Suresh Naidu Headshot

Suresh Naidu

Professor of International and Public Affairs and the Jack Wang and Echo Ren Professor of Economics

Suresh Naidu Headshot

International Affairs Building, Room 1405


Personal Details

On Leave for the Fall 2024 Semester

Focus areas: Economic effects of political transitions, economic history of slavery and labor institutions, international migration, economic applications of natural language processing 

Suresh Naidu teaches economics, political economy and development.

Naidu previously served as a Harvard Academy Junior Scholar at Harvard University, and as an instructor in economics and political economy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Naidu holds a BMath from University of Waterloo, an MA in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Publications:

  • “Recruitment Restrictions and Labor Markets: Evidence from the Post-Bellum U.S. South,” Journal of Labor Economics.
  • “Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies” with Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell, Jan Beise, Greg Clark, Ila Fazzio, Michael Gurven, Kim , Paul L. Hooper, William Irons, Hillard Kaplan, Donna Leonetti, Bobbi Low, Frank Marlowe, Richard McElreath, Suresh Naidu, David Nolin, Patrizio Piraino, Rob Quinlan, Eric Schniter, Rebecca Sear, Mary Shenk, Eric Alden Smith, Christopher von Rueden, and Polly Wiessner. Science Vol. 326. No. 5953 (October 30, 2009.) pp 682-688.
  • “Occupational Choices: The Economic Determinants of Land Invasions” with Danny Hidalgo, Simeon Nichter, and Neal Richardson, Review of Economics and Statistics.
  • “The Economic Impacts of a Citywide Minimum Wage” with Arin Dube and Michael Reich. Industrial and Labor Relations Review Vol. 60, No. 4 (July 2007), pp. 522-543.

Education

  • PhD in Economics, University of California, Berkeley
  • MA in Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • BMath, University of Waterloo

Research And Publications

In The Media

Suresh Naidu questions the notion that competition is the solution to injustices in the market.

Jan 23 2023
Jacobin

Suresh Naidu argues that institutions like the minimum wage and unions, which limited employers from fully exercising their market power, have weakened substantially over time.

Mar 06 2022
The New York Times

Suresh Naidu reflects on the movement on its 10th anniversary.

Sep 16 2021
The Nation

Alex Hertel Fernandez, Suresh Naidu, Patrick Youngblood, and Adam Reich outline a different way for scholarship to be of use: using modern quantitative social science to strengthen existing labor organizations.

Feb 07 2021
CUNY New Labor Forum

A weekly series from SIPA, the Earth Institute, and the Mailman School of Public Health discusses the life-altering global crisis.

Nov 10 2020