Published Paper
"Pesticide Usage by Cotton Farmers in India: Changes over a Decade"- with Thiagu Ranganathan and Sarthak Gaurav published in Economic and Political Weekly, 2018. Vol 53, Issue No 19.
Working Paper
Aligned or sidelined? Political Motives in Welfare Funding, with Prof Meeta K Mehra.
Abstract
In the paper, we empirically investigate the impact of political factors within local government (village council or grampanchayat-GP) on the distribution of public benefits using national government programmes (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme-MGNREGS and Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana-PMGSY). By analysing the outcomes of the 2013 GP election in West Bengal, the study uncovers that a GP aligned with the incumbent party received approximately 14 to 20 percent more MGNREGS funds (and hence employment) and, on average, 10 percent more PMGSY funds compared to non-aligned GPs from 2013 to 2017. We strive to analyse how alignment improves the outcome. We find that alignment works through the efficiency of governance; it does not trigger the level of corruption, which indirectly affects the provision of public goods. We also try to analyse whether the outcome depends on the type of public good that is distributed. We find that MGNREGS, which is more excludable, is more prone to be influenced by the political factor than the less excludable good PMGSY. Finally, we find that swing grampanchayats are preferred to core GPs.
Mainstream Media, Social Media and Policy Polarization: A Theoretical Analysis, with Prof Meeta K. Mehra
Abstract
In the paper, we address the role of biased mainstream media in policy polarisation. The literature shows that the presence of social networks accentuates policy polarisation. Here, we have shown that biased mainstream media in the presence of unbiased social media can also increase the polarisation. In general, more information is believed to help us make better decisions and improve welfare by reducing the asymmetry of information problems. However, here we show how the presence of the media distorts the policy decision and ultimately reduces the welfare, outweighing the gain from information.
Media and the Tactical Redistribution, with Prof Meeta K Mehra
Abstract
In the paper, we explore a scenario where voters have incomplete information about politicians' quality, while the media possesses superior information compared to the voters. Voters aim to maximise utility derived from a public good, financed through a uniform income tax, and a private good (post-tax income). We examine the optimum policy outcomes- public good provision and private consumption-in two distinct settings: the absence of media influence and the presence of a single ideologically motivated media entity. We observed that in the absence of media influence, the optimal provision (of public good and private transfer) depends on many factors such as preference of the voters for the public good, loyalty of the voters for the incumbent vis-a-vis the challenger, and the difference in terms of quality between them. In the presence of the media, voters have the opportunity to update the information about the quality of candidates. In this case, the optimal provision depends on all the factors mentioned earlier, except the quality difference, which is replaced by the signal realisation of the media.
Economic Liberalization, Transport and in-situ urbanization in India: A General Equilibrium Analysis, with Priya Brata Dutta and Saumyabrata Chakrabarti
Abstract
Urbanization in India is moving away from metropolitan dominance and showing a different trend recently. It takes a new path due to the growth of numerous small and medium urban bodies through reclassifying villages, popularly known as Census Towns (CTs). Using a general equilibrium framework, the paper finds that due to economic liberalization and an increase in capital inflow as a consequence, the process of reclassification based urbanization tends to accelerate. However, the net effect of this type of in-situ urbanization is ambiguous due to increased transportation costs. The empirical observation confirms the theoretical findings. We find a positive relationship between urbanization and the inflow of foreign capital, which is proxied by the number of banks in the nearby city. A negative relation is observed when we proxy the transportation cost by the distance from the nearby highway, and a positive relation is found when the same is proxied by distance from the nearby city.