Associate Professor of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University
My research centers around extractive industries. With the green energy transition, some countries will see an intensification of mining, especially those rich in copper, cobalt and other critical minerals.
Across three projects, I research the copper mining industry in Zambia: (1) Zambian firm network using VAT data, with an initial paper published on local firms, (2) community exposure to heavy metal toxicity and other environmental concerns. We have collected soil samples, focus group discussions and household data in the Copperbelt, and will conduct a randomized control trial to understand community acceptance of mitigation strategies to reduce personal exposure to heavy metal toxicity, (3) a multi-year natural experiment with a nested RD/RCT trial exploring the impact of the opening of the largest future copper mine in the world. This project with together with Prof. Edward Miguel and Prof. Jonathan Weigel at UC Berkeley, and Prof. Dale Mudenda, University of Zambia.
My recently published research includes a review paper, Extractive Industries and Gender Equality (Review of Environmental Economics and Policy), Industrial Gold Mining and Female Empowerment (Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2024), The Evolution and Persistence of Women’s Roles: Evidence from the Gold Rush (Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2023), and Local Industrial Shocks and Infant Mortality (Economic Journal, 2019).
At Barnard College, I teach Empirical Development Economics, Econometrics and a senior seminar on Women in Development Economics.
Please look here for my CV.
Contact details:
Anja Benshaul-Tolonen
atolonen [at] barnard [dot] edu
Updated: 04/12/2025
Anja Benshaul-Tolonen 