How going far pays off
BY VITTORIA ANGELONI
Experiencing a change in scenery in your formative years -as a high school student- can leave a perpetual impact. It certainly did for Anusha Chari, Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Entering her first year of high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts after growing up in India, she was plunged into a vibrant, global and most importantly foreign environment. She shares that the experience was transformative: “I was surrounded by bright, young American teenagers and immersed myself in the American high school experience, enjoying the freedom to choose classes that interested me.” She dove into work and activities, the new surroundings serving as her building blocks of inspiration. “My family returned to India at the end of the year, but I knew then that I was drawn to the United States and would return to study one day.”
Life in the United States offered a vast contrast to India, the country in which she had been born. “I was aware from a very young age that people around me did not have much. It was hard to ignore the fact that, at all times, not far from me, were children who did not have food, clothing, or shelter.” She observed vaccine drives, laparoscopy clinics for family planning, and clinics in remote parts of India. She explains the striking difference she felt touring Europe and the US, being a first hand witness to the disparate amounts of wealth and prosperity. “Delivering economic growth in India seemed of paramount importance and compelled me to study economics.”
Following her studies in economics, politics and philosophy at Oxford university in the UK, she enrolled for a PhD at UCLA. “Growing up in a developing country and being educated in the UK and the US has given me a unique perspective through which to approach economics.” It was crucial to her developing as a critical thinker, both by experiencing the world through different lenses as well as encountering students and professors who had experienced the same. Her broadened world view makes her adept to speak to audiences of all kinds. “I became an international economist given my deep interest in the global economy and how it functions—the challenges and opportunities of living in an economically integrated world.”
In 2024 she joined the Council of Economic Advisors, a part of the President's team which allows academics to work in policy making. Given her expertise in international economics, she worked on conducting economic analysis and providing policy advice, specifically for international markets and global risk assessment. She describes the experience as being ‘fast paced, intellectually stimulating, and deeply rewarding’: “Serving the country with a highly a talented team was an honor and a lifetime privilege.”
Internationality is an asset, both personally and professionally and as a consequence of its challenges, Anusha Chari emerged more galvanized: “One thing I had not counted on was that although I grew up with privilege in India, in the western world, I would be seen as a woman of color.” To her, this created misalignment with her own perception of herself and others’. For this reason, she was able to better understand the challenges faced by women of color, especially in the economic field, and incentivized her to diversify her work environments and ensure that all voices are heard equally: “I firmly believe that the contributions of diverse perspectives to policy-making and academic research enrich the field of economics.”
