Akhila Kovvuri

Akhila Kovvuri is a PhD candidate in economics at Stanford University. Her areas of interest are development economics and labor economics, with a particular focus on understanding how place-based policies and transportation infrastructure interact with gendered spatial constraints, shaping women's economic opportunities in developing countries. Her other projects include evaluating career mentoring programs for Muslim women in India, analyzing gender gaps in career progression in Brazil using online job portal data, and studying the effect of religious media on identity formation and political outcomes in India.

King Center Supported Research

2025 - 2026 Academic Year | Graduate Student Fellowship

The Geography of Gender: Spatial Constraints to Women's Economic Opportunities in India 

This research examines how transportation infrastructure impacts women's economic opportunities in urban India. Leveraging Delhi Metro's phased construction, Kovvuri show that metro access significantly increases female employment, mid-sized firm creation (particularly female-owned businesses), and proportion of women employed in firms. Effects are strongest within one mile of stations. Using novel spatially granular administrative data, Kovvuri demonstrate these impacts occur through both direct commuting benefits and indirect economic geography changes. The study contributes by examining gendered general equilibrium effects of transportation, analyzing labor demand through changes in consumer mobility, and augmenting spatial models with gender-specific mobility constraints quantifying safety costs.