Publications
Das, Shreyasee & Shatanjaya Dasgupta. 2025. Marriage Market Responses in the Wake of a Natural Disaster in India. Journal of South Asian Development, 20 (1), 31-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741241310652
Bose, N., & Das, S. 2024. Reassessing the relationship between women's empowerment and fertility: Evidence from India. Review of Development Economics, 28(2): 544–573. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.13066
(Previously titled Women's Inheritance Rights and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from India)
Shreyasee Das and Shatanjaya Dasgupta. 2023. Hidden costs of industrial disasters: Marriage market consequences of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, Economics Bulletin, 43 (2): 813-829
Bose, Nayana & Shreyasee Das. 2021. "Intergenerational effects of improving women’s property rights: evidence from India", Oxford Development Studies, 49(3): 277-290, DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2021.1899154
Bose, Nayana, and Shreyasee Das. 2017. "Women's Inheritance Rights, Household Allocation and Gender Bias." American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 107(5): 150-153. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20171128
Bose, N. and S. Das. 2017. "Political Reservation for Women and Delivery of Public Works Program." Review of Development Economics. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12336
Working Papers
Lights On for Safety: Evaluating the Linkages Between Electrification and Violence Against Women (with Narbadeshwar Mishra & Sayli Javadekar)
Abstract: Globally, one-third of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. While various interventions addressing IPV have been studied, the role of infrastructure remains understudied. We examine how India's large-scale rural electrification program (RGGVY) impacts IPV. Exploiting the program's phase-wise implementation, we use a difference-in-differences approach with two sources of variation: geographic rollout of the program and women's marriage timing relative to electrification. Using comprehensive data from the National Family Health Survey, program implementation reports, National Crime Records Bureau, and India Human Development Survey, our preliminary findings suggest that electrification increased the probability of women being subjected to controlling behavior, emotional abuse, and physical violence by their spouses. We explore mechanisms including media access, labor force participation, fertility decisions, and marital sorting to understand these results. Our results provide evidence that changes to fertility including the desired number of children between spouses could explain our results.
Presentations: Southern Economic Association conference (2024), the International Association for Feminist Economics conference (2024), Eastern Economic Association (2025), Towson International Development Economics Symposium (TIDES) (2025), 4th Gender and Economics Workshop (2025), Amitava Bose Memorial Annual Workshop (2025).
Does Paternal Exposure to an Industrial Disaster affect Early Life Health Investments of Children (with Sarthak Agarwal and Somdeep Chatterjee) (Revise and Resubmit)
Abstract: While direct exposure to industrial disasters can adversely impact individuals' physical and mental health outcomes, little is known about the intergenerational effects of these health hazards. In this paper, we exploit how men's exposure to a catastrophic industrial disaster in India, the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster, affected their children's breastfeeding outcomes. Using the 4 th round of the National Family Health Survey, our results indicate a significant decrease in breastfeeding, including a reduced likelihood of being breastfed within an hour of birth and for three months after birth. We also find that such reduced breastfeeding in turn necessitates complementary feeding practices and feeding support from health workers. The effects persist independent of the mother's exposure. We postulate the underlying mechanism to be the compromised health of the fathers and lack of paternal support before delivery. Our paper is one of the very few that contribute to the scant literature on the long-lasting intergenerational effects of exposure to industrial disasters.
State Rights over Water and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from the Krishna Basin
The Impact of Temporary Work Guarantee Programs on Children's Education: Evidence from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act from India (with Abhilasha Singh)
Works in Progress
Heatwave Havoc: Understanding the Scorching impact of Temperature on Pregnant Women, (with Narbadeshwar Mishra)
Unintended health consequences of mandatory retirement age in India (with Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel and Shreya Bhattacharya) [Working Title]
Water Allocation Rules and Health Outcomes: Evidence from India (with Shreya Bhattacharya and Nayana Bose)
The Role of Polygamy in Family Size and Fertility Decisions (with Nayana Bose)
Media and Other Writings
Media Coverage on Marriage Markets and Disasters (Podcast for the Bangalore International Centre), 2022
Women deserve pay transparency in the workplace: Interview with The Temple News on the implications of pay transparency in the workplace, 29th March, 2022
A Guide for Non-Tenure Track Faculty: Co-edited FOCUS Newsletter for the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession with Seth Gitter (Towson University), 2021
Women grow as much as 80% of India’s food – but its new farm laws overlook their struggles, with Bansari Kamdar, The Conversation, March 11, 2021
Permanent Working Paper
What is the Return to Attending a Non-Elite Private College? (with Scott Imberman)