Sommarat Chantarat

Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0NyXOHwAAAAJ&hl=en SommaraC@bot.or.th

Dr. Chantarat currently serves as Executive Director of Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research. She also serves as Program Chair of Asia Pacific at the Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA). Her research utilizes administrative data, econometrics and original field survey and experiments to understand household finance, financial system and how they interplay with development and welfare dynamics. Her current works involve designing and evaluating financial products and sustainable debt solutions especially for smallholders. Her works appear in American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Journal of Economic Inequality and World Development.

Prior to joining PIER, Dr. Chantarat was a senior economist consultant at the World Bank and a lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. She holds Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University and was awarded the Puey Ungphakorn Golden Medal Award for Best Young Economist in 2021.

Featured Publications

Chantarat, S., & Barrett, C. B. (2012). Social network capital, economic mobility and poverty traps. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 10, 299–342.

Chantarat, S., Lamsam, A., Samphantharak, K., & Tangsawasdirat, B. (2020). Household debt and delinquency over the life cycle. Asian Development Review, 37(1), 61–92.

Chantarat, S., Mude, A. G., Barrett, C. B., & Carter, M. R. (2013). Designing index-based livestock insurance for managing asset risk in northern Kenya. Journal of Risk and Insurance, 80(1), 205–237.

Chantarat, S., Mude, A. G., Barrett, C. B., & Turvey, C. G. (2017). Welfare impacts of index insurance in the presence of a poverty trap. World Development, 94, 119–138.

Muthitacharoen, A., Samphantharak, K., & Chantarat, S. (2019). Fiscal stimulus and debt burden: evidence from Thailand’s first-car-buyer tax rebate program. International Tax and Public Finance, 26(6), 1383–1415.