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Laura Boudreau

  • Associate Professor
  • Columbia Business School

Roles

Lead academics

Research affiliates

Researchers

Email

[email protected]

Laura Boudreau is a Lead Academic for IGC Bangladesh.

Laura is an Associate Professor of Economics (without tenure) at Columbia Business School. Her research focuses on development, organizational, and labor economics. Laura studies how global supply chains and local institutions shape firms’ and workers’ outcomes, as well as the effect of labor market institutions on economic development. Laura received her Ph.D. in 2019 from the University of California, Berkeley. Laura is also a Research Affiliate of the NBER, BREAD, CEPR, IZA, and J-PAL and an IGC lead academic for Bangladesh. Laura’s CV and additional information can be found on her personal website (http://laura-boudreau.com/).

 

Projects

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Representative survey of RMG exporters on US tariff impacts

Rachel Heath, Laura Boudreau 30 Dec 2025
Project
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General equilibrium effects of reducing information frictions in Bangladesh’s apparel sector

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath, Shakil Ahmed 31 May 2025
Project
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Returns to capital, group consulting, and interfirm relationships among small firms in Ghana

Amanda Awadey, Laura Boudreau, Elwyn Davies 30 Jan 2026
Project
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Information frictions as a barrier to labour productivity in Bangladesh's apparel sector

Rachel Heath, Laura Boudreau 30 Aug 2025
Project
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The effects of multinational buyers’ sourcing strategies on Bangladeshi garment workers

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath 31 Oct 2021
Project
More than 80% of the labor force in garment factories in Bangladesh are female. Photo credit: DFID - UK Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0.

Economic impacts of COVID-19 on workers and firms in Bangladesh's garment sector

Laura Boudreau, Farria Naeem, Rachel Heath 31 Jan 2021
Project
Yangon workers

Evidence for policymaking to help Myanmar workers affected by COVID-19

Mari Tanaka, Laura Boudreau, Rocco Macchiavello, Virginia Minni, Min Zar Ni Lin, Ngu Wah Win 31 Mar 2021
Project
Sewing machines. Myanmar, Nyaung Shwe, Lago Inle. Photo by Jose Manuel Casado Sanchez/ Creative commons via Flikr

Measuring skills and labour productivity in the garment sector

Mari Tanaka, Rocco Macchiavello, Laura Boudreau, Virginia Minni 30 Jun 2021
Project
A woman weaving cotton in Inle Lake, Myanmar. Photo by Stefano Ravalli/ Creative commons via Flikr

Evidence and voice for minimum wage revisions

Mari Tanaka, Rocco Macchiavello, Laura Boudreau, Virginia Minni 30 Jun 2021
Project
Photo credit: W.Wild / UN Photo.

Demand-driven, private sector enforcement of labour law in Bangladesh

Noam Yuchtman, Laura Boudreau 31 Aug 2018
Project

Understanding workers’ knowledge of working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath 31 Oct 2017
Project

All contributions

A screenshot of the cover page of the policy brief

Gender and communication frictions in the workplace: Evidence from Bangladesh’s garment sector

Laura Boudreau, Sakib Mahmood, Oren Reshef
Policy brief
Report cover page

Embedding peer interactions in business support programmes to generate information to improve targeting

Amanda Awadey, Laura Boudreau, Elwyn Davies
Policy brief
policy brief cover page

Information frictions as a barrier to labour productivity in Bangladesh's apparel sector

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath
Policy brief
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Representative RMG worker panel tariff survey

Rachel Heath, Laura Boudreau 30 Dec 2025
Collection
Journal Article Cover Page

Leaders in social movements: Evidence from unions in Myanmar

Laura Boudreau, Rocco Macchiavello, Virginia Minni, Mari Tanaka American Economic Review 115 6
Journal article
Economic impacts of Coronavirus-19 on workers in Bangladesh’s garment sector

Economic impacts of Coronavirus-19 on workers in Bangladesh’s garment sector

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath, Wahedur Rahman
Project report
cover page journal article

Multinational enforcement of labor law: Experimental evidence on strengthening occupational safety and health committees

Laura Boudreau Econometrica 92 4
Journal article
Cover page for journal article

Migrants, experience, and working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath, Tyler McCormick Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 219
Journal article
Boudreau et al Policy brief August 2023_Page_1

International buyers, suppliers’ performance, and workers’ outcomes in the garment sector in Bangladesh: Evidence from the pandemic

Laura Boudreau, Julia Cajal Grossi, Rachel Heath, Rocco Macchiavello
Policy brief
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Resilient jobs to support Bangladesh’s economic development and equity

Laura Boudreau, Farria Naeem
Project report

The economic effects of COVID-19 on garment factories in Bangladesh

Laura Boudreau, Farria Naeem
Policy brief
Policy brief Boudreau et al March 2021

Measuring skills in Myanmar’s garment sector

Laura Boudreau, Rocco Macchiavello, Virginia Minni, Mari Tanaka
Policy brief

Social norms and firm productivity in Bangladeshi garment factories

Laura Boudreau, Noam Yuchtman, Oren Reshef, Sakib Ifetkhar Mahmood
Blog
Multi-purpose building factory producing for non-Accord/Alliance European brand. Photo credit: NYU Stern BHR, CC BY-NC 2.0.

Improving labour standards: Enforcement interventions by multinationals in Bangladesh

Laura Boudreau
Blog
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Migrants, information, and working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories

Laura Boudreau, Rachel Heath
Working paper