Naila  Shofia

Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at National University of Singapore, where I held a joint appointment at Yale-NUS College (Division of Social Sciences) prior to its closure. During the current semester, I am a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School, hosted by the Center for International Development.

I hold a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and completed my doctoral training at Bocconi University. 

My research lies at the intersection of development economics, labor economics, and political economy. I study how social norms, identity, and political institutions shape economic behavior and political outcomes in developing countries, with a regional focus on Southeast Asia. Across projects, I combine theory-driven causal identification with field experiments, lab-in-the-field designs, large-scale surveys, and novel data construction on phenomena that are traditionally difficult to measure empirically. My research has received funding from the Roberto Franceschi Foundation, LEAP-Bocconi, J-PAL Southeast Asia, and the Singapore Ministry of Education.

Prior to pursuing an academic career, I worked across multiple sectors in Asia and Europe, including investment banking, international organizations, a London-based NGO focused on African development, as well as a government-owned steel company.

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