Pankaj Verma

Current: IGC, Asian Development Research Institute pankaj.verma@outlook.com BSIDC Colony, Off-Boring road +91 (0) 8877293809 Patna, Bihar (India) EDUCATION 2009-2011 MA. Public Policy and Development, Paris School of Economics, Paris, France

Award: Honors cum laude 2003-2005 PG. Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development, Xavier Institute of Social Service,

Ranchi, Jharkhand (India) Award: 1st class with distinction 2000-2003 Bachelors in Science. B.Sc. Computer Science, St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi, India Award: 1st class with distinction WORK EXPERIENCE Sep/13 – present Country Economist, International Growth Centre (IGC), London School of

Economics - Assist Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Govt. of Sierra Leone with designing

National Health Insurance Scheme - Design randomized control study to study the impact of National health

insurance scheme in Sierra Leone - Liaison with Ministry of Health in Rwanda to organize a delegation visit from

Sierra Leone - Work with Member of Parliament on drafting local content policy for Mining

industries in Sierra Leone - Conduct research study on state of child education in Bihar (India) on request

from the Chief Minister - Manage country research program, prepare country strategy notes, analyze

micro/macro data for rapid response notes to policy makers, and assist with policy design

- Manage dissemination interface with policy makers Jan/12 – present Scientific Collaborator, CODEV program, Institute for Research and Education on

Negotiation (IRENE), ESSEC Business School, Paris, France July/11–Aug/13 Research Manager, Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) – South Asia, India

- Extensive data analysis and use of econometric tools - Manage and supervise several large scale Impact evaluation studies on maternal

health, menstrual management and sanitation, public employment and energy

- Develop study design, evaluation methods, survey instrument, and data applications

- Prepare RfP, negotiate contracts, and budgets - Human resource recruitment and appraisals

April - June/11 Research Assistant, ESSEC Business School, Paris, France

- Develop evaluation/study design - Analysis of micro-level data to compute relational capability index and poverty

indicators for Nigeria and Indonesia Feb – June/11 Research Assistant, Center for Economic Research and its Applications, Paris,

France - Develop algorithm for COPULA simulation - Analysis of LFS micro-data to identify source of income inequality among married

couples in France and Taiwan June – Aug/10 Consultant, The World Bank, Cambodia

- Compute intensive and extensive margin of trade growth in Cambodia by analyzing historic trade pattern across major trading countries.

- Policy-level meetings to identify trade bottlenecks and disseminate results Jan/07 – Aug/09 Research Assistant, Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) – South Asia, India

- Manage and supervise large scale randomized trial evaluation studies - Data management, analysis of micro-level data, prepare budgets, RfP and policy

reports June/05 – Dec/06 Program Associate, SRKPS, Rajasthan, India

- Pilot use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in mitigating maternal and child mortality in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan (India)

- Manage portfolio of health projects: maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and Early marriage and early pregnancy issues with adolescents

- Research on reforming local governance institutions RESEARCH PROJECTS Feb/14 – present Impact evaluation of Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance Scheme (upcoming, with

Rachel Glennerster, Anne Karing, IGC Working Paper) May/14 – Jun/15 Collaborator: A Gap analysis of Africa Mining Vision Implementation in Liberia and

Sierra Leone, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, GIZ Nov/14 – Feb/15 Social Justice in Education: Are School Uniform and Scholarship Schemes marred

with Discrimination in Bihar? (IGC Working Paper) Jul/11 – Aug/13 Provision of public employment in India: An impact evaluation of changed fund flow

in MGNREGS payments (with Abhijit Banerji, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande)

Nov/12 – Aug/13 Meeting the demand for electricity: An evaluation of metered pricing for off-grid power in India (with Michael Greenstone, Robin Burgess, Nick Ryan)

Dec/11 – Feb/13 Menstrual management and sanitation systems: Demand trial of improved menstrual

products (with Vivian Hoffmen) Sep/10 – Jul/11 Income shocks and social wellbeing: Evidence from the Nigeria delta (Scientific

collaboration with Gael Giraud, Cecile Renouard) Nov/11 – Jul/12 Does forming cooperative improve relational capability?: Evidence from Danone

KSP program in Indonesia (Scientific collaboration with Gael Giraud, Cecile Renouard)

Feb/11 – Jun/11 Performing COPULA simulation to identify sources of income inequality between

couples in France and Taiwan (with Marc Gurgand) Jun/10 – Aug/10 A report on trade profile and recent trends: Cambodia (with World Bank trade unit) Dec/09 – Mar/10 Estimating the size of informal economy using electricity consumption data: Evidence

from Turkey (co-author with Seyhun Orcan Sakalli) Jan/07 – Jul/08 Can institutions be reformed from within: Evidence from Rajasthan police (with Abhijit

Banerjee, Esther Duflo) Aug/08 – Aug/09 Impact of increased monitoring of Industries on pollution emission in Gujarat (with

Rohini Pande, Esther Duflo, Michael Greenstone) TRAINING COURSES Aug/07 J-PAL executive training, Chennai, India Mar/11 Statistics for policymaking, European Commission, Brussels Aug/12 IPA/JPAL/CEGA staff training on evaluation & communication SKILLS

Data Analysis : STATA, R, Statistica Programming : C++, Visual Basic, Python Documentation : LaTeX Modeling : General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS)

LANGUAGES English : Fluent Hindi : Fluent