# Krishna Sharma

*Hoover Institution, Stanford University · Clemson University · NAAMII*

> Economist studying how institutions shape innovation, the movement of knowledge, and the adoption of technology.

- **Role:** Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
- **Education:** PhD in Economics, Clemson University, 2025
- **Academic job market:** 2026–27
- **Research:** Innovation · Skilled migration · University technology transfer · AI governance · Public policy
- **Email:** [ksharma3@stanford.edu](mailto:ksharma3@stanford.edu)

## 01 · Research agenda

My research connects skilled migration and entrepreneurship with university technology transfer, public policy, and AI governance. I use applied economics, original data, and institutional analysis to study how knowledge becomes innovation.

### PhD research and job-market paper

**Mama, I’m Coming Home: Brain Gain through Brain Circulation in India**

I link startup profiles, founders’ education and employment histories, and patent records to examine innovation among local, returnee, and mixed founding teams. The paper studies how international experience and local knowledge come together within entrepreneurial firms.

Developed from my doctoral research at Clemson University.

[Research statement](/assets/research-statement.pdf)

### Current working papers

**Communication as Governance**

- **Status:** Working paper
- **Area:** University technology transfer

How university intellectual property policies communicate ownership, disclosure, and commercialization responsibilities. I use a historical policy corpus and computational text analysis to study institutional differences.

**Artificial Intelligence, Trust, and Accountability in a Low-Capacity State**

- **Status:** Working paper
- **Area:** AI governance

With I. Giri and R. N. Shrestha. Survey evidence from professionals in Nepal on trust, perceived risk, and expectations of accountability across institutional settings.

**AI-Assisted Economic Measurement from Surveys**

- **Status:** Under review
- **Area:** AI & economic measurement

With Tiancheng Wang. Using public employee pension choice as an application, we examine how language models can help identify the structure of survey measures and distinguish beliefs from constraints.

**Regulatory Migration to Europe**

- **Status:** Revise & resubmit
- **Area:** Regulation & digital markets

With K. R. Bhatt and I. Giri. We examine how U.S. securities enforcement is followed by changes in the location of initial coin offering activity.

[Read preprint](https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00138)

### Ongoing projects

- Skilled mobility and career pathways — Education, employment, and return migration between India and the United States.
- Time to Major Decision in Federal Innovation Programs — Administrative processes in SBIR and STTR.
- Capital Continuation in the Full Spectrum of Private Markets — Startup fundraising and follow-on capital, with P. Basnet.

## 02 · Selected publications

- **Quantitative Easing and Foreign Holdings of U.S. Treasuries: A Descriptive Study from 2008 to 2023**
  Cogent Economics & Finance · 2026

- **Social media discussion and short-horizon stock returns: evidence from a retail coordination episode**
  Digital Finance · With P. Basnet and K. R. Bhatt · 2026

- **Mechanization and downside income risk: Evidence from three Terai districts in Nepal**
  Agricultural & Environmental Letters · 2026

- **Rental markets and the mechanization of smallholder agriculture: evidence from Nepal’s Terai**
  Applied Economics Letters · 2026

- **The migration paradox: Why remittances fail to stimulate agricultural investment in Nepal’s Terai plains**
  Economics Bulletin · With R. N. Shrestha · 2025

- **Rental market of pump-sets in the central and western parts of Nepal plains**
  Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development · With B. Goswami · 2020

[Full publication record](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zXFocSYAAAAJ)

## 03 · Teaching

My teaching rests on mutual learning, practical relevance, and learning from mistakes.

- **Experience:** Macroeconomics and money and banking at Clemson University; intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics at Kathmandu University.
- **Developing teaching interests:** Public policy, economics of innovation, technology policy, and AI governance.
- **Approach:** Discussion, visual explanations, real-world applications, and opportunities to revisit errors.

शिक्षामूलं धर्मः
Education is the foundation of righteousness.

अध्ययनं सर्वधर्मानां मूलम्
Learning is the root of all virtues.

### Student evaluations · Clemson University

- **4.62 / 5:** Money and Banking, Fall 2023 · 39 / 39 responses
- **4.50 / 5:** Macroeconomics, Spring 2023 · 104 / 125 responses
- **4.02 / 5:** Macroeconomics, Fall 2022 · 42 / 50 responses

Reported overall averages. Courses and evaluation instruments differ.

**Recognition:** Student-Nominated TA of the Semester, Fall 2021, Clemson Undergraduate Student Senate.

[Teaching statement](/assets/teaching-statement.pdf)
[Teaching evaluation report](/assets/teaching-evaluations-fall-2023.pdf)
[Classroom photographs](/#teaching)

## 04 · Materials and contact

- [Curriculum vitae](/assets/krishna-sharma-cv.pdf)
- [Research statement](/assets/research-statement.pdf)
- [Teaching statement](/assets/teaching-statement.pdf)
- [Diversity and mentoring statement](/assets/diversity-statement.pdf)
- [Public writing](/#writing)
- [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zXFocSYAAAAJ)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishna-sharma-726962149/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/krish533)
- [Email](mailto:ksharma3@stanford.edu)

## 05 · Machine-readable resources

- [Structured JSON profile](/profile.json)
- [Plain-text overview](/llms.txt)

Updated: September 18, 2026.