Liya Palagashvili
Senior Research Fellow
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Liya Palagashvili is senior research fellow and director of the Labor Policy Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and an academic affiliate of the International Center for Law & Economics. She is also a research fellow with the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University School of Law.
Her research focuses on labor regulation, the gig economy, entrepreneurship, and the changing nature of work, with particular attention to how regulation affects labor-market participation and business formation.
Palagashvili previously served as assistant professor of economics at the State University of New York–Purchase, where she taught econometrics, macroeconomics, entrepreneurship, and public policy and founded a student-entrepreneurship program. She also held roles as a visiting Ph.D. research fellow at New York University and as a Mercatus Ph.D. fellow in economics at George Mason University. Earlier professional experience includes policy and research internships with public-interest and educational organizations.
She has testified before state legislatures and before committees of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives and served on the Data Users Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. She was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in Law & Policy.
She earned a Ph.D. and a master’s in economics from George Mason University and a bachelor’s from George Mason University.
