I am Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin and Executive Director at Research Institute for Compassionate Economics. I am also visiting economist at Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre, Research Fellow at IZA, Institute of Labor Economics and at Population Research Center, UT-Austin.
I am an economic demographer and development economist. My research areas include the health, growth, and survival of children, especially in India; the environment, air pollution, and climate change; and population dimensions of social well-being.
Coffey, D. and Spears, D., 2017. Where India goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste. Harper Collins.
Geruso, M. and Spears, D., 2018. Neighborhood sanitation and infant mortality. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(2), pp.125-62.
Scovronick, N., Budolfson, M.B., Dennig, F., Fleurbaey, M., Siebert, A., Socolow, R.H., Spears, D. and Wagner, F., 2017. Impact of population growth and population ethics on climate change mitigation policy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(46), pp.12338-12343.
Spears, D. 2018. Exposure to open defecation can account for the Indian enigma of child height. Journal of Development Economics. (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 6351).
Hammer, J. and Spears, D., 2016. Village sanitation and child health: effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India. Journal of Health Economics, 48, pp.135-148.
Duh, J. and Spears, D., 2017. Health and hunger: Disease, energy needs, and the Indian calorie consumption puzzle. The Economic Journal, 127(606), pp.2378-2409.
