Professor Sriya Iyer

Sriya Iyer read for a BA (Hons) in Economics in Delhi University and then a BA, MA, MPhil and PhD in Economics at the University of Cambridge. Her research is in the fields of development economics, economics of religion, health and education. Her research spans many countries including India, Kenya, Bangladesh, Brazil, UK and USA. For the past decade Sriya has been contributing to developing a new field of research called the economics of religion, in which she uses economic methods to study religion. She has published three books on Demography and Religion in India (Oxford University Press 2002), The Economics of Religion in India (Harvard University Press 2018) and Advances in the Economics of Religion (Palgrave Macmillan 2019); as well as articles in leading journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Literature, Review of Economics and Statistics and the Journal of Development Economics. Her recent book on India was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2018. Sriya is a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Institute of Labour Economics (IZA), the Global Labor Organization (GLO), was on the Board of Directors of ASREC, and is on the India Advisory Board of the Pew Research Centre. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Comparative Economics, the Journal of Religion and Demography, and the Journal of Economics, Religion and Management. She was Deputy Chair of the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2020; Programme Chair for two ASREC Annual Meetings 2013 and 2014 in the USA; and she organised an International Economic Association Roundtable on The Economics of Religion in Cambridge in 2017. In 2014, Sriya was awarded a University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence. She was elected to serve on the Council of the Royal Economic Society from 2022 until 2027.

S. Iyer. 2022. ‘Religion and Discrimination: A Review Essay of Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom’. Journal of Economic Literature.
J. Fan, D. Friedman, J. Gair, S. Iyer, B. Redlicki and C. Velu. 2022. ‘A Simulation Study of How Religious Fundamentalism Takes Root’. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.
C. Velu and S. Iyer. 2021. ‘Learning from Near Misses from Covid 19’.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118 (40), 5 October, 2021.
S. Iyer and M. Weeks. 2020. ‘Social Interactions, Ethnicity, Religion and Fertility in Kenya’. Journal of Demographic Economics, 86(3), September:
329-365.
L. Chaudhary, J. Rubin, S. Iyer and A. Shrivastava. 2020. ‘Culture and Colonial Legacy: Evidence from Public Goods Games’. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 173, May: 107-129.
J-P Carvalho, S. Iyer and J. Rubin (Eds.) 2019. Advances in the Economics of Religion, International Economic Association Series Volume 158, Palgrave Macmillan.  460 pages.
J. Fruehwirth, S. Iyer and A. Zhang. 2019. ‘Religion and Depression in Adolescence’. Journal of Political Economy, June 2019, 127(3): 1178-1209.
S. Iyer. 2018. The Economics of Religion in India. Cambridge Massachusetts:
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 304 pages S. Iyer and A. Shrivastava.  2018. ‘Religious Riots and Electoral Politics in India’ Journal of Development Economics, March, 131: 104-122.
S. Iyer. 2016. ‘The New Economics of Religion’ Journal of Economic Literature, June, 54(2): 395-441.
Q. Do, S. Iyer and S. Joshi. 2013. ‘The Economics of Consanguineous Marriages’ Review of Economics and Statistics, July, 95(3): 904-918.
S. Iyer and C. Velu. 2006. ‘Real Options and Demographic Decisions’
Journal of Development Economics, June, 80 (1): 39-58.
V. Borooah and S. Iyer. 2005. ‘Vidya, Veda and Varna: The Influence of Religion and Caste on Education in Rural India’ Journal of Development Studies, November, 41(8): 1369-1404.
S. Iyer. 2002. ‘Religion and the Decision to use Contraception in India’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 4(1): 711-722.
S. Iyer. 2002. Demography and Religion in India. Oxford University Press. New Delhi. 288 pages.