Hello!

I'm an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Economics at the School of Economics, University of Sydney.

My research is on the broad areas of political economy, network empirics, institutions, conflict and development.
I'm passionate about using innovative data and tools to explore the world around us.

My research is funded by the Australian Research Council.

Research

Publications

- Public Sentiment in Times of Terror (Journal of Development Economics 162, Article No. 103058) WP Version

- Diverting Domestic Turmoil (Journal of Public Economics 208, Article No. 104608) WP Version

Working papers

- Key Players in Economic Development (Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization)
(with Roland Hodler, Paul Raschky and Yves Zenou)

- Conflicts in Networks
(with Paul Raschky, Yves Zenou and Junjie Zhou)

- Competing for Attention – The Effect of Talk Radio on Elections and Political Polarization in the US
(with Paul Raschky)

- Partisan Alignment, Insurgency and Public Safety: Evidence from the Indian Red-corridor
(with Pushkar Maitra and Yuchen Zhong)

News

March 2024 I co-organized the 1st Social Conflict and Political Economy (SCoPE) Workshop at the University of Sydney

Feb 2024 I presented my co-authored work with Pushkar Maitra at the Farsiders Development Seminar.

Dec 2023 Check out the revised version of my work "Key Players in Economic Development" (joint with Paul Raschky, Roland Hodler and Yves Zenou)

Dec 2023 Check out the revised version of my work on "Conflicts in Networks" (joint with Paul Raschky, Yves Zenou and Junjie Zhou)

Dec 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Paul Raschky at the Organizational Economics Symposium at the University of Sydney.

Dec 2023 I co-organized the Semi-Periodic Agricultural & Development Economics Research Symposium (SPADERS) at the University of Sydney.

Oct 2023 Just received ARC Discovery Project (DP24) funding for my project on Political Conflict, Inefficient Markets, and Food Crises” (AUD 190,000), with David Ubilava, Justin Hastings and Andrey Vasnev!

Sep 2023 Just released: New working paper on "Partisan Alignment, Insurgency and Public Safety: Evidence from the Indian Red-Corridor" (joint with Pushkar Maitra and Yucheng Zhong).

Aug 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Paul Raschky at the Econometric Society Australasia Meeting at UNSW.

Jun 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Pushkar Maitra at the Australasian Development Economics Workshop at Macquarie University.

Jun 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Kathryn Baragwanath at the Workshop on Big Data in Textual Analysis in Economics, Finance, and Politics Workshop at the University of Sydney.

April 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Paul Raschky at the Western Economic Association International Conference at the University of Melbourne.

March 2023 I presented my co-authored work with Kathryn Baragwanath at the Resilient Democracy Lab Workshop at UNSW.

Jan 2023 My paper "Public Sentiment in Times of Terror" was just accepted for publication at the Journal of Development Economics.

Workshops

Applied Young Economist Webinar (AYEW)

I am the founder and co-organizer of the Applied Young Economist Webinar series, which provides a virtual platform for PhD students and PostDocs to share their work, receive feedback and connect with peers. This event is funded by the Monash-Warwick Alliance.

Social Conflict and Political Economy (SCoPE) Workshop

I co-organize the Social Conflict and Political Economy (SCoPE) Workshop, at the University of Sydney, which brings together international and local researchers working on conflict and other interesting aspects of political economy. This event is funded by the Australian research Council.

Contact me on

Email: ashani.amarasinghe@sydney.edu.au

Office: 562 Social Sciences Building, Camperdown NSW 2050, Australia