Anja Benshaul-Tolonen
Associate Professor of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University 

Anja Benshaul-Tolonen is an Associate Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University, specializing in development and natural resource economics. Her research examines how extractive industries shape local economic and social outcomes in low-income settings, with a particular focus on Africa. Her work has explored the effects of mining on public revenues, employment, women’s empowerment, infant health, and crime. Her current research agenda focuses on backward linkages and industrial development around the copper mining sector in Zambia. At Barnard College, she teaches development economics, econometrics, and research methods. Her research has been supported by organizations including the International Growth Centre, UNESCO, and the World Bank, and she has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the Natural Resource Governance Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Gothenburg in 2015. She has also been a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, the University of California, Berkeley, New York University, and Princeton University.