Personal Bio
Tania Barham (PhD UC Berkeley 2005) is an Associate Professor of Economics and Research Faculty at The Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is an applied microeconomist specializing in health, development, migration, and labor economics. She uses experimental and quasi-experimental methods to explore how policies impact individuals living in poverty across their lifespan and across generations.
Her research investigates the influence of childhood poverty reduction programs including conditional cash transfer in Mexico and Nicaragua and child health and family planning programs in Bangladesh. This research entails survey data collection that connects individuals across generations to understand how these programs affect human capital, socio-emotional skills, fertility, labor, and migration patterns of people who benefited as children, and their subsequent impact on the human capital of their children. Additionally, she collaborates with the Colorado Department of Human Services to assess how subsidized employment programs in Colorado help the long-term unemployed secure stable employment.
Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, The National Science Foundation, The Population Research Bureau, The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, The Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank, among others.
Currently, she serves as the Director of the Health and Society program at the Institute of Behavioral Science and is a Research Affiliate with J-Pal and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame. She has also worked on projects with large multi-lateral institutions, state and national governments, and NGOs.
Published and Accepted Papers
- Experimental Evidence from a Conditional Cash Transfer Program: Schooling, Learning, Fertility, and Labor Market Outcomes After 10 Years, forthcoming Journal of the European Economic Association (with Karen Macours and John Maluccio)
- No Place Like Home: Long-Run Impacts of Early Child Health and Family Planning on Economic and Migration Outcomes, forthcoming Journal of Human Resources (with Randall Kuhn and Patrick Turner)
- Thirty Five Years Later: Long-Term Effects of the Matlab Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning Program on Older Women's Well-Being, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,2021, 118 (28) e2101160118 (with Brachel Champion, Andrew Foster, Jena Hamadani, Warran Jochem, Gisella Kagy, Randall Kuhn, Jane Menken, Abdur Razzaque, Elisabeth Root, Patrick Turner)
- Health and Well-Being of Male International Migrants and Non-Migrants in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Follow-up Study, PLoS Medicine, 2020, 17(3) (with Randall Kuhn, Abjure Razzaque, and Patrick Turner)
- Long-Term Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfers: Review of the Evidence, World Bank Economic Observer, 2019, 34(1), 119-159 (with Teresa Molina Millan, Karen Macours, John A. Maluccio, Marco Stampini)
- Staying for Benefits? The Effect of a Health and Family Planning Program on Out-Migration Patterns in Bangladesh, Journal of Human Resources, 2014, 49(4), 928-1013 (with Randall Kuhn)
- Living Longer: The Effect of the Mexican Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Elderly Mortality, forthcoming Journal of Development Economics,105(Nov.), 226-236 (with Jacob Rowberry)
- Boys Cognitive Skill Formation and Physical Growth: Long-term Experimental Evidence on Critical Ages and Early Childhood Interventions, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), 2013, 103(3), 467-71 (with Karen Macours and John Maluccio)
- Development Effects of Electrification: Evidence from the Topographic Placement of Hydropower Plants in Brazil, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2013, 5(2), 200-231 (with Molly Lipscomb and Mushfiq Mobarak)
- Enhancing Cognitive Functioning: Medium-Term Effects of a Health and Family Planning Program in Matlab, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2012, 4(1), 245-73
- A Healthier Start: The Effect of Conditional Cash Transfers on Neonatal and Infant Mortality in Rural Mexico, Journal of Development Economics, 2011, 94(1), 74-85
- Eradicating Disease: The Effect of Conditional Cash Transfers on Vaccination Coverage in Rural Nicaragua, Journal of Health Economics, 2009, 28(3), 611-621 (with John Maluccio)
- Social Science and Medicine, Social Science and Medicine, 1998, 46(8), 995-1009 (with Jacques Van Der Gaag)
VoxDev Article "Long-term and Intergenerational Benefits of Early Childhood Health Interventions"
Working Papers
- Taking a Chance on Workers: Evidence on the Effects and Mechanisms of Subsidized Employment from an RCT, revise and resubmit American Economic Review (with Brian Cadena and Patrick Turner)
- Improving the Early Childhood Environment: "Direct and Distributional Effects on Human Capital for Multiple Generations, under review (with Rachel Champion, Gisella Kagy, Jena Hamadani)
- Second Generation Effects of an Experimental Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Early Childhood Human Capital in Nicaragua, under review (with Oscar Botha, Karen Macours, John Maluccio, Julieta Rueda)
- Managed Care Mandates and Birth Outcomes: Who Benefits and Does the Model Matter, 2013 (with Paul Gertler and Kristiana Raube)
Works In Progress
- Structural Transformation and the Demographic Transition: Evidence from Bangladesh (with Randall Kuhn, Brett McCully, and Patrick Turner)
- Long-Term Effects of Arsenic Exposure in Childhood on Human Capital and Earnings (with Solveig Delabroye)
