M. R. Sharan is a PhD from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Global Development. His PhD research focused on questions centred around the political economy of rural Bihar in India. He has worked as a researcher and policy economist, with research organizations, state governments and the central government in India. Prior to his PhD, Sharan obtained a B. A. (Hons) and an M. A. in Economics from the University of Delhi. He started as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's Agricultural and Resource Economics Department in January 2021. His debut novel, Blue, was published worldwide by Harper Collins (2014). His second book, a narrative non-fiction account of village politics in Bihar, is being published by Amazon Westland's Context imprint in early 2021.
