Working Papers
Women's Labor Market Opportunities and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from Sri Lanka [Job Market Paper - Under Review]
Abstract: Concerns about left-behind children and dangerous working conditions abroad have encouraged some governments to restrict women’s labor migration. I examine how women’s fertility responds to such restrictions in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government introduced a policy in 2013 prohibiting women from migrating for work based on their age and the age of their youngest child. These restrictions could alter fertility decisions, with women simultaneously choosing between future employment and childbearing. Using a panel dataset created from the Demographic and Health Survey in a regression discontinuity in time framework, I find that women from poor households, who are most likely to migrate, change their fertility behavior. Young women, who are already restricted from migrating based on their own age increase their fertility. Older women, who are restricted from migrating only if they have young children, reduce their fertility. As a result, new mothers are less-educated and younger, which may have an impact on child outcomes. My findings contribute to the literature on migration policies in developing countries and trade-offs between women’s employment and fertility decisions.
Trends in Wage Inequality in Sri Lanka
Abstract: Stylized facts suggest that wage inequality in Sri Lanka has increased over the 1996-2006 period followed by a significant decrease over the 2006 to 2014 period. Using Labor Force Survey data and a supply and demand framework, I find that an increase in the relative supply of high skilled workers alone does not explain the differential trends in wage inequality. Significant shifts in factor demand in favor of high skilled workers contributed to the increase in wage inequality in the earlier period. Although the shift in demand still favors high skill workers in the later period, the increase in relative supply has the dominant effect contributing to the decrease in wage inequality. Moreover, I find evidence of occupational downgrading towards low skilled workers in the later period.
Work in Progress
"The Effects of Chronic Disease on Household Labor Supply"
Men play a significant part in labor-intensive agricultural work in some regions in developing countries. Productivity shocks to men’s labor supply can affect household economics. I explore how Chronic Kidney Disease with unknown epistemology (CKDu) – a region-specific disease common to agricultural areas in Sri Lanka and certain Latin American countries that disproportionately affects men – alters household resource allocation and labor supply.