Aarthi Rao ’10

Aarthi Rao (’10) combined her study of economics with a dual-degree in public health studies, equipping her with a unique set of skills well-tailored to address health crises in nations suffering economic distress.

“Economics was a strong complement to my coursework,” she says, “and helped me learn about incentives, behavior and policy in a very concrete way. Before my first economics course, I had considered behavior in relation to culture and attitudes, but not in relation to the economic decisions that people face.  Learning this distinction was particularly important for my interest in international development policy where the focus of policy is low-income groups who face significant resource constraints.”

Aarthi applied this interest in the relationship between economics and public health directly to her study abroad program. She traveled to India and Nepal during her time here, where she conducted research community-based health financing and policy. For example, she worked with the Indian Institute of Health Management Research on a project to improve global data collection for tracking HIV/AIDS financing flows from top donors to point-of-use in the field. With the help of economics faculty members, her work eventually became a published research paper.

“I enjoyed all of my economics studies, but most of all I enjoyed the camaraderie between economics students. In every class, students naturally form study/homework groups and help one another work through tough concepts.”