Professor Mangla’s primary expertise lies in the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia. His current research seeks to understand when and how public institutions work effectively in developing economies, particularly on behalf of the poor. To that end, his ongoing book project analyzes how state agencies implement universal primary education across rural India. In addition, he has conducted research on private initiatives to enforce labor standards in global supply chains. He is a faculty associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, a member of the Steering Committee of the South Asia Institute at Harvard, and co-director of the Brown-Harvard-MIT Joint Seminar on South Asian Politics.