Nidhiya Menon is a development economist by training. She has worked on topics that include labor and occupational choice, gender-differentiated impacts of policies, land rights, conflict, gender-specific technology use, environmental influences on child and adult health, social, cultural and religious norms, and most recently, the effects of climate change on human capital in the developing world. Her research includes both theoretical and empirical work, and spans countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. She has consulting experience with the Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations Foundation, and the Asian Development Bank. At Brandeis University, she is Professor in the Economics department and the International Business School, where she teaches statistics and development economics. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University.

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2010.