Arpita Biswas

• ECON 2362 - Economics of Gender

I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba. My research and teaching interests lie in the areas of political economy of urban development, feminist economics, development economics, and Marxian political economy. 

• PhD (Economics), University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2024
• MPhil (Economics), Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2012
• MA (Economics), University of Hyderabad, 2010
• BA (Economics), University of Delhi, 2008

Research interests

• Political economy of urban development
• Feminist economics 
• Development economics
• Marxian political economy

Research summary

My PhD dissertation centralizes the role of space in critically exploring the processes of urban development in the global South. Based on a systematic case study of India’s capital city, Delhi, it asks: why have displacement measures witnessed an acceleration in the neoliberal period? What have been the effects of those measures on different classes? What have been their effects on displaced women’s labor force participation and capacity for social reproduction? I am interested in studying related questions for other cities of developing countries. 

I am also interested in exploring questions around domestic violence. For instance, what is the relationship between women's employment status and the incidence of spousal violence? How does displacement affect the risks of domestic violence?

• Biswas, Arpita. 2023. "The Gendered Effects of Urban Displacement: Insights from Delhi, India." Review of Radical Political Economics 55(4): 605–616.
• Biswas, Arpita and Anjana Thampi. 2022. "Understanding Trends in Spousal Violence in India." Social Scientist 50(9-10): 93–103. 

• 2019 - Solomon Barkin Award, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst (for dissertation research on problems faced by working people and with the potential to contribute to improving their conditions)