Richard Varghese

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Richard Varghese is a researcher whose work sits at the intersection of labor economics, technological change, and workforce development. His scholarship focuses on how automation and evolving skill demands are reshaping employment landscapes across both advanced and emerging market economies. Most notably, Varghese has made a significant contribution through his large-scale survey-based research examining how workers themselves perceive the forces transforming the future of work. Drawing on a rich dataset encompassing over 11,000 workers across diverse economic contexts, his findings offer a nuanced counter-narrative to prevailing anxieties: workers, particularly in emerging markets, tend to hold more optimistic views about automation than is commonly assumed. This human-centered methodological approach — centering worker perceptions rather than purely macroeconomic indicators — distinguishes his research and provides policymakers with grounded insights into how labor forces are adapting psychologically and practically to technological disruption. With citations accumulating across his 2019 publications, Varghese's work is gaining traction among economists, labor market analysts, and policymakers grappling with the social implications of the fourth industrial revolution. His research offers an important empirical foundation for debates around reskilling, inequality, and the governance of technological change.