Shama Gamkhar

Shama Gamkhar is an Associate Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. She teaches courses on public finance, financial management and environmental economic policy.  Her research interests include fiscal federalism, transportation finance, public school finance and municipal bond markets. In the field of environmental policy her focus is on climate change, pollution abatement and enforcement of environmental regulation and water management in international river systems.

She served as the co-editor of the Annual Review of American Federalism, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Oxford University Press 2008-12, as a committee member for the study of the long-term viability of the fuel tax for transportation finance conducted by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies (2003-04) and in 2010, as member of the Standards Committee, National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration 2004-2011, researcher for the Texas School Finance Project, Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance, Texas State Legislature 2003-04, as a consultant to The World Bank (1993-94 and 2005) and to Planning Commission, Government of India (1984).

Her recent publications include: “The State of American Federalism 2011–2012: A Fend for Yourself and Activist Form of Bottom-Up Federalism” (co-authored) Publius: The Journal of Federalism, and “Health Impacts of Air Pollution in China” Environment International, 2012.  In addition to book chapters and reports she has published peer reviewed research papers in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, The National Tax Journal, Public Finance Review, Public Budgeting and Finance, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law and Journal of Policy Modeling. She is the author of two books, Federal Intergovernmental Grants and the States: Managing Devolution published by Edward Elgar in its series Studies in Fiscal Federalism and State and Local Finance, 2002 and The Indian Economy and its Performance Since Independence, (Co-edited) New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990.

She received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and an M.Phil. in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University.
 

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Education

Ph.D. in economics, University of Maryland at College Park, USA; M.Phil. in economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, India; MA in economics, University of Mumbai University, India ; DBM, Sydneham College, University of Mumbai, India; BA in economics, University of Delhi, India

Current Positions

Co-editor of the Annual Review of American Federalism, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Oxford University Press, since 2008; Consultant, with Tioga, Inc on a project on New Dedicated Mechanism for Freight Transportation Investment, sponsored by Transportation Research Board, National Academies, since 2010; Standards Committee member, National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration since 2004

Previous Positions

Committee member, The Fuel Tax and Alternatives for Transportation Funding, Transportation Research Board, National Academies, 2003-04; Consultant to The World Bank, Book Project on Intergovernmental Transfers, 2005; Consultant to The World Bank, Preparation of paper on Intergovernmental Transfers, 1993-94; Researcher for the Texas School Finance Project, Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance, Texas State Legislature, 2003-04

Consultant, Planning Commission, Government of India, 1984 

"Comparing Federations: Lessons from Comparing Canada and the United States," (co-authored with Jill Vickers); Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 40, Number 3, Summer 2010, pp.351-356

“The State of American Federalism 2008–2009: The Presidential Election, the Economic Downturn, and the Consequences for Federalism,” (co-authored with John Dinan), Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 39, Number 3, Summer 2009, pp. 369-407

“Water sharing between India and Pakistan: a critical evaluation of the Indus Water Treaty” (co-authored with Mary Miner, Gauri Patankar and David Eaton), Water International, Volume 34, Issue 2, June 2009, pages 204 - 216

“Political Economy of Grant Allocations: The Case of Federal Highway Demonstration Grants,” Publius the Journal of Federalism, (co-authored with Hamid Ali), Winter 2008, Vol. 38, No. 1 pp. 1-21

“A Modest Proposal: Let’s Report Tax Abatements,” (co-authored with Michael Granof) Journal of Government Financial Management, Spring 2008, pp. 31-36

Committee for the Study of the Long Term Viability of the Fuel Taxes for Transportation Finance, The Fuel Tax and Alternatives for Transportation Funding, (co-authored et al.) A Report of the National Research Council, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington DC, 2006

In addition to book chapters and reports she has published peer reviewed research papers in The National Tax Journal, Public Finance Review, Public Budgeting and Finance, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law and Journal of Policy Modeling. She is the author of two books, Federal Intergovernmental Grants and the States: Managing Devolution published by Edward Elgar in its series Studies in Fiscal Federalism and State and Local Finance, 2002 and The Indian Economy and its Performance Since Independence, (Co-edited) New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990.