Mukesh Eswaran
Research Area
About
I am a professor emertius in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I am a Fellow of the Canadian Economics Association, an Associate of Theoretical Research in Economic Development (ThReD), and a Senior Fellow of the Bureau of Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD).
My research interests are in the application of economic theory to understand economic phenomena. Primary areas of my interest are economic development and the economics of gender. Other areas of interest are evolutionary economics and, more recently, the economics of religion.
Teaching
Research
BOOKS
Why Gender Matters in Economics. Princeton University Press, 2014
RECENT PAPERS
A Theory of Hegemon-Provoked Instability, with an Application to NATO and the Ukraine-Russia War
Did Religion Initiate the Neolithic Revolution and Later Facilitate the Creation of Ancient States?
The Nature of Labor’s Vulnerability to Exploitation
Isolating the Roles of Religion, Ethnicity, and Political Ideology in Mass Atrocities,1800-2020
Death by Capitalism: Quantifying `Social Murder’ Using Cross-Country Data on COVID-19 Fatalities. (with Thorsten Rogall)
Can For-Profit Business Alleviate Extreme Poverty in Developing Countries?
Ethnic Identity in American History and America’s Exceptional Religiosity: Theory and Some Evidence.
On Reducing the Sexual Assault of Women: What Can Economists Contribute to the debate?
Maternal Childcare: Some Macroeconomic Implications in the Time of COVID-19.
State Complicity in the Sexual Assault of Women: The Fate of Cassandra?
Decentralized Terrorism and Social Identity. (with Hugh Neary)
On the Resolution of Conflicts Over Sacred Goods. (with Hugh Neary)
Can Competition Extend the Golden Age of Antibiotics? (with Nancy Gallini)
The Evolutionary Logic of Honoring Sunk Costs. (with Hugh M. Neary)
A Gender-Based Theory of the Origin of the Caste System of India. (with Chris Bidner)
An Economic Theory of the Evolutionary Origin of Property Rights. (with Hugh M. Neary)
Self-Awareness of Culpability: The Mainspring of Moral Behavior?
Professional Affiliations
Canadian Economics Association, Fellow
Bureau of Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), Senior Fellow
Theoretical Research in Economic Development (ThRed), Associate