Ashoka University’s Prof. Priyam Verma Wins INFER Research Prize

Professor Priyam Verma, Assistant Professor of Economics, Ashoka University, has been awarded the INFER Research Prize 2025 together with his collaborators at the 27th INFER Annual Conference held in Rome. Talking about this achievement, Professor Verma said that an opportunity to work on the interdisciplinary research project with his co-authors is in itself rewarding and receiving an award for the same is sincerely appreciated.

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Professor Priyam Verma, Assistant Professor of Economics, Ashoka University, has been awarded the INFER Research Prize 2025 together with his collaborators at the 27th INFER Annual Conference held in Rome. The prize was awarded for the research paper ‘Geography and City Size: Remains of Bukhara to the Modern US’, which Professor Verma co-authored with Profs. Rocco Rante (Archaeologist at Sorbonne-Panthéon, CNRS-ArScAn-Asie centrale, France) and Federico Trionfetti (Professor of Economics at Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France).

*Professor Federico Trionfetti receiving the award on behalf of his co-authors, Professor Priyam Verma and Rocco, at the 27th INFER Annual Conference held in Rome*

The prize was presented by the International Network for Economic Research (INFER), an international non-profit organisation, headquartered in Germany, which supports research in all areas of economics. The 27th INFER Annual Conference was jointly organised by the Department of Economics and Law of the University of Rome Sapienza and the International Network for Economic Research (INFER).

The research highlighted by this award focuses on estimating the contribution of geographical centrality to explaining the size of cities. It is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between economics and archaeology. The researchers used archaeological data on city sizes in the 9th century, from the region of Bukhara. Based on this data, they derived a model that almost perfectly explains the size of 9th-century cities.

The researchers further applied the estimated parameters to the United States in the 21st century, finding that geographical centrality accounts for 20% of the variation in population shares across U.S. commuting zones. Using parameters derived from their studies of Bukhara, they were also able to quantify the two opposing forces shaping modern cities: agglomeration (which concentrates people in large cities) and congestion (which disperses people away from them).

The paper was presented at the conference by Professor Federico Trionfetti. He accepted the award on behalf of his co-authors.

Professor Verma says, “I’m delighted to receive this award for recognising the work which came out of interdisciplinary research. Some insights get me thrilled to share widely. The results from this collaborative work with Federico and Rocco would definitely qualify! An award for the same is sweet.“

Ashoka University congratulates Professor Verma, Department of Economics, and his co-authors Rocco Rante and Prof Federico Trionfetti for this remarkable achievement. It continues to support such endeavours to power interdisciplinary research across global platforms. This recognition highlights the international significance and impact of the research contributions made by faculty members at the University.

Click here to know more about the INFER Research Prize, and access the announcement of the prize here.