Dr. Yusra Alkasasbeh

Yusra Alkasasbeh, PhD, is a development economist whose research focuses on inequality of opportunity, gender, education, poverty, labor markets, and women’s agency in the Middle East and North Africa. She earned her PhD in Economics from Howard University and holds an MA in Finance and Banking from the Institute of Banking Studies in Jordan. Her work uses applied microeconomic and survey-based methods to examine how gender norms, marriage, education, displacement, and early-life circumstances shape social and economic outcomes. She has published peer-reviewed research, has several manuscripts under review, and has authored working papers with the Economic Research Forum. She has taught at Northeastern University, Howard University, and the American Economic Association Summer Program, and has worked with the World Bank on financial inclusion for refugees in Jordan.