Mridul Joshi

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2023 - 2024 Academic Year

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Digital Empowerment Curriculum for College Students in India

This study evaluates an evidence-based, digital empowerment curriculum for college students in urban India, addressing challenges from increased digital media use. We conduct a randomized evaluation to test the impact of the curriculum on social media consumption, mental health, cognitive and academic outcomes, and civic engagement, potentially mediated through increased awareness of self-control problems and attention to habit formation, and the use of commitment devices. Amid global discussions on the impacts of digital media, our study aims to provide critical insights to guide future policy in India, promoting mindful digital interaction and enhanced digital well-being among the youth.

Mridul Joshi,  Social Sciences, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS)

Mridul is a second-year PhD student in Economics and Education at Stanford University.  Mridul's research focuses on the economics of education and education policy in low-income countries, applying insights from psychology. Recently, he has been dabbling in machine learning and natural language processing and its applications to education research. Prior to Stanford, he worked as a predoctoral fellow at the Becker Friedman Institute and Development Innovation Lab, UChicago. Previously, he has also worked at J-PAL and at the OECD. Mridul holds a master’s degree in economics from the Paris School of Economics.

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