Petia Topalova is the Deputy Chief in the Emerging Economies Unit of the European Department of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

and Mission Chief for the

Slovak Republic Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's ...

. She is also a research

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

with publications in development and trade economics.

Career and education

She obtained her B.A. in Economics from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

, followed by a PhD in Economics from

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sci ...

in 2005. She has spent most of her career at the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

. She started at the research department, then moved to the Asia and Pacific Department and is currently a Mission Chief for the

, a role she occupies since 2019. She has also spent time at the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy as Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy from 2012 to 2014. Nobel laureate

Esther Duflo Esther Duflo, FBA (; born 25 October 1972) is a French-American economist currently serving as the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2019, she w ...

has argued that controversial finding in her early career were not accepted by the economics profession and that "she was forced to seek a career outside academia."

Research

Her research focuses on poverty and inequality, international trade and

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural c ...

. She has focused on India but also on Italy and Europe more broadly. Her research was cited over 10,000 times and she is the 110th most cited woman in economics according to RePEc/IDEAS. Her research was published in the

Quarterly Journal of Economics ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. Its current editors-in-chief are Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan ...

, the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the

Journal of public Economics The ''Journal of Public Economics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering public economics, with particular emphasis on the application of modern economic theory and methods of quantitative analysis. It provides a forum for discussio ...

. She has done part of her research with Nobel laureate

. Her work has shown that poverty reduction was slower in areas of India that were more exposed to trade. This meant that there is a need to compensate losers from globalization. In another paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, she has also shown that prior exposure to women in politics is more likely for women in the future to be elected. In India after ten year of quotas "women are more likely to stand for, and win, elected positions in councils required to have a female chief councilor in the previous two elections". Her research was quoted in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

and

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Topalova, Petia Living people International Monetary Fund people Women economists 21st-century economists Year of birth missing (living people) Slovak economists