Isabelle Guerin

Isabelle Guerin is a socio-economist at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) with a focus on financialization, debt, and gender dynamics in South India and Latin America. Her work bridges political economy and moral economy frameworks to examine how financial systems perpetuate inequalities related to gender, caste, and class.

• Key Research Themes: Financialization, debt bondage, gender and development, microfinance critique, labor market dynamics, and social reproduction
• Current Teaching: Master’s courses at SciencePo Toulouse, PSL University, and EHESS on gender-development intersections and socioeconomics
• Leadership: Founder of the Observatory of Rural Dynamics and Social Inequalities in South India

Her recent publications analyze debt politics in financialized economies and the gendered dimensions of microfinance. She advocates mixed-method research, combining qualitative insights with quantitative analysis, and has co-edited critical volumes on randomized control trials in development.

Advising includes supervising 12+ theses on topics spanning from pandemic-era financial practices to caste dynamics in employment liberalization. She collaborates with institutions like EHESS, Université Paris Cité, and McGill University.