Ashwini Deshpande

Ashwini Deshpande is a Professor of Economics and Founding Director of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University, India. Her academic focus centers on inequality, discrimination, and affirmative action, particularly in the context of caste and gender dynamics in India. She holds a Ph.D. and has authored influential works such as Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India (2011) and Affirmative Action in India (2013). She is also editing the Handbook of Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action for Springer.

Her research has been recognized through prestigious awards including the IERA Award (1994), VKRV Rao Award (2007), and Skoch Award (2022). Deshpande’s work bridges economic theory with social policy, contributing to debates on intergroup disparities and systemic discrimination in South Asia.