Lakshmi Iyer

Professor of Economics and Global Affairs

Areas of Expertise: Development economics and political economy, with emphasis on property rights and the distribution of political power

Lakshmi Iyer is professor of economics and global affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She is a faculty fellow of the Keough School’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Lakshmi Iyer is a development economist whose research examines many dimensions of the distribution of political power within emerging market countries, including the legacy of colonial rule, the division of authority between politicians and bureaucrats, and the determinants of conflict. She is currently working on several projects related to the determinants and consequences of women’s political participation. Iyer also has studied historical and current property rights institutions in several developing countries including India, Vietnam, China and the Philippines. Iyer is a co-leader of the Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab, which develops innovative, long-lasting solutions to help vulnerable populations in developing countries.

Iyer holds a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and the Keough School of Global Affairs. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Iyer was a faculty member at the Harvard Business School, where she authored numerous case studies on institutions, macroeconomics, and economic policy. She has published widely in leading economics journals. Iyer earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indian Statistical Institute.