Pooja Balasubramanian

Pooja Balasubramanian — Independent researcher, writer, lecturer and filmmaker.

Development economist working on debt, social protection, gender and poverty in the Global South — now also writing, teaching and making documentary film independently.

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Contact

balapooja26@gmail.com

Education

2016–2020 PhD, Development Economics
University of Göttingen
2014–2015 MSc Social Policy Analysis
KU Leuven, LISER
2012–2013 MSc Development Economics
SOAS University of London
2009–2012 BA Economics (Hons)
St. Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai

Additional engagement

Freelance theatre artist and collaborator with feminist theatre collectives (Germany/India), with an interest in public engagement and creative pedagogy.

Technical skills

MS Office
Google Suite
DaVinci Resolve
Claude
STATA
R
LaTeX

Career

2025–Present

Independent Researcher, Writer & Lecturer, Filmmaker

2020–2024

Senior Researcher · German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Germany

2022–2023

Lecturer / Seminar Instructor (Masters) · University of Duisburg-Essen & Exploring Economics Summer School

2017–2020

Teaching (Masters) · University of Göttingen

2016–2017

Consultant · Centre for Global Development, United Nations Foundation

2014–2015

Researcher · Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research

2013–2014

Research Associate · Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

From peripheral populations to financial fiefdoms: A case study from southern India ↗ (2026) (forthcoming in Economic and Political Weekly)
Pooja Balasubramanian, Marcela Ibanez, Sarah Khan & Soham Sahoo (2024). Does women’s economic empowerment promote human development in low- and middle-income countries? A meta-analysis ↗. World Development 187, article 106588.
Pooja Balasubramanian, Francesco Burchi & Daniele Malerba (2023). Does economic growth reduce multidimensional poverty? Evidence from low- and middle-income countries ↗. World Development 161, article 106119.
Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa Srigiri & Pooja Balasubramanian (2022). Governing the interlinkages between the SDGs: Approaches, Opportunities and Challenges (Introduction). In: Interlinkages between the SDGs: approaches, opportunities and challenges, London.
Pooja Balasubramanian (2022). Poverty, Inequality and Growth: the East Asian experience ↗. In: Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa Srigiri & Pooja Balasubramanian (eds), Interlinkages between the SDGs: approaches, opportunities and challenges, London.

Non-peer-reviewed publications

Pooja Balasubramanian (2020). Subjective returns to education: rational expectations of disadvantaged groups in India ↗. UNU-WIDER University Working Paper 144, published August 2020.

Policy & public scholarship

Pooja Balasubramanian (2025). As the ideal German immigrant, I saw how the supremacist integration system enables the far right ↗. Scroll.in.
Pooja Balasubramanian & Tathagata Sengupta (2024). Speculative money has been turning millions of people into commodities ↗. The Wire.
Pooja Balasubramanian (2024). Chapter 8: 80 years of bleeding us dry! The Bretton Woods Institutions, Austerity and Social Protection ↗. In Towards a People’s History of the IMF & World Bank. IBON International.
Theodore Asimeng & Pooja Balasubramanian (2024). Why transportation should work for women in Africa. Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), The Current Column, 6 March 2024.
Pooja Balasubramanian (2021). A critique on the increasing role of finance in social policy ↗. Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), The Current Column, 15 December 2021.
Anandita Adhikari, Ankita Aggarwal, Balu, Megha Bahl & Pooja Balasubramanian (2011). Food Entitlements. Economic & Political Weekly 46(30), Letters.