Phone
Office Location
821 Hill Hall
Kusum Mundra is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Rutgers University Newark. She received her Ph.D in Economics from the University of California, Riverside and an M.A. from Delhi School of Economics. Her research interests are Applied Econometrics, Immigration and International Migration, Social Networks, Gender and Minority Population, Nonparametric and Semiparametric Panel Data Models.
She has worked on issues ranging from the effect of immigrant networks and immigrant diasporas on trade, role of social networks on immigrant earnings, immigrant and minority homeownership, access to healthcare for immigrant women, empirical investigation of suicide bombing events and semiparametric panel data estimation. Her research has been published in various economic journals including the International Migration Review, Demography, American Economic Review- Papers and Proceedings, Review of International Economics, Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, International Trade Journal, Terrorism and Political Violence, the Handbook of Applied Econometrics and Statistical Inferences, and the Frontiers of Economics and Globalization – Migration and Culture.
Dr. Mundra's research has been cited in various media outlets such as Washington Post, US News, NPR (Marketplace), Economist.
She is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) at Bonn since 2009 and is also a Fellow affiliated with Global Labor Organization. Before joining Rutgers Dr. Mundra was an Assistant Professor at San Diego State University and worked in economic litigation consulting at NERA Economic Consulting in NYC.
At Rutgers Dr. Mundra teaches Statistics (large sections), Cross Sectional and Time Series Econometrics, Women in the Economy at the undergraduate Level. At the graduate level she teaches Econometrics and Economics of Immigration and Gender.
ON SABBATICAL FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-2023
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Riverside
M.A. Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India
B.Sc. with Honors in Economics, St. Xaviers College, Kolkata, India
Expertise
Applied Econometrics, Economics of Migration and Immigration, Housing, Population Economics, Role of Immigrant Social Networks, Gender
Publications
Selected Publications:
“Education-Occupation Mismatch for Hispanics in the U.S.: Role of Citizenship” with Fernando Rios-Avila, forthcoming Education Economics 2023.
“Using Repeated Cross Sectional Data to examine the role of Immigrant Birth-country Networks on Unemployment Duration : an Application of Guell & Hu (2006) Approach” with Fernando Rios-Avila, published online April 1, 2020 Empirical Economics.
"Minority and Immigrant Experience in the Recent Housing Market: Evidence from the 2009 American Housing Survey” Immigration Symposium Special Issue, Eastern Economic Journal, 46(1), Winter 2020, 53-81.
"Homeownership Trends among the Never Married,” with Ruth Uwaifo-Oyelere, Housing Studies, 39(1), January 2019 (online March 2018).
“Immigrant Homeownership during the Great Recession and Beyond: Role of Birth Networks” with Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere, International Migration Review Fall 2018 (online March 24, 2017).
“Housing Adequacy Gap for Minorities and Immigrants in the U.S.: Evidence from the 2009 American Housing Survey” with Amarendra Sharma, Journal of Housing Research, 24(1), 2015, 55-72.
“Skyscraper Height and the Business Cycle: Separating Myth from Reality” with Jason Barr and Bruce Mizrach, Applied Economics, 47(2), January 2015, 148-160.
“Immigrant-Based Networks and the U.S. Bilateral Trade: Role of Immigrant Occupation,” International Trade Journal, April 2014.
“Direct and Dual Elasticities of Substitution under Non-homogenous Technology and Nonparametric Distribution,” Indian Growth and Development Review, 6(2), November 2013.
“Immigrant Homeownership and Immigration Status: Evidence from Spain” with Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Review of International Economics, 21(2), January 2013.
“Immigrant Networks and the U.S. Bilateral Trade: Role of Immigrant Income,” in Gil S. Epstein and Ira N. Gang (ed.) Migration and Culture (Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, Volume 8), Emerald Publishers, Dec 2010.
“Is the Downturn in Maquiladora Employment Cyclical or Structural,” with Jim Gerber, Indian Growth and Development Review, 3(1), Spring 2010.
“Social Networks and Their Impact on the Employment and Earnings of Mexican Immigrants,” with Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Demography, November 2007.
“Suicide Bombing As A Strategic Instrument of Protest: an Empirical Investigation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” with Dipak K. Gupta, in Terrorism and Political Violence, December 2005.
“Immigration and International Trade: a Semiparametric Empirical Investigation,” Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 14(1), March 2005.
"Impact of Immigration on Prenatal Care use and Birth Weight: Evidence from California in the 1990s,” with Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes in American Economic Review-Papers and Proceedings May 2003.
“Investigating Hispanic Under Representation in Managerial and Professional Occupations,” with Andrew Moellmer and Waldo Lopez-Aqueres, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science, 25(4), 2003.
“Semiparametric Panel Data Estimation: An Approach to Immigrant Homelink Effect on U.S. Producer Trade Flows,” with Aman Ullah, in Handbook of Applied Econometrics and Statistical Inferences, Marcel Dekker, 2001.
“Parametric and Semi-Parametric Estimation of the Effect of Firm Attributes on Efficiency: The Electricity Generating Sector in India,” with Madhu Khanna and Aman Ullah, Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 8(4),1999.