About

Usha Nair-Reichert is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech, with a Ph.D. from Purdue University specializing in international trade, international business, econometrics, and economic development. Her research interests encompass innovation ecosystems, firm strategies related to innovation, globalization of R&D, trade, foreign direct investment, technology licensing and acquisition, and sustainability. She also focuses on environmental regulations and their impact on firm strategy, innovation, trade, and foreign direct investment, as well as partnerships, policies, and collaborations for economic development, particularly in education, infrastructure, and healthcare. Dr. Nair-Reichert has contributed to funded projects on supply chains, innovation, and efficiency gains across various industries including pulp and paper, biotechnology, telecommunications, and energy. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of International Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and World Development. Her professional memberships include the American Economic Association, the International Economics and Finance Society, and the European Economics and Finance Society, where she also serves on the Advisory Board. Her academic career at Georgia Tech began in 1995, and she has served as interim School Chair and as an Executive Leadership Institute Scholar. Her prior experience includes employment in the banking sector in India, focusing on trade, foreign exchange, and technology transfer. She is actively involved in community service through trusteeships and nonprofit work, and she advocates for the transformative power of education.

Selected publications

• Fixing the leaking bucket: Financial factors and the improved performance of India’s electricity distribution utilities

  The Electricity Journal · 2026-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Executive compensation and the potential for additional efficiency gains: Evidence from the Indian manufacturing sector

  Economic Modelling · 2022-06-11 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Location choices of undocumented migrants: Does access to higher public education matter?

  Growth and Change · 2021-01-19 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract We examine the impact of differences in state‐level higher education policies on location choices of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. using six years of available data over the period 2000 to 2012. The effect of greater access to higher education on the percentage of undocumented migrants residing in a state is positive, suggesting the existence of a “higher public education magnet” effect. Among states with favorable higher education policies, undocumented migrants prefer those states with larger networks, despite the likelihood of greater competition for admission to public institutions of higher education. However, undocumented migrants are reluctant to locate in states that have both large networks and unfavorable educational policies. This is possibly because the fear of attracting additional restrictive regulations dominates the positive cost‐saving effect of large networks.

  PublisherDOI

• Investment-specific productivity and the role of imported equipment in Latin America

  Applied Economics Letters · 2019-10-14

  articleSenior author

  We measure the contribution of imported equipment to labour productivity growth in 12 Latin American countries between 1970 and 2016, accounting for investment-specific technological change embodied in equipment. We link investment-specific technological change with falling relative equipment prices and construct its empirical counterpart by combining observations from each country’s transport, machinery, computers and communication equipment with household consumption data. By excluding structures from our relative equipment price series, we produce more precise growth decompositions, separating investment-specific technological change in equipment from the traditional, Hicks-neutral form of technological progress. Our results show significant variation in the contribution of imported equipment to growth across Latin America. Within country, matched-pair tests indicate that all factors, including imported equipment, make positive and significant contributions to growth. However, cross-country heterogeneity makes identifying significant contributors difficult in a pooled sample.

  PublisherDOI

• Agglomeration effects and spatial spillovers in efficiency analysis: a distribution-free methodology

  Regional Studies · 2019-04-15 · 14 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Technical efficiency estimates using standard stochastic frontier models do not include spillover effects, although the existence of such spillovers is well documented in the productivity literature. This paper proposes a regression-based, distribution-free estimation method applicable to both time-varying efficiency spatial stochastic frontier and fixed effects spatial autoregressive models, which is relatively easy to estimate. The empirical results from the Indian chemical industry illustrate that ignoring spatial dependence may seriously distort estimates for efficiency rankings. The average overall spillover effect on a firm’s efficiency is 7.20 percentage points, or an average positive spillover effect of US$4.9 million in sales revenue.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Another Look at Mortgage Lending Discrimination: A Review of Findings

  2018-01-16

  review

  This chapter examines the literature on mortgage lending discrimination. It aims to determine whether the findings of that literature suggest that discriminatory practices continue to exist among financial institutions engaged in the mortgage lending and administration process. The chapter looks at the three distinct stages of the lending process: the pre-application stage, the loan approval/rejection stage, and the loan administration stage. The pre-application stage includes the buyer's interaction with both the realtor and the lender. The realtor provides information on the location, availability, and pricing of housing units. The fair housing audit was developed to determine whether or not complaints of discrimination are valid. Auditing is used for both research and enforcement. Research auditing is designed to identify the existence of discrimination and requires a large number of tests to obtain statistically robust findings. The majority of the research on mortgage lending discrimination has employed statistical analysis in an attempt to document discrimination in mortgage lending behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• Impact of federal income tax rates and government borrowing on nominal interest rate yields on tax-free municipal bonds

  Journal of Financial Economic Policy · 2018-05-24 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  Purpose This study investigates the impact of federal income tax rates and budget deficits on the nominal interest rate yield on high-grade municipal tax-free bonds (municipals) in the US. The 58-year study period covers the years 1959 through 2016 and thus is very recent. Design/methodology/approach The study develops a loanable funds model that allows for various financial market factors. Once developed, the model is estimated by autoregressive two-stage least squares, with a Newey-West heteroskedasticity correction. Findings The nominal interest rate yield on municipals is a decreasing function of the maximum marginal federal personal income tax rate and an increasing function of the federal budget deficit (expressed as a per cent of GDP). This yield is also an increasing function of nominal interest rate yields on three- and ten-year treasury notes and expected inflation. Research limitations/implications When introducing additional interest rates such as treasury bills as explanatory variables, multi-collinearity becomes a serious problem. Practical implications This study indicates that lower maximum federal personal income tax rates and larger federal budget deficits, both act to raise borrowing costs for cities (of all sizes), counties and states across the country. Given the study period of 58 years, these relationships appear to be enduring ones that responsible policy-makers should not overlook. Social implications Tax reform and debt management need to be conducted in a very circumspect fashion. Originality/value No recent study investigating the impact of the two key policy variables in this study has been published.

  PublisherDOI

• Access to Higher Public Education and Location Choices of Undocumented Migrants: An Exploratory Analysis

  International Advances in Economic Research · 2015-04-03 · 6 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Erratum to: Access to Higher Public Education and Location Choices of Undocumented Migrants: An Exploratory Analysis

  International Advances in Economic Research · 2015-06-08 · 3 citations

  erratumOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Location Decisions of Undocumented Migrants in the United States

  AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · 2014-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Many states have experienced a large influx of undocumented migrants in recent years. It has resulted in contentious debates regarding the burdens and benefits of their presence in the U.S. and in individual states and the need for comprehensive immigration reform. This research examines factors that influence the location decisions of undocumented migrants in the U.S. Greater economic opportunities, the existence of migrant networks, and the share of agriculture, accommodation, and food services sectors in the Gross State Product have a posi-tive and significant impact on percentage of undocumented migrants at the state level. Un-documented migrants also appear to locate in states with policies that foster greater individual freedoms. The evidence of clustering of undocumented migrants in states with large migrant networks could pose challenges for states trying to regulate the size of their undocumented migrant population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Awards & honors

• Fulbright Specialist Award (2015)
• Executive Leadership Institute Scholar, USG (2011-2012)