Explains Childhood Violence? Global Macro and Micro Correlates” (with R. Ahluwalia). The Journal of Psychology, Health and Medicine, 2017
- “Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution in Consumption in the Presence of Inertia: Empirical Evidence from a Natural Experiment”, (with M. Kapoor). Management Science, 2016
- “Health and Morbidity in India: 2004 – 2014” (with R. Ahluwalia and S. Bergkvist). Brookings India Report, December, 2016.
- “Building Smart Cities in India: Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam” (with A. Tomer, A. Bhatia and J. Kane). Brookings Institution Report, 2016
- “Failure vs. Displacement: Why an Innovative Anti-Poverty Program Showed No Net Impact in South India”, (with J. Morduch, and J. Bauchet). Journal of Development Economics, 2015
- “Workfare as an Effective Way to Fight Poverty: The Case of India’s NREGS” (with M. Engler), World Development, 2015
- “Women Voters in Indian Democracy: A Silent Revolution”, (with M. Kapoor). Economic and Political Weekly, Volume – XLIX No. 12, 22 March 2015
Health insurance is just a financial instrument...It’s going to be as valuable to the client, or the patient, as the care that it can buy. [Rising demand for treatment] is just going to lead to all kinds of cost escalation...That is the nature of an insurance-driven market. Neither the caregiver — the doctor — nor the patient has any incentives to reduce costs.
"Gender bias gets worse as cost of care rises. Women are seldom brought to the hospital because the perceived benefits of providing care is not seen. There’s a gross neglect of girls’ health over their lifecycle. We need a strategy to tackle gender bias but so far efforts have been fragmented."
A Brookings report using NSSO data has shown that 15 per cent of Indians now have some form of health insurance compared to 1 per cent in 2004. Also, while nearly 62 per cent in Andhra Pradesh are covered, less than 5 per cent of people in UP have health insurance.
