About me
CURRENT AFFILIATION
American University of Armenia (Yerevan)
Phone +374-60-612567
E-mail: [email protected]
EDUCATION
Graduate School in the Economics and Finance of Public Administration (DEFAP)
Catholic University of Milan, Italy
Russian-Armenian University (Yerevan)
ACCA (UK)
I am an Associate Professor at the Manoogian Simone College of Business and Economics at AUA. I earned my PhD in Public Economics from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy). I’ve also completed ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK) professional education scheme back in 2010. My research interests are in development economics with an emphasis on post-communist transition and microfinance, political economy, and women in the labor market. More recently I've started to work on application of ML/AI and behavioral sciences in tax administration. I teach microeconomics to undergraduate students and Behavioral Economics in the graduate programs of the college.
I also collaborate as a consultant with various international organizations (World Bank, ILO, ETF, UNDP among others). I have an extensive consulting portfolio on labor market related issues in Armenia with an emphasis on skill, active labor market policies and female labor participation. I have led a number of research projects on application of ML/AI tools in tax administration under extramural research funds (Manoogian Simone Research Fund (2019-2022) and Afeyan Family Foundation (2023-2024)).
In this simple webpage you will find further details about my research, consultancy and teaching activities.
Presentation of ISTC Research Projects Held at AUA
BAB ’18 Seniors Awarded For Their Capstone’s Honors Thesis Projects
Behavioral Science in Development
Research
Peer-reviewed Publications
- , . (2019) Set them (almost) free: Discretion in electoral campaigns under incomplete information. Journal of Public Economic Theory. 1– 28. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpet.12363
- Khachatryan, K, , . (2019) Is the model “loans‐plus‐savings” better for microfinance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia? A propensity score matching comparison. Review of Development Economics. 00: 1– 22. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12589
- Baghdasarayan V., Iannantuoni G. and Maggian V., (2018) “Electoral Fraud and Voter Turnout: Experimental Study”, European Journal of Political Economy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2018.12.001
- Barseghyan G. & Baghdasaryan V. (2019): Optimum currency area theory: evidence from post-Soviet countries and implications for Eurasian Economic Union, Post-Communist Economies, https://doi.org/10.1080/14631377.2018.1537734
Working Papers
- Baghdasaryan V., Grigoryan A., Asian Development Bank financed project “Good jobs for inclusive growth” 2016-2017. Paper title: Employment and Labor Market Policies in Armenia (completed and submitted to ADB).
Submitted papers
- Baghdasaryan, V., Sarikyan A., Audit Spillover Effects on Tax Compliance Behavior: case of narrow scope audits
- Chiappero-Martinetti, E., Spreafico, A., Baghdasaryan, V., A capability approach-based framework for measuring women empowerment in rural Kenya
Work in Progress
- Electoral outcomes in citizen candidate model with ideology and competence signals, jointly with Elena Manzoni (University of Bergamo) and Michela Cella (University of Milan-Bicocca)
- Diverging integration paths of Armenia and Georgia: consequences for export sophistication and diversification, jointly with Giorgi Papava (ISET) and Ana Burduli (ISET)
- Nudging For Timely Payments Of Waste Collection Fees: Evidence From Secondary Urban Cities Of Armenia, jointly with Syuzanna Martirosyan (UNDP)
MY EXPERIENCE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, AUA
My current research interests are in political economy, labor economics, microfinance and economics of transition in general. I teach a number of courses on undergrad and grad level across various programs in the College with a focus in microeconomics and microeconometrics.
PROGRAM CHAIR, MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS, AUA
Since 2020
MSM is a 15 month program for fresh bachelor graduates looking for deepening their knowledge in management. Together with the Dean of the college I am responsible for the overall management of the program. I am particularly focusing on extending experiential learning opportunities of the students.
2017 - 2025
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, AUA
2014 -2020
SENIOR LECTURER, RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN UNIVERSITY
2012 - 2014
I returned to RAU on part-time basis as CERGE-EI Teaching Fellow. I was teaching Game Theory to Senior Economics majors.
SENIOR CONSULTANT, AVAG SOLUTIONS LLC
2012 - 2014
The Company is one of the leaders in the country in public sector consulting. There was a very diversified portfolio of interesting projects - Armenia Development Strategy (ADS), Assistance in Tax code development, Public Finance management reforms, analysis of Armenia's integration into Eurasian Economic Union. More information on projects can be found in my CV, as well as in the Consulting Projects section of this website.
- AI Team Lead, Developing ML/AI system for the State Revenue Committee, World Bank/ Interpretable AI / Daniam LLC, January 2024 – March 2025
- Labor Market Expert, International Labor Organization, Report on Platform Work Status in Armenia (June 2024)
- Behavioral Science Expert, Agence Française de Développement (ADF)/Expertise France (EF), for “technical assistance to integrate climate issues and strengthen Public Finance & Financial Sector Management in Armenia” project (December 2023)
- Human Capital Development Expert, DMI France / European Training Foundation (November – December 2023)
- Researcher, Labor Market, World Bank / Minimum wage and its implications for the Armenian Labor market (September 2022 – February 2023)
- Applied Behavioral Scientist, SDG Innovation Lab / UNDP Armenia (Since August, 2021)
- Taxpayer clustering and tax fraud identification with non-structured transaction level data using natural language processing /Afeyan Family Foundation Research Grant / AUA (Role: Principal Investigator, July 2023 – August 2024)
- Study on Skills for the Green Transition in Armenia / PPMI (Lithuania) / European Training Foundation (Role: Country expert, August - October 2022)
- Alternative Methods of Detecting Tax Fraud: Machine learning application in improving product tracking and spatial analysis of taxpayers’ behavioral response to audits /MSRF / AUA (Role: Principal Investigator, June 2021 – March 2022)
- Applied Behavioral Scientist, SDG Innovation Lab / UNDP Armenia (Since August, 2021)
- Study on Crafts and skills in Armenia / PPMI (Lithuania) / European Training Foundation (Role: country expert (February 2021 – January 2022)
- Study on Platform Work in EAP countries / PPMI (Lithuania) / European Training Foundation (Role: Labor Market expert (August 2020 – February 2021)
- Alternative Methods of Detecting Tax Fraud /MSRF / AUA (Role: Principal Investigator, August 2019 – July 2020)
- Business Consultations Mechanisms Assessment Project / AVAG Solutions / USAID (Role: Coordinating Consultant (July – August 2017)
- Study on Trade Facilitation in South Caucasus / ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) / UNDP (Role: Armenia Country Expert) (March – July 2017)
- The Court Users’ Satisfaction Survey; Strengthening the Independence, Professionalism and Accountability of the Justice System in Armenia /Council of Europe/Europe Union (Role: Individual Consultant: Data Analyst/Economist) (July-September 2016)
- Assistance to Tax code development for Armenia, AVAG Solutions/Deloitte Consulting/USAID/Ministry of Finance (Role: Consulting on Excise taxation reforms and Personal Income Tax deductions in Armenia) (July-August 2015)
- Social-economic assessment of the projected contribution of the Amulsar Gold Project (Role: Responsible for analysis and Reporting) (December 2014 – February 2015; AVAG Solutions/ for Lydian International)
- Assistance in the review of water tariffs in Armenia, Willingness to Pay survey (Role: Willingness to pay survey methodology consultant), (May – August 2014; AVAG Solutions/ DHInfrastructure LLC/ World Bank)
- Training for the specialists of Ministry of Finance on the methods of assessing tax expenditures under the Tax Reform Project. (Role: developer and trainer), (April – May, 2014; AVAG Solutions/Deloitte Consulting/USAID)
- Deepening Policy Based Budgeting and Strengthening Public Investment Management Systems in Armenia (Role: Consultant on Public Investment Management). (February – August; 2014; AVAG Solutions/Ministry of Finance/World Bank)
- Public Finance Management in South Caucasus, Assistance to Ministry of Finance and other authorities in implementing Program Budgeting reforms, (January 2013 – February 2014; GIZ);
- Tax exemptions assessment project, (August – September, 2013; State Revenue Committee of Armenia / World Bank);
- Assistance to Finalize Draft Armenia Development Strategy Document (Consultant, April 2013 – date; AVAG Solutions/USAID);
- Tax Reform Project (TRP), (Consultant, January 2013 – date; AVAG Solutions/Deloitte Consulting/USAID);
- Armenia Development Strategy (ADS) for 2012-2025 (Consultant on Economic development issues and responsible for Labor Market section of the Strategy, September – December, 2012; AVAG Solutions/USAID);
- Measurement of True Costs Related to Medical Processes in Armenian Hospitals (Consultant; October 2008 – August 2009; AVAG Solutions Ltd/ Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia / World Bank)
- Measurement of True Costs Related to Medical Processes in Armenian Hospitals (Consultant; Oct 2008 – Aug 2009; AVAG Solutions Ltd/ Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia / World Bank);
- Armenia: Lake Sevan – PPP Advisory Services (Expert; Apr 2008 – Aug 2009; AVAG Solutions Ltd/State Water Committee of the Ministry of Territorial Administration of the Republic of Armenia / EBRD);
CONTACT
40 Marshal Baghramyan Ave, Yerevan 0019, Armenia
+374 60 61 25 67
