Assistant Professor & Political Economist
Studying social capital, trust, culture, and migration across the Middle East and North Africa.
I am Dr. Deena Saleh, also known as Deena Saleh Şahin, an Egyptian Turkish political economist studying social capital, trust, and economic sociology in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I hold a Ph.D. in Economics from Istanbul University (2023), an M.Sc. in Economics from Hacettepe University, and a B.Sc. in General Management Technology from the German University in Cairo (GUC); major of HRM and a minor of International Business; along with a Micro Masters in Digital Communications and Marketing from Istanbul University. My scholarship specializes in political economy, cultural economics, and applied quantitative methods, with a primary focus on the MENA region.
Determinants of social capital and interpersonal trust across MENA societies.
Socioeconomic impacts of international migration in Türkiye, including her current work on the SAYE Project.
Institutional development and cultural economics in the Middle East.
Survey methodology and multivariate analysis applied to economic development questions.
I welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students and collaborators interested in social capital, culture, MENA political economy, and economic sociology, though I am not limited to these topics. See Working With Me for more on how to reach out, or go straight to the Contact page.