Shishir Shakya

I am an assistant professor of economics at Appalachian State University in North Carolina with research interests in applied econometrics and causal inference, health economics, healthcare workforce and regulation, and institutional and regulatory economics. I teach applied econometrics, microeconomics, forecasting, and business and economic statistics at the undergraduate and MBA levels.

My technical work includes development and deployment of locally hosted agentic AI systems for research and education technology.

I am a research fellow at the Archbridge Institute and the AIM-AHEAD Bridge2AI program (NIH), and a research affiliate at the Knee Regulatory Research Center.

My published and ongoing work spans healthcare policy (scope of practice, licensure compacts, Certificate-of-Need, opioid and substance use), education (grading policy, nudges, and AI-enhanced study groups and learning outcomes), and political economy (revolutions, corruption, and institutional change).

I have published in Nature, Health Economics, Public Choice, World Development, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Institutional Economics, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Southern Economic Journal, and The Journal of Economic Education. I hold a Ph.D. in economics from West Virginia University. My work aims to inform health and education policy through rigorous causal evidence.