“Time-of-day Effects on Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence” (Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of Development Economics)
“Are functional difficulties more prevalent in rural areas? Evidence from a multilevel analysis of nightlight data in 11 low- and middle-income countries” Lead-author with Bradley Carpenter, Jill Hanass-Hancock, Sureshkumar Kamalakannan, Rachel Kulchar, GVS Murthy, Monica Pinilla-Roncancio, Minerva Rivas Velarde, Shailaja Tetali, and Sophie Mitra (Forthcoming in Disability and Health Journal)
“A Systematic Review of Pre-primary Education Interventions in Africa” with Subha Mani (Forthcoming in the Journal of African Economies)
Hervé, J., Theiss, K., & Mitra, S. (2025). Are women with disabilities more at risk of intimate partner violence?. Social Forces, soaf023. (ABS3)
Carpenter, B., Kamalakannan, S., Patchaiappan, K., Theiss, K., Yap, J., Hanass-Hancock, J., Murthy, G., Pinilla-Roncancio, M., Rivas Velarde, M. & Mitra, S. (2024). Data Resource Profile: The Disability Statistics - Estimates Database (DS-E Database). An innovative database of internationally comparable statistics on disability inequalities, International Journal of Population Data Science, 8(6).
Vinod, H.D. and Theiss, K. (2025). “A Novel Solution to Biased Data in Disaster Management: COVID-19 Example", Chatterji, M., Bhattacharya, R.C. and Chakrabarty, S.P. (Ed.) COVID-19 and Public Policy (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 33), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 49-68.
"Place-Based Policies and Intimate Partner Violence" (towards dissertation)
Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, I examine the gendered impacts of a place-based policy implemented in Uttarakhand, India, that encouraged rapid industrialization by offering generous tax exemptions to firms. I find that policy exposure stimulates women’s economic empowerment via increases in women’s paid labor opportunities and ability to travel independently. Consequently, women entering into marriage after policy implementation observe greater engagement in joint decisions regarding household resources accompanied by a 0.49 standard deviation decrease in exposure to acts of intimate partner violence (IPV). In contrast, policy exposure induces male backlash against women who were already married at the start of the policy. I provide evidence that male backlash is driven by husbands with prior histories of perpetrating IPV who become more likely to re-perpetrate IPV and/or engage in controlling behaviors to maintain dominance in household decision-making.
"The Impacts of Public Work Programs on Child Labor and Schooling" with Subha Mani, Ana Dammert, and Eric Mvukiyehe (Under Review)
Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) implement public work programs (PWPs) to boost poor households’ income and promote local development. While a growing body of experimental literature evaluates the effects that these interventions have on adult participants’ economic outcomes, there remains little evidence on the spillover effects that temporary increases in the demand for adult labor impose on children’s welfare. This paper presents findings from two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that offered adults in the urban and rural Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the opportunity to work on public works projects for up to four months in exchange for the statutory minimum wage. Following the urban intervention, compared to their control group counterparts, children in PWP-eligible households were 3.4 percentage points more likely to experience schooling interruptions, 3.6 percentage points more likely to work in a family business, and 1.9 percentage points more likely to perform household chores. At the rural study sites, household PWP exposure positively impacted school enrollment yet induced a 13.7 percentage point increase in the likelihood that children participate in labor that requires lifting heavy loads, using dangerous tools, or operating heavy machinery. We present evidence that the urban-rural heterogeneity in the spillover effects of the PWPs on children’s schooling and labor is driven by gender-specific changes in the composition of adult employment. Our results underscore the need for PWP implementers to develop strategies that protect children’s human capital.
“Dam Placement and Violence Against Women”
“Gender Bias in Disability Reporting on Household Surveys” Lead-author with Sophie Mitra
“Absolute deprivation, relative deprivation, and its effects on American’s preferences for redistribution” with Utteeyo Dasgupta, Subha Mani, Farah Said, and Rafia Zafar
Disability Data Initiative (March 2022 - August 2024)
The Disability Data Initiative (DDI) provides analyses of disability data to support the development of disability-inclusive policy. As a research fellow for the DDI, I have made several contributions to the 2022 and 2023 Disability Data Reports as well as the forthcoming Disability Data Portal.
Lead coding, programming, research, and analysis efforts on Demographic and Health Survey data
Computed national and subnational disability-disaggregated statistics
Conducted sub-group analyses to examine disparities among persons with disabilities by gender, age, and rural/urban residence
Designed maps to visualize within-country spatial patterns in disability and multidimensional poverty
Analyzed individual-level data on functional difficulties, food security, social assistance, and income to examine the trajectory of household well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic