Ayesha Ali is an Associate Professor (tenured) of Economics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan, where she also serves as Senior Fellow at the Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre. Her work examines energy economics, digital technologies, and political economy in developing countries. Professor Ali has published in leading journals including Nature Human Behavior, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, and Journal of Development Economics, and reputable interdisciplinary journals (Nature Health, Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review). Her research lies at the intersection of applied development, information economics, and energy economics. Her current research examines policies to control electricity theft, improve energy access, media literacy's role in combating misinformation, competition in news media markets, and AI’s role in labor markets, providing evidence to improve economic outcomes and strengthen democratic institutions in developing countries. She has received three Meta/Facebook Integrity Awards (2019, 2020, 2022), Google exploreCSR Award, and was named Academic of the Month by Meta Research (2021). Her work has been funded by J-PAL KCAI, the International Growth Centre, and Pakistan's Higher Education Commission. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto and an MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University.
For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/view/ayeshaali/.
Mohazzam S., Ali A., Ali S.H. (2020). Greening Energy Provision in Urban Pakistan. In: Iftikhar M., Justice J., Audretsch D. (Eds.), Urban Studies and Entrepreneurship (227-247). The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15164-5_12
"Cognitive reflection is associated with greater truth discernment for COVID-19 headlines, less trust but greater use of formal information sources, and greater willingness to pay for masks among social media users in Pakistan" (2022) Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 3(4), with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi
"Down to the Wire: Leveraging Technology to Improve Electric Utility Cost Recovery" Forthcoming, American Economic Journal (AEJ): Applied Economics, with Husnain Ahmad, Robyn Meeks, Zhenxuan Wang, and Javed Younas (Impact Factor: 7.966; RePEc, Scimago, Scopus)
"Breaking the culture of non-payment: A qualitative analysis of utility intervention Project Sarbulandi in Karachi" (2024), Utilities Policy, 91(101850) with Husnain Ahmad, Robyn Meeks, Victoria Plutshack, Zhenxuan Wang, Javed Younas (Impact Factor: 3.8; RePEc, Scimago)
"Investor Focused Placement and Sizing of Photovoltaic Grid-Connected Systems in Pakistan" (2018) Renewable Energy, 121, 460-473, with Ullah, Hayat, Kamal, I., and Arshad, N. (Impact Factor: 8.7; RePEc, Scimago, Scopus)
"Countering Misinformation on Social Media Through Educational Interventions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Pakistan" (2023) Journal of Development Economics, 163(2):103108, with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi (Impact Factor: 5; RePEc, Scimago, Scopus)
"Validated Digital Literacy Measures for Populations with Low Levels of Internet Experiences" (2023) The Journal of Engineering in Economic Development (Development Engineering), Volume 8, with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi and Agha Ali Raza (Impact Factor: 1.78; RePEc, Scimago, Scopus)
"Digital Literacy and Vulnerability to Misinformation: Evidence from Facebook Users in Pakistan" (2022) Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 2, with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi
"Toolbox of Interventions Against Online Misinformation" (2024) Nature Human Behavior, 8(7), 1044-1052, with Kozyreva, Anastasia, P. Lorenz-Spreen, S.M. Herzog, Ullrich K. H. Ecker, S. Lewandowsky, R. Hertwig, et al. [PsyArXiv link] (Impact Factor: 29.9; RePEc, Scimago, Scopus)
Ali, A., Munir, D. (2011) Entrepreneurship in the IT Industry in Pakistan, Background Paper for World Bank Finance and Private Sector Development, September 2011.
Ali, A. (2010). Institutional Reforms for Competitiveness - Recent Developments, Chapter in Pakistan State of Competitiveness Report, Competitiveness Support Fund: Islamabad, September 2010.
Ali, A., Sarfraz, R. Z. (2018). Fake News and the General Election, Express Tribune, July 8, 2018
Ali, A. (2011). Rent-seekers or Entrepreneurs, Dawn Economics and Business Review, Feb 28, 2011
"The Analytical Angle: Addressing the woes of Pakistans electricity distribution sector," with Javed Younas, Dawn, June 16, 2021
Ali, A. (In Progress, Revision of IGC Working Paper). Do Political Dynasties Hinder Development? Evidence from Natural Disaster in Pakistan. International Growth Center Working Paper 2017.
"IMFs Role in Delivering Trade Policy Advice to Bangladesh," Background Paper for the IMFs Independent Evaluation Office, August 2008
"Where does Pakistans electricity go?" with Javed Younas, Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre, July 09, 2021
"The Analytical Angle: Why Pakistan must replace electricity subsidies with a voucher and rebate system," with Javed Younas, Dawn, May 30, 2022
Ali, A., Hamid, N. (2011). The Silver Lining of the Noughties, Herald Pakistan Decade Review Edition, Jan 15, 2011.
"Understanding the Effect of Digital Literacy on the Spread of Misinformation - Evidence from Pakistan." American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. January 2020.
"Do Reward and Reprimand Policies Work in Reducing Electricity Distribution Losses." American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. January 2019.
"Countering Misinformation Through Educational Interventions." International Conference on Media and Conflict. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Islamabad. February 2020.
"Economic Consequences of Internet Censorship." American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. January 2020.
"Do Reward and Reprimand Policies Work in Reducing Electricity Distribution Losses." 39th Middle Eastern Economic Association (MEEA) Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. January 2019.
"Countering Misinformation Through Educational Interventions." Applied Development Economics Conference. Lahore School of Economics, Lahore. Sepetember 2019.
Hafeez, K., Chandio, Y., Bakar, A., Ali, A., Syed, A. A., Jadoon, T. M., & Alizai, M. H(2017). Inverting HVAC for Energy Efficient Thermal Comfort in Populous Emerging Countries. In Prabal Dutta & Hae Young Noh (Eds.), Proceedings from ACM BuildSys 17: The ACM International Conference on Systems for Energy-Efficient Built Environments (1-10). New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3137133.3137137
"Electricity Infrastructure, Heat, and Adaptation to Climate Change in Pakistan" (In Progress) with Husnain Ahmad, Robyn Meeks, Zhenxuan Wang, and Javed Younas.
"Fighting Deepfake Misinformation: Evidence from a Field Experiment" (In Progress) with Agha Ali Raza & Ihsan Ayyub Qazi
"Do reward and reprimand policies reduce electricity distribution losses?" (2023) (Under Revision), with Khusrav Gaibulloev and Javed Younas
"Informational and Behavioral Approaches to Improving Electricity Bill Payments" (In Progress) with Husnain Ahmad, Robyn Meeks, Zhenxuan Wang, and Javed Younas.
2023: London School of Economics, UK; New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2019: Facebook, USA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, USA; Lahore School of Economics, Applied Development Economics Conference, Lahore; American University of Sharjah, UAE; American Economic Association Annual Meetings, USA; Middle Eastern Economic Association Annual Meetings, Atlanta, USA
2020: American Economic Association Annual Meetings, USA (Invited for a video interview to be featured on the AEA Website); Duke Dev Lab/LUMS/LSE workshop (online)
2025: CNM Research grant (PI), Amount: ~ $3540
2015: International Growth Center Grant (PI), Amount: GBP 10,000
2025: IGC-SPF (Co-PI) with Robyn Meeks, Husnain Ahmad, Javed Younas, Zhenxuan Wang, Amount: GBP 19,550
2023: Google exploreCSR Award (Co-PI) with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi, Zafar Ayyub Qazi, & Agha Ali Raza, Amount: $32,000
2020: Facebook Foundational Integrity Research Award (PI) with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi & Agha Ali Raza, Amount: $90,000
2025: DARE-RC (Senior Advisor) with Jessica Albrent, Faisal Bari, Farah Nadeem (co-PIs), Amount: ~$100,000
2022-23: Meta/Facebook Foundational Integrity Research Award (PI) with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi & Agha Ali Raza, Amount: $50,000
2022: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) - King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI), with Robyn Meeks, Husnain Ahmad, Javed Younas, Amount: $150,000
2019: DAAD Grant (Co-PI), Amount: EUR120,000
2022: Higher Education Commission, National Research Program for Universities (PI), Amount: $12,000
2019: Facebook Foundational Integrity Research Award (PI) with Ihsan Ayyub Qazi, Amount: $50,000