She received a Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 2013, a M.Phil. in Economics at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar in 2008, and a B.A. from Yale University in 2006. Her research agenda focuses on questions of agricultural institutions and structural transformation, as well as human capital accumulation for women and girls, and has been funded by the Macarthur Foundation, the Fondation de France, USAID, the Department of Labor, the Wellspring Foundation, and a number of other donors. She has conducted or is actively conducting fieldwork in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India, and Kenya.