Muralidharan Receives Spencer Foundation Award

Postdoctoral student and HGSE Lecturer Karthik Muralidharan recently received the Spencer Foundation Exemplary Dissertation Award.

The award, which acknowledges excellent scholarly work conducted by young researchers in the field, comes with a $2,500 grant and makes Muralidharan eligible for a $25,000 grant for additional research.

"Karthik's receipt of the Spencer Foundation Exemplary Dissertation Award is a very special accomplishment. It demonstrates
that Karthik is not only a first-rate economist, but also that he understands teaching and learning, and schools as institutions," said
Professor Richard Murnane. "His dissertation illustrates his creativity, methodological sophistication, knowledge of schooling in India, and commitment to carrying out elegant, important, policy-relevant research. I am delighted to have Karthik as a colleague this year."

Muralidharan's dissertation work examined the quality of India's public service delivery in education and evaluated the design and
impact of a performance-pay program for teachers. He is currently teaching the course, The Economics of Education in Developing Countries.

Read more about Muralidharan's research.