Research     

Research Interests: Development Economics, Economics of Education, Labour Economics, Political Economy.

Published/Forthcoming Papers

1. "When Criminality Begets Crime: The Role of Elected Politicians in India", with Nishith Prakash, Deepak Saraswat, and Reetika Sindhi, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (forthcoming) 

   • • [IZA Discussion Paper]

2. "Impact of Early Childhood School Intervention on Enrollment and Learning Outcomes: Evaluation of a Public Program in India", with Nilanjan Bhattacharya, Debayan Pakrashi, and Sarani Saha, Journal of Development Studies (forthcoming) 

   • • [IZA Discussion Paper]

3. "Do Educated Politicians Facilitate Better Public Health? Evidence From India", with Deepthi Sara Anil and Debayan Pakrashi, Social Science and Medicine, 36, 117671 (2025) 

4. "Does women's economic empowerment promote human development in low- and middle-income countries? A meta-analysis", with Pooja Balasubramanian, Marcela Ibanez, and Sarah Khan, World Development, 178, 106588 (2024) 

5. "Who eats last? Intra-household gender inequality in food allocation among children in educationally backward areas of India", with Dipanwita Ghatak, Sudipa Sarkar, and Varun Sharma, Population Studies, 78(1), 63–77 (2024)

6. "Caste, Gender, and Intersectionality in Stream Choice: Evidence from Higher Secondary Education in India", with Anand Kumar, Education Economics, 32(1), 20–46 (2024) 

   • • [GLO Discussion Paper]

7. "The impact of educated leaders on economic development: Evidence from India", with Chandan Jain, Shagun Kashyap, and Rahul Lahoti, Journal of Comparative Economics, 51(3), 1068–1093 (2023) 

   • • [UNU-WIDER Working Paper]

8. "Biased Teachers and Gender Gap in Learning Outcomes: Evidence from India", with Sonali Rakshit, Journal of Development Economics,  161, 103041 (2023) 

   • • [IZA Discussion Paper]

9. "A glass ceiling at the playhouse? Gender gaps in public and private preschool enrollment in India", with Arindam Nandi, Nicole Haberland, and Thoai D. Ngo, International Journal of Educational Development, 103, 102905 (2023)

10. "Land Use and Cropping Decisions of Agricultural Households in India”, with S. Chandrasekhar and Vijay Laxmi Pandey, Food Security, 14, 621–635 (2022)

11. "Seasonal Migration and Feminization of Farm Management: Evidence from India”, with S. Chandrasekhar and Hema Swaminathan, Feminist Economics, 28(1), 86–113 (2022) 

    • • [CRC-PEG Discussion Paper] [IIMB Working Paper]

12. "Gender Segregation in Education: Evidence from Higher Secondary Stream Choice in India", with Stephan Klasen, Demography, 58 (3), 987–1010 (2021)

13. "Are Educated Leaders Good for Education? Evidence from India”, with Rahul Lahoti, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 176, 42–62 (2020) 

    • • [SSRN Working Paper]

14. "Employment Transitions of Women in India: A Panel Analysis”, with Sudipa Sarkar and Stephan Klasen, World Development, 115, 291–309 (2019) 

    • • [IZA Discussion Paper]

15. "Household Expenditure on Higher Education in India”, with S. Chandrasekhar and P. Geetha Rani, Economic and Political Weekly, 54(20), 52–60 (2019) 

    • • [IGIDR Working Paper]

16. "Land-holding, participation in agriculture and short-term migration in Rural India”, with S. Chandrasekhar, Asian Population Studies, 15(2), 209–227 (2019) 

    • • [IGIDR Working Paper]

17. "Intra-Household Gender Disparity in School Choice: Evidence from Private Schooling in India", Journal of Development Studies, 53(10), 1714–1730 (2017) 

    • • [SSRN Working Paper]

18. "Does Access to Secondary Education Affect Primary Schooling? Evidence from India", with Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay, Economics of Education Review, 54, 124–142 (2016) 

    • • [IZA Discussion Paper]

19. "Female Labour Force Participation and Child Education in India: Evidence from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme", with Farzana Afridi and Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay, IZA Journal of Labor and Development, 5(7), 1–27 (2016) 

    • • [IZA Discussion Paper] [Young Lives Working Paper] 

Working Papers

1. "Does Restricting Access to Credit Affect Learning Outcomes? Evidence from a Regulatory Shock to Microfinance in India", with Muneer Kalliyil, IZA Discussion Paper No. 17404 (2024) [revise and resubmit]

2. "The Political Economy of Privatization of Education: Role of Local Politicians in India", with Muneer Kalliyil, IZA Discussion Paper No. 17527 (2024) [revise and resubmit]

3. "Does Teachers’ Caste Identity Affect Students’ Mental Health? Evidence from Bihar, India", with Ritwik Banerjee, Satarupa Mitra, and Ashmita Gupta (2023)

4. "Air Pollution and Time Use: Evidence from India", with Jafar Jafarov and Tejendra P. Singh, IZA Discussion Paper No. 16552 (2023)

5. "Affirmative Action and Application Strategies: Evidence from Field Experiments in Colombia", with Ritwik Banerjee, Marcela Ibanez, and Gerhard Riener, DICE Discussion Paper 362 (2021)

6. "Gender Segregation in Education and Its Implications for Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from India”, with Stephan Klasen, IZA Discussion Paper No. 11660 (2018)

7. "Improving First-Generation College Students' Education and Employment Outcomes: Effect of a Targeted Scholarship Program", with Gopinath Annadurai, IZA Discussion Paper No. 17879 (2025)

Book Chapters 

1. "Sample Selection Models for Panel Data: Application to Labor Force Participation in India", with Sutirtha Bandyopadhyay, in: Mukherjee, D. (eds) Applied Econometric Analysis Using Cross Section and Panel Data. Contributions to Economics. Springer, Singapore (2024)

2. "Regional Patterns and Dynamics of Learning Outcomes in India", with Muneer Kalliyil and Srividya Aluru, in: Chatterjee, T.B., Ghose, A., Roy, P. (eds) Risks and Resilience of Emerging Economies. India Studies in Business and Economics. Springer, Singapore (2023)

Other Publications (Report / Policy Article)

1. "The influence of local politicians in the private education market", with Muneer Kalliyil, Ideas for India (2025)

2. "The role of caste and gender in determining science education in India", with Anand Kumar, Ideas for India (2023)

3. "Using the Rotational Panel Data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey: A Cautionary Tale", with Shihas Abdul-Razak, SSRN Working Paper (2021) 

4. "When criminality begets crime: The role of elected politicians", with Nishith Prakash, Deepak Saraswat, and Reetika Sindhi, Ideas for India (2021)

5. "Employment entry and exit by women in India", with Sudipa Sarkar, Ideas for India (2021)

6. "Does female economic empowerment promote development?", with Pooja Balasubramanian, Marcela Ibanez, and Sarah Khan, PEGNet Policy Brief No. 17 (2019) 

7. "The impacts of interventions for female economic empowerment at the community level on human development: a systematic review of the evidence in low- and middle-income countries”, with Marcela Ibanez, Sarah Khan, Anna Minasyan, and Pooja Balasubramanian, Campbell Systematic Reviews (2017)

8. "The effect of interventions for women’s empowerment on children’s health and education: A systematic review of evidence from low- and middle-income countries”, with Sebastian Vollmer, Sarah Khan, Le Thi Ngoc Tu, Atika Pasha, Campbell Systematic Reviews (2017)

9. "Gender bias in school choice”, GrOW G2E Policy Brief No. 4 (2017)

10. "Does maternal employment benefit children’s education?”, GrOW G2E Policy Brief No. 8 (2017)