Aparna Mathur
Lots of people talk about the ‘future of work.’ Aparna Mathur is helping to build it.
Independent contractors. Remote work. Automation. Artificial intelligence. Female workers. These are just some of the ways in which jobs of the 21st century look different from those of the 20th. There are few people who are closer to the center of these trends than Aparna Mathur.
Along with being a Visiting Fellow at FREOPP, Aparna is a Senior Research Manager in Economics at Amazon, where she tracks and conducts research on labor- and employment-related challenges faced by Amazon’s U.S. and global workforce. “I’m thrilled that the work I do at Amazon is so impactful,” Aparna says. “Using rigorous research and analysis, we can implement evidence-based policy changes to improve the lives of millions of workers.”
Prior to joining Amazon, Aparna spent a year as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where she monitored the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. “It was a sobering, yet simultaneously exciting experience,” she reflects. “Being at the forefront of policymaking during a pandemic, advising the White House on everything from health-related issues to economic policy, has been a high point of my career. I feel fortunate to have been able to serve the country at such an uncertain time.”
Aparna has spent most of her career in the think tank world, including 15 years at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. At AEI, she led the AEI-Brookings Project on Paid Family and Medical Leave, a bipartisan, fiscally neutral proposal to offer up to eight weeks of parental leave to a broad population of working parents. Her work caught the attention of Ivanka Trump, and earned Aparna a place on Politico’s list of the 50 people “blowing up American politics” in 2017. “I continue to believe strongly in the need for a bipartisan push on paid family leave to help millions of working parents across America,” says Aparna. “I’m proud of the recognition that our work received — and especially that it had a real impact on changing mindsets around this critical issue.”
Aparna also worked with the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution to understand and mitigate the impact of a carbon tax on lower-income workers. “A carbon tax would be regressive,” Aparna and her co-author noted, “because lower income households tend to spend a higher percentage of their income on energy and other goods whose relative prices will increase under a carbon tax.” Her analysis suggested that if revenues from a carbon tax were returned to lower-income workers in the form of an earned income tax credit, the combined policy “could create net benefits for…the lowest income deciles while improving incentives to work.”
Along with her work at Amazon, Aparna serves as a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she is researching the welfare impact of the trillions in federal COVID-19 relief spending; as a member of the Advisory Council for the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Program; and on the boards of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the National Economists Club, among other roles.
At FREOPP, Aparna’s work will cover the broad range of economic and social policies that reflect her expertise. “Over the course of my career, my research has focused on understanding how economic and social policies can be used to expand economic opportunity for those who are most vulnerable,” she says. “This aligns perfectly with FREOPP’s mission and goals. I’m excited to be a part of the positive change that FREOPP is bringing to our country.”
Aparna lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband and two “crazy” boys.
Follow Aparna on Twitter: @aparnamath
Aparna’s curriculum vitae
