معرفی
Kira Villa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of New Mexico (UNM), where she has been since Fall 2014. She holds a PhD and Master’s in Applied Economics from Cornell University’s Dyson School and a Bachelor’s in International Relations (Africa focus) from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Her research focuses on nutrition, health, and human development in contexts of poverty, particularly child poverty and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. She examines how childhood and adolescent experiences influence long-term economic well-being and intergenerational health and human capital transmission. Environmental shocks during early life are another key area of study.
Teaching interests include Development Economics and Econometrics. Though no formal awards are listed, her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Human Resources, Journal of African Economies, and Journal of Economics & Human Biology. She is affiliated with several research centers, including the Science Impact Laboratory for Policy and Economics (SILPE) and the Nepal Study Center. Her work extends to policy analysis, such as a 2019 white paper on early childhood education investments in New Mexico.
No grants or advising students are explicitly listed in the provided text. Her research collaborations include interdisciplinary teams examining global health, poverty, and policy interventions.
