Dr. Vidhya Soundararajan is a Assistant Professor at CAFRAL. She is an applied micro economist, and is interested in studying the effects of various economic shocks (financial/trade/regulatory) on firm behaviour, performance, and productivity. Her recent research looks at the impact of import competition on contract labor, informality, and firm performance, and the effects of employment protection laws on firm behaviour. She is also interested in research questions at the intersection of labor regulation, monopsony, labor markets, and firm’s financial performance.

Vidhya has an undergraduate degree in information technology from Madras Institute of Technology, and a masters in economics from Madras School of Economics. She holds a PhD in applied economics from Cornell University from where she also received the Graduate Student Fellowship. She has also worked in various consulting assignments at the Planning commission of India (erstwhile), and the Word Bank.