New Northeastern economics chair arrives with focus on global, interdisciplinary work
Asha Sundaram comes to Northeastern University with a focus on globalization, international trade and the role economics will play in the AI revolution.
Economist Asha Sundaram’s research on globalization and international trade has taken her from the World Bank to educational institutions across the globe.
As the world grapples with the implications of artificial intelligence and challenges around climate change and global conflict, economists must play a more active role in the future, said Sundaram, who was recently welcomed as the new economics department chair at Northeastern University.
“Economics will play a central role in a lot of the transitions that are happening now,” Sundaram said. “What does economics do? It says, ‘How are you going to manage that change?’”
Sundaram’s experience studying global economic forces at institutions in South Africa, New Zealand and the United States, along with her making the department a leader in innovative research, made her a perfect candidate for Northeastern, according to Kellee Tsai, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.
“Following a competitive global search, we are thrilled to have recruited professor Sundaram to lead our economics department,” Tsai said. “She has precisely the mix of impactful scholarship, administrative leadership experience, professional networks and compassion that will enable the department to thrive and innovate in the years to come.”
Growing up in Mumbai during the 1980s and 1990s, Sundaram witnessed firsthand the consequences of a country’s economy opening up to the world. As she watched new goods enter India for the first time, she became fascinated by the sprawling impact of globalization on her country.
“That’s what drew me to economics and particularly international economics,” Sundaram said. “Exposure to foreign countries or to the world, how does that change the economy? What does it do to people? What does it do to businesses?”
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After completing her master’s degree in economics at the University of Oxford, Sundaram worked as a researcher at the World Bank. There she saw the real-world impact of the global economic forces she had been exposed to as a university student.
She then attended Syracuse University for her Ph.D. in economics and emerged ready to continue her research in academia. That drive took her on a global journey that exposed her to the impact of international economics.
She worked as a senior lecturer position at the University of Cape Town, where she saw the booming economy of South Africa during the 2010 World Cup fade to a recession by the time she left in 2017. She went on to work as a lecturer and then associate professor at the University of Auckland. There, she watched a small island nation’s open economy shut down out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sundaram leaped back to the U.S. to join Northeastern’s economics department starting in January.
Sundaram’s arrival has already excited faculty like professor Nishith Prakash.
“Over the course of the recruitment process and in our many conversations about what it takes to build a strong and healthy economics department, what stood out to me was [her] energy, [her] willingness to work hard, and [her] openness to listening and engaging seriously with ideas,” Prakash said.
Northeastern’s emphasis on interdisciplinary work through its global campus network spoke to Sundaram, she said.
“The big challenges in the future are multidisciplinary … and you cannot address climate change or you cannot address inequality if you are not working internationally. The fact that there is a global system present to leverage that, I found that very exciting.”
Moving forward, Sundaram hopes to push the department to the forefront of the conversation around AI and embrace collaboration with experts across the university, potentially even with a new degree in health economics.