Olga Shemyakina received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA in 2007. She joined the School of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in August 2007. Her research interests include applied microeconomics, development economics, labor economcs, armed conflict, health, education, and gender.
Dr. Shemyakina’s research examines the effects of violent conflict and subsequent instances of protracted economic and political instability on the behavior of households in various geographical and institutional settings. These specific and often entrenched effects can easily be overlooked when examined at the aggregate, country level. In recent years, violent conflict has become more localized and occurs more frequently. Therefore, understanding its impact on population and how best to address it through policy interventions is crucial for development policy.
Recent research studies and publications by Dr. Shemyakina have explored the short- and long-term effects of armed conflict on health and education of children, subjective well-being, migration, marriage, and labor market outcomes. Her particular focus has been on exploring gender-differentiated impact of conflicts. Dr. Shemyakina validates her research results by drawing on multiple sources of data and measures of conflict.
Dr. Shemyakina has been a Senior Affiliate with the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN) since 2007 and was appointed as an IZA Research Fellow in 2014. Dr. Shemyakina also worked on three research consulting projects for the World Bank studying links between armed conflict, education and gender.