CV

Working papers:

• A Century of Language Barriers to Migration in India
  with Latika Chaudhary and Yannick Dupraz

• Colonial Persistence
  with Bishnupriya Gupta and Anwesh Mukhopadhyay

• Conflict and the Roots of Gender Norms in India
  with Mark Dincecco, Bishnupriya Gupta, and Anil Menon

• Railways and the European Fertility Transition
  with Carlo Ciccarelli and Jordi Martí-Henneberg

• How Rules and Compliance Impact Organizational Outcomes: Evidence from Delegation in Environmental Regulation
  with Muhammad Haseeb and Namrata Kala

• The Columbian Exchange and Conflict in Asia
  with Mark Dincecco and Anil Menon

• Attribution Bias by Gender: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment
  with Alessandro Castagnetti and Karmini Sharma

• Economic shocks and unrest in French West Africa
  with Cornelius Christian

Published research:

• Missing Women in Colonial India
  with Bishnupriya Gupta and Cora Neumann
  2025, Economic History Review

• Dust and Death: Evidence from the West African Harmattan
  with Achyuta Adhvaryu, Prashant Bharadwaj, Anant Nyshadham and Richard Stanley
  2024, Economic Journal

• Fetal Origins of Mental Health: Evidence From Africa
  with Achyuta Adhvaryu, Namrata Kala, and Anant Nyshadham
  2024, Economic Development and Cultural Change

• Railways, Development and Literacy in India
  with Latika Chaudhary
  2023, Journal of Economic History

• Tradition and Mortality: Evidence from Twin Infanticide in Africa
  with Shizhuo Wang
  2023, Journal of Development Economics

• Conflict and the formation of political beliefs in Africa
  with Achyuta Adhvaryu
  2023, Economic Development and Cultural Change

• Railways and Cities in India
  with Namrata Kala and Jinlin Wei
  2023, Journal of Development Economics

• Demographic Shocks and Women's Labor Market Participation: Evidence from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in India
  with Bishnupriya Gupta and Song Yuan
  2022, Journal of Economic History

• Pre-Colonial Warfare and Long-Run Development in India
  with Mark Dincecco, Anil Menon, and Shivaji Mukherjee
  2022, Economic Journal

• Linguistic Distance and Market Integration in India
  with Namrata Kala
  2021, Journal of Economic History

• Resources, Conflict, and Economic Development in Africa
  with Achyuta Adhvaryu, Gaurav Khanna, and Anant Nyshadham
  2021, Journal of Development Economics

• The Green Revolution and Infant Mortality in India
  with Prashant Bharadwaj, Rinchan Ali Mirza and Namrata Kala
  2020, Journal of Health Economics

• Is Africa Different? Historical Conflict and State Development
  with Mark Dincecco and Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato
  2019, Economic History of Developing Regions

• Early Life Circumstance and Adult Mental Health
  with Achyuta Adhvaryu and Anant Nyshadham
  2019, Journal of Political Economy

• Polygamy and child mortality: Historical and modern evidence from Nigeria's Igbo
  with Vellore Arthi
  2018, Review of Economics of the Household

• Oil and ethnic inequality in Nigeria
  with Igor Zurimendi
  2017, Journal of Economic Growth

• 1807: Economic shocks, conflict and the slave trade
  with Namrata Kala
  2017, Journal of Development Economics

• Intra-Household Labor Allocation in Colonial Nigeria
  with Vellore Arthi
  2016, Explorations in Economic History

• African polygamy: Past and present
  2015, Journal of Development Economics

• Climate and the slave trade
  with Namrata Kala
  2015, Journal of Development Economics

• Trees, tenure and conflict: Rubber in colonial Benin
  2014, Journal of Development Economics

• The battle for rubber in Benin
  2014, Economic History Review

• Ecology, trade, and states in pre-colonial Africa
  2014, Journal of the European Economic Association

• Imachi nkwu: Trade and the commons
  2014, Journal of Economic History

• Does land abundance explain African institutions?
  2013, Economic Journal

• Revealed preference tests of the Cournot model
  with Andrés Carvajal, Rahul Deb, and John Quah
  2013, Econometrica

• "Rubber will not keep in this country": Failed development in Benin, 1897-1921
  2013, Explorations in Economic History

• Partition, migration, and jute cultivation in India
  with Prashant Bharadwaj
  2012, Journal of Development Studies

• Land abundance and economic institutions: Egba land and slavery, 1830-1914
  2012, Economic History Review

• Land tenure and investment incentives: Evidence from West Africa
  Correction
  2011, Journal of Development Economics

• L'Étranger: Status, property rights, and investment incentives in Cote d'Ivoire
  2010, Land Economics

Other publications:

• Conflict in economic history
  with Hans-Joachim Voth
  2024, Handbook of the Economics of Conflict
  Literature review

• Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History
  2024, Africa
  Book review

• An adaptation of the narrow corridor
  2023, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice
  Review essay

• Monsoon Economies
  2022, Economic History Review
  Book review

• Freedom's Debtors
  2019, Journal of Economic History
  Book review

• Environmental Economic History
  with Namrata Kala
  2017, The Long Economic and Political Shadow of History
  Literature review

• Economic Growth and Measurement Reconsidered
  2016, Journal of Economic History
  Book review

• A nonparametric analysis of multi-product oligopolies
  with Andrés Carvajal, Rahul Deb, and John Quah
  2014, Economic Theory

• Debt and Slavery in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Worlds
  2014, Journal of Economic History
  Book review

• History, historians and development policy: A necessary dialogue
  2012, Economic History Review
  Book review

• Property rights in rural West Africa: Causes and consequences
  2011, Journal of Economic History
  Dissertation summary

• The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins
  2010, Economic History of Developing Regions
  Literature review, responding to an article by Hopkins
  Comments by Hopkins and Jerven, and my reply.

Teaching:

• EC 9C1: Topics in Economic History

  • with Bishnupriya Gupta and Sascha Becker

• EC 104: The World Economy: History & Theory

  • with Claudia Rei

• EC 982: Development Economics

Office Hours (S0.74):

• Oct 6-Dec 12, 2025:

  • Mondays 9AM-11AM except October 20 and November 17

  • Wednesday October 22, 9AM-11AM.

  • Friday November 21, 9AM-11AM.

Profile Pages:

• IDEAS

• Google Scholar