Research
Labor Markets and Women's Work
"Information, Intermediaries, and International Migration" (with Samuel Bazzi, Lisa Cameron, and Firman Witoelar). April 2024. Under review.
Older NBER working paper here.
"Measuring Time Use in Rural India: Design and Validation of a Low-Cost Survey Module" (with Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Elena Stacy, and Charity Troyer Moore). Journal of Development Economics, 2023, 164, 103105.
Web appendix: tables, methodological detail
"Indian Female Migrants Face Greater Barriers to Post-Covid Recovery than Males: Evidence from a Panel Study" (with Jenna Allard, Maulik Jagnani, Yusuf Neggers, Rohini Pande, and Charity Troyer Moore). eClinicalMedicine, 2022, 53, 101631.
"On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms" (with Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, and Charity Troyer Moore). American Economic Review, 2021, 111(7), pp. 2342-75.
Web Appendix; Replication Files; Older NBER Working Paper version here.
"Remote Work and the Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 on Employment and Health" (with Manuela Angelucci, Marco Angrisani, Daniel Bennett, and Arie Kapteyn). August 2020.
“Male Social Status and Women’s Work” (with Arielle Bernhardt, Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, and Charity Troyer-Moore). AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2018, 108, pp. 363-367.
“Female Labor Force Participation in Asia: Indonesia Country Study” (with Smita Das), February 2016. ADB Economics Working Paper No. 474.
Financial Services and Social Protection
“The Impact of Citizen-Led Audits on Government Service Provision” (with Charity Troyer Moore ⓡ Rohini Pande). May 2023. (Email me for a draft).
"The Limits of Commitment: Who Benefits from Illiquid Savings Products?" (with Niklas Buehren, Markus Goldstein, Leora Klapper, and Tricia Koroknay-Palicz). July 2022.
"Banking on Transparency for the Poor: Experimental Evidence from India" (with Erica Field ⓡ Natalia Rigol ⓡ Charity Troyer Moore ⓡ Rohini Pande). July 2022. NBER Working Paper No. 30289.
"On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms" (with Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, and Charity Troyer Moore). American Economic Review, 2021, 111(7), pp. 2342-75.
Web Appendix; Replication Files; Older NBER Working Paper version here.
“The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor”, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2018, 10(3), pp. 67-100.
“Salary Delays and Overdrafts in Rural Ghana” (with Niklas Buehren, Virginia Ceretti, Ervin Dervisevic, Markus Goldstein, Leora Klapper, and Tricia Koroknay-Palicz). AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2018, 108, pp. 449-452.
“The Cost of Convenience? Transaction Costs, Bargaining Power, and Savings Account Use in Kenya”. Journal of Human Resources, 2017, 52(4), pp. 919-945.
“Do Opposites Detract? Intrahousehold Preference Heterogeneity and Inefficient Strategic Savings”. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2015, 7(2), pp. 135-174.
Health
"Do Patients Value High-Quality Medical Care? Experimental Evidence from Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment" (with Carolina Lopez and Anja Sautmann). January 2024. NBER Working Paper No. 32075. Under review.
Reproducibility package here.
"Trajectories and correlates of poor mental health in India over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic: A nation wide survey" (with Emma Nichols, Sarah Petrosyan, Pranali Khobragade, Joyita Banerjee, Marco Angrisani, Sharmistha Dey, David E. Bloom, A.B. Dey, and Jinkook Lee). Accepted, BMJ Global Health.
"Aggregate health shocks have long-lasting mental health effects: Evidence from Covid-19 surges in India" (with Jinkook Lee ⓡ Heather Schofield). September 2023. (Email me for a draft).
“Cohort Profile: Real-Time Insights of COVID-19 in India (RTI COVID-India)” (with Aparajit Ballav Dey, Joyita Banerjee, Sarah Petrosyan, Abhijith Rao, Steffi Jacob, Pranali Yogiraj Khobragade, Bas Weerman, Sandy Chien, Marco Angrisani, Arunika Agarwal, Nirupam Madaan, Sharmistha Dey, David Bloom, and Jinkook Lee). BMC Public Health, 2023, 23:293.
“Adherence to COVID-19 Protective Behaviors in India from May to December 2020: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey” (with Natalie Theys, Marco Angrisani, Joyita Banerjee, Pranali Yogiraj Khobragade, Sarah Petrosyan, Arunika Agarwal, Sandy Chien, Bas Weerman, Avinash Chakrawarty, Prasun Chatterjee, Nirupam Madaan, David Bloom, Jinkook Lee, and Aparajit Ballav Dey). BMJ Open, 2022, 12:e058065.
Data and replication files available upon request here.
"Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs?" (with Carolina Lopez and Anja Sautmann). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2022, 14(1), pp. 225-260.
“Tracking the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lives of American Households” (with Arie Kapteyn, Marco Angrisani, Daniel Bennett, Wandi Bruin de Bruin, Jill Darling, Tania Gutsche, Ying Liu, Erik Meijer, Francisco Perez-Arce, Kyla Thomas, and Bas Weerman). Survey Research Methods, 2020, 14(2), pp. 179-186.
"Remote Work and the Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 on Employment and Health" (with Manuela Angelucci, Marco Angrisani, Daniel Bennett, and Arie Kapteyn). August 2020.
“Price Subsidies, Diagnostic Tests, and Targeting of Malaria Treatment: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial” (with Pascaline Dupas and Jessica Cohen). American Economic Review, 2015, 105(2), pp. 609-645.
Selected Work in Progress
“Following Up for Better Health: Improving Non-Communicable Disease Compliance in Urban India” (with Daniel Bennett).
Status: Data collection competed. Analysis ongoing.
Abstract: The majority of individuals with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes live in the developing world, where prevalence rates are growing rapidly as nations become richer and more urban. In cities, where most individuals have access to a variety of medical providers, improving adherence to treatment is key to reducing morbidity from NCDs. This project will evaluate the role that different behavioral factors (particularly psychic costs of seeking treatment, limited attention, and loss aversion) play in limiting diabetes adherence. The research design consists of a randomized controlled trial with three sets of cross-cutting interventions. The first set of interventions will provide patients with information about diabetes and the importance of adherence to treatment. Here, patients will be randomly selected to receive either negative/loss-framed information or positive/gain-framed information. The second intervention is a voice-based mobile phone reminder service. We will deploy reminders via a novel two-stage design– a selective trial in the parlance of Chassang et al. (2012) – which will allow us to estimate both willingness to pay for reminders and treatment effects conditional on willingness to pay.
AEA RCT Registry: click here
“Hold the Phone? Social and Economic Implications of Improving Women's Agency and Control over Smartphones” (with Giorgia Barboni, Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, and Charity Troyer Moore).
Status: Data collection completed. Analysis ongoing.
Abstract: In 2018, the Indian state of Chhattisgarh distributed over 2 million smartphones to female heads of household. We build a randomized control trial on this phone distribution program to examine multiple research questions focused on gender gaps in technology use, the economic and social impacts of technology adoption, and norms related to women’s phone use. The RCT leverages three interventions to address the barriers to smartphone use that women face. The first is a basic digital training, designed to build skills women need to engage with phones. The second, a service titled Mor Awaaz, deploys a phone-based use case that is in line with the prevailing norm that women should care for the household. Women enrolled in the service receive weekly phone calls with entertaining, pre-recorded information on good health and nutrition practices and government social assistance programs. Once a month, we survey women on these topics. Additional treatment arms randomize the number of enrollees within villages to understand the role of peers in phone engagement and payment of in-kind incentives to individual enrollees to understand the value of amplifying the economic returns to phone use.
AEA RCT Registry: click here