Suresh de Mel is Professor in Economics in the Dept of Economics & Statistics of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, where he has been serving since 2001. Prior to joining Peradeniya, he served as the Economist at the International Monetary Fund’s Office of the Resident Representative in Colombo. Since 2005, he has been involved in several research projects focusing on small scale enterprises in Sri Lanka using randomized field experimental methods. This includes examining the rate of return to capital in micro-enterprises, the post-disaster recovery process of microenterprises, the relationship between economic health and mental health, the effect of formal registration on the performance of informal enterprises, the effect of business training on female-run micro-enterprises, and the growth dynamics of micro-enterprises following labour, capital and human capital interventions. This work has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Science, World Bank Economic Review and Social Science & Medicine. More recently, he has been involved in two micro-savings related field experimental research projects -- looking at the effect of deposit collection service using point-of-service terminals and generating savings via a mobile phone linked bank account system. This work has been published / is forthcoming in American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies and Review of Economics & Statistics.
