Mahesh V. Karra, ScD

  • Associate Professor of Population and Family Health

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Overview

I am an Associate Professor of Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Director of the Program on Women’s Empowerment Research (POWER). I was also an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Göttingen’s Center for Modern Indian Studies from 2024-2025. My academic and research interests are broadly in development economics, health economics, quantitative methods, and applied demography. My research utilizes experimental and non-experimental methods to investigate the relationships between population, health, and economic development in low- and middle-income countries. I have conducted field work in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, and my current research uses randomized controlled trials to evaluate the health and economic effects of improving access to family planning and maternal and child health services in Malawi, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. I have also worked for the Population Reference Bureau and the Futures Group International and served as a consultant to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Population Council. I am also a Co-Editor of Studies in Family Planning, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles on public health, social science, and biomedical research on sexual and reproductive health, fertility, and family planning.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Population and Family Health

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • ScD, Global Health Economics, Harvard University
  • MSc, Economics, Barcelona School of Economics

Committees, Societies, Councils

  • American Economic Association (AEA)
  • European Association for Population Studies (EAPS)
  • American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon)
  • International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
  • Population Association of America (PAA)
  • Population and Poverty (PopPov) Research Network
  • International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP)
  • Society of Family Planning (SFP)
  • Union for African Population Studies (UAPS)
  • American Society for Nutrition (ASN)

Editorial Boards

  • Co-Editor-in-Chief, Studies in Family Planning

Honors & Awards

  • 2024 – 2025: Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow
  • 2020 – 2022: Max Planck Sabbatical Laureate
  • 2018 – 2021: Junior Faculty Fellow, Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing
  • 2015: Clarence James and Sarah Bradley Gamble Endowment Scholarship
  • 2015: Uwe Brinkmann Memorial Travel Fellowship
  • 2014 – 2015: Dillon Family Fellowship
  • 2013: Michael von Clemm Traveling Fellowship, Bujumbura, Burundi
  • 2012 – 2014: John F. and Virginia B. Taplin Fellowship

Research

Research Interests

  • Global Health
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Selected Publications

Karra, M., G. Fink, and D. Canning. “Facility Distance and Child Mortality: A Multi-Country Study of Health Facility Access, Service Utilization, and Child Health Outcomes.” International Journal of Epidemiology. 46(3): 817-826. DOI:10.1093/ije/dyw062.

Karra, M.*, D. Canning*, and J. Wilde*. “The Effect of Fertility Decline on Economic Growth in Africa: A Macrosimulation Model.” Population and Development Review. 43(S1): 237-263. DOI: 10.1111/padr.12009. Top Downloaded Article, Population and Development Review, 2017-2018

Karra, M., D. Canning, and R. Sato. “Adding Measurement Error to Location Data to Protect Subject Confidentiality While Allowing for Consistent Estimation of Exposure Effects.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C (Applied Statistics). 69(5): 1251-1268. DOI:10.1111/rssc.12439.

Anukriti, S.*, C. Herrera-Almanza*, P. K. Pathak*, and M. Karra*. “Curse of the Mummy-ji: The Influence of Mothers-in-law on Women in India.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 102(5): 1328-1351. DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12114. Media Coverage: BBC, CNN News18, Live Mint, ThePrint, IndiaSpend, NEU News, Ideas for India

Karra, M. “Measurement of Unmet Need for Contraception: A Counterfactual Approach.” Studies in Family Planning 53 (4): 657-680. DOI: 10.1111/sifp.12216.

Karra, M., D. Maggio**, M. Guo**, B. Ngwira, and D. Canning. “The Causal Effect of a Family Planning Intervention on Women's Contraceptive Use and Birth Spacing.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (22): e2200279119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200279119.

Liddie, J.M., M.A. Bind, M. Karra, and E.M. Sunderland. “County-level associations between drinking water PFAS contamination and COVID-19 mortality in the United States.” Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. DOI: 10.1038/s41370-024-00723-5.

Maggio, D.**, M. Karra, and D. Canning. “Family Planning and Children’s Human Capital: Experimental Evidence from Urban Malawi.” Demography, p. 11581796. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-11581796.

Canning, D.* and M. Karra*. “Unwanted Family Planning including Unwanted Sterilization: Prevalence Estimates for India.” Studies in Family Planning. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12274.

Vincent, S.**, S. Anukriti, C. Herrera Almanza, and M. Karra***. “Contraceptive Concordance.” Forthcoming, Studies in Family Planning Special Issue on Rethinking Family Planning Measurement.