Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in Managerial Economics & Strategy at Northwestern University. I study topics at the intersection of development and organizational economics. Before starting my PhD, I spent four years working on agricultural, trade, and industrial policy in Uganda and Rwanda, which significantly influenced my research interests.

Interests
  • Development Economics
  • Organizational Economics
Education

  • PhD in Managerial Economics & Strategy, 2024 (anticipated)

    Northwestern University

  • MS in Managerial Economics & Strategy, 2019

    Northwestern University

  • MSc in Economics, 2014

    London School of Economics and Political Science

  • B.A. (Hons.) in Economics, 2012

    St. Stephen's College, Delhi University

Publications

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Papers Book Chapters
Vittoro Bassi, Raffaela Muoio, Tommaso Porzio, Ritwika Sen, Esau Tugume (2022). Achieving Scale Collectively. Econometrica, (2022) 90(6): 2937-2978.

Publication Final Draft Supplemental Appendix Microeconomic Insights Voxdev Slides

Ritwika Sen (2020). Enhancing Local Content in Uganda. Chapter 16 in John Page, and Finn Tarp (eds), Mining for Change: Natural Resources and Industry in Africa, Oxford University Press, 2020.

Book Chapter UNU-WIDER Working Paper

Maitreesh Ghatak, Ritwika Sen (2020). Growth and the Subsidy Raj in India - Re-examining the Bardhan Hypothesis. Chapter 4 in Elizabeth Chatterjee and Matthew McCartney (ed.s) Class and Conflict – Revisiting Pranab Bardhan’s Political Economy of Development in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2020..

PDF Book Chapter

Projects

Supervision at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment
[Job Market Paper] [Economics that Really Matters Blog]

Self-Employment Within the Firm
with Vittorio Bassi, Jung Hyuk Lee, Alessandra Peter, Tommaso Porzio & Esau Tugume.
[Working Paper] [IFC Coverage] [VoxDev Blog] [Slides]

Seeding Innovation through Reality TV
with Eliana La Ferrara & Christopher Udry.
Fieldwork ongoing. [Project Summary]

Professional Experience

Organization: International Growth Centre (IGC)
- Position: Country Economist
- Duration: Oct 2016 - July 2018
- Location: Kampala, Uganda
- Responsibilities: To manage the country research portfolio related to agriculture, trade, and private sector development.

Organization: Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI)
- Position: Overseas Development Institute Fellow & Lead Economist
- Duration: Oct 2014 - Sept 2016
- Location: Kigali, Rwanda
- Responsibilities: Aid coordination, planning & budgeting, and monitoring & evaluation. Coordinator: National Agricultural Sector Working Group.

Policy

Recovery from the COVID-19 shock and the informal labour market in urban Uganda
with V. Bassi, J.H. Lee, A. Peter, T. Porzio, and E. Tugume, June 2022.
[IGC Policy Brief]

Understanding productivity dispersion - Evidence from a new survey of manufacturing firms in Uganda
with V. Bassi, R. Muoio, J. Mutambi T. Porzio, and E. Tugume, January 2020.
[IGC Policy Brief]

Reform of the EAC Common External Tariff - Evidence from Trade Costs
with J. de Melo and B. Shepherd, November 2017.
[IGC Policy Brief]

Increasing Vertical Spillovers from FDI: Ideas from Rwanda
with V. Steenbergen, August 2017.
[Columbia FDI Perspectives]

Extending the Growth Benefits of Tourism in East Africa
with V. Steenbergen, February 2017.
[ODI SET Essays]

Agricultural Transformation and Urbanization in Uganda
with D. Gollin & A. Mugyenyi, January 2017.
[IGC Policy Brief]

Maximizing the Impact of FDI on Domestic Industrial Capabilities & Job Creation
with S. Logan, December 2016.
[IGC Policy Brief]

What do empirical studies say about economic growth and job creation in developing countries?
with Y. Basnett, September 2013.
[ODI Report]

Contact