Labour Cost Index and Labour Market Statistics Development
This engagement with the Asian Development Bank provides technical support to strengthen labour market measurement and dissemination of official statistics in India through collaboration with the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. It focuses on developing a Labour Cost Index (LCI) to complement existing wage indicators by capturing broader labour costs, including wage and non-wage components and analysing how labour costs vary across skill levels and how exposure to AI shifts them. The work also involves reviewing international methodologies, assessing data requirements, and contributing to Labour Bureau’s statistical frameworks and labour market newsletter through data analysis, visualisations, and evidence-based communication.
Motherhood, Occupational Sorting, and Exposure to Generative AI
This paper asks whether motherhood, by shaping the occupations women choose, also shapes their exposure to generative AI. Using 2020-2024 CPS microdata linked to O*NET, it constructs a Greediness Index capturing occupations that demand long hours and inflexible schedules, and instruments motherhood with county-level access to family planning centres from QCEW data. It then links task-level AI exposure scores from Eloundou et al. (2023) to examine whether mothers of young children sort into jobs more or less exposed to AI, and what this means for gender gaps.
Research Visit: with Kabir Dasgupta, Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Washington, D.C. (Oct -Nov 2025)
Price Shocks, Job Choices, Labor Mobility and Earnings (with Tirthatanmoy Das)
This study examines workers in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in India, focusing on how changes in the prices of goods and services impact their earnings and mobility across sectors. Using pre-demonetization monthly unit-level data on prime-age Indian male workers (25 - 64 years) from CHPS-CMIE (2015-2016) and price data from the Reserve Bank of India, this study applies IV-2SLS and the Normal Roy (Roy, 1951) model to decompose the direct impact and impact through selectivity on sectoral earnings. The direct effect resembles the well-known price-wage pass-through, where wage bargaining plays a major role. The selectivity effect reflects changes in sectoral earnings due to intersectoral labor mobility.
Presentations: IIM Calcutta Economics Research Conference 2026, March 2026 (Accepted); Research Scholars’ Day 2026, Department of Economic Sciences, IIT Kanpur, Feb 2026 (Accepted); Global Labor Organization (GLO) 2025 Conference Job Market Sessions, Dec 2025
From Past Ventures to Present Success: Does Human Capital Drive Performance in Entrepreneurship?
The paper analyses the impact of accumulated experience, as a form of human capital, from habitual entrepreneurship on the performance of the current venture. This question highlights the interconnected roles of various stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem - policymakers, venture capitalists, accelerator programs, founders, and employees. By integrating concepts from entrepreneurship and human capital theory, the paper identifies an inverted-U-shaped causal relationship between prior venture experience and current venture revenue. It addresses endogeneity using Caetano et al.'s (2023) novel control function approach, distinguishing treatment effect from confounders through 'bunching' at zero average venture experience.
Working paper as part of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) Discussion Paper Series 2026
Presentations: Southern Economic Association 95th Annual Meeting, Nov 2025; Strategic Management Society Annual Conference, Oct 2025; Society for Economics Research in India Annual Workshop, July 2025 (Accepted); Academy of Management Annual Meeting, July 2025 (Accepted)