Dr. Ketki Sheth is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of California, Merced. She is a development economist whose research focuses on improving financial access, education, and health of underserved populations in low income countries. Her recent work assesses methods to increase access to health insurance and factors that influence educational investment in young girls in India. She is currently working on projects aimed at increasing savings among lower income populations. She completed her BA in Psychology and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and earned her PhD in Economics at the University of California, San Diego.
My expertise is in education and financial tools (such as insurance, credit, and savings) in low income countries, much of which has extensions to low income populations in more advanced economies. The majority of my projects has been based in India and pays particular attention to socioeconomic and gender inequality. I use both secondary datasets and field experiments in which I partner with organizations to assess these various questions of interest. One strand of my research focuses on education in developing economies, with particular interest in girls’ educational outcomes which typically lag their male counterparts. Specifically, I look at factors that influence educational investment and achievement in girls (e.g., Can female teachers reduce the education gender gap in low income countries? How do marriage decisions impact education investments?). My other strand of research focuses on reducing vulnerability by improving the financial tools available to the poor, such as insurance, credit and savings products. In my earlier work, I collaborated with a non-profit organization in India to assess overcoming common barriers to insurance access. In addition to insurance, I also am interested in how credit availability and savings accumulation can be increased to reduce risk and promote income generation.
