Saumitra Jha
Saumitra Jha is an associate professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and, by courtesy, of economics and of political science at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, and convenes the Stanford Conflict and Polarization Lab. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law within the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Affairs, a faculty fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
Jha's research has been published in leading journals in economics and political science, including the American Economic Review, the American Political Science Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Development Economics, and he serves on a number of editorial boards. His research on ethnic tolerance has been recognized with the Michael Wallerstein Award for best published article in political economy from the American Political Science Association in 2014 and his co-authored research on heroes with the Oliver Williamson Award for best paper by the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics in 2020.
Jha was honored to receive the Stanford MSx Teacher of the Year Award, voted by the students in 2020. His research focuses upon understanding the effectiveness of organizations and innovations that societies have developed to address the problems of violence and other political risks, and to seek new lessons for fostering peace and development.
His research has focused on understanding and empirically assessing the effectiveness of four related approaches: mechanisms that support interethnic complementarities and trade, financial innovations that can allow conflictual groups to credibly share in the gains from peace, organizational innovations that can sustain nonviolent political movements at scale, and mechanisms that recognize and productively channel the organizational skills of veterans acquired during war. Jha has a specific interest in the South Asian experience in comparative perspective.
Jha holds a BA from Williams College, master's degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in economics from Stanford University. Prior to joining Stanford GSB, he was an Academy Scholar at Harvard University. He has consulted on economic and political risk issues for the United Nations/WTO, the World Bank, government agencies, and for private firms. In 2023-24, he was a visiting researcher at the Sciences-Po economics department in Paris, and a MacMillan Fellow at Yale University.
- Associate Professor of Political Economy, and by courtesy of Economics and Political Science, Stanford University (2013 - Present).
- Faculty Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2022 - Present).
- Senior Fellow, Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Affairs, Stanford University (2017 - Present).
- Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (2017 - Present).
- Convenor and Co-Founder, Stanford Conflict and Polarization Initiative (2017 - Present).
- Associate Editor, Journal of Development Economics (2016 - Present).
- Associate Editor, Journal of Comparative Economics (2017 - Present).
- Editorial Board, American Political Science Review (2024 - Present).
- Editorial Board, Business and Politics (2020 - Present).
- Editorial Board, Global Perspectives (2018 - Present).
- Assistant Professor of Political Economy, and by courtesy of Economics and Political Science, Stanford University (2008 - 2013).
- Academy Scholar, Harvard University (2006 - 2008).
- BA summa cum laude, with highest honors: Economics and Mathematics, Williams College, 1999
- Master of Philosophy: Economics, Cambridge University, 2000
- Master of Advanced Study: Mathematics (Part III), University of Cambridge, 2001
- PhD, Economics, Stanford University, 2006
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (Senior Fellow)
- Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (Senior Fellow)
- Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Faculty Fellow)
- Stanford Center for Social Innovation (Affiliated Faculty)
- Stanford Conflict and Polarization Initiative (Convenor & Co-Founder)
Government Agencies, International Organizations (UN/WTO, World Bank), Policy Research Institutes, Technology Companies (Google), NGOs & Peace Organizations, Academic Institutions, Media Organizations, Legal Firms (Expert Witness).