Saigeetha Narasimhan

Economics PhD - 2024 Job Market Candidate

I received my PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado - Boulder in August 2024. I am an applied microeconomist, and my interests lie at the intersection of labor markets and gender topics.

Please find my most up-to-date CV here.

And other Job Market materials: Teaching Statement, Research Statement, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement.

Job Market Paper: What is the effect of Salary History Bans on the Labor Supply of Mothers?

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of Salary History Bans (SHBs) on maternal labor supply. SHBs are policy measures that prevent employers from inquiring about a job applicant's past salary, a practice that perpetuates lower wages for women. While prior research has established that SHBs help narrow the gender pay gap, primarily through increased wages for women, this paper examines the effects of the resulting wage increases on labor supply among mothers. Using labor supply data from the Current Population Survey and leveraging the Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) method for staggered policy adoption, I construct a pseudo-panel to analyze SHBs’ impact across various labor supply outcomes. My findings indicate no significant overall effect on maternal labor supply but indicate an increase in labor force participation among mothers with young children, primarily driven by part-time employment. These results suggest that wage increases incentivize mothers of young children to enter or remain in the labor force.

[Current Draft]

Working Paper: The relationship between Female Deity Exposure and Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract: This paper explores the historical roots of attitudes towards women by analyzing the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and historical exposure to female deity temples in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Using hand-collected data on historical temples, this study constructs a district-level measure of exposure to goddess temples. Employing an conditional on observables methodology and individual-level IPV data from the National Family and Health Survey, this paper investigates whether historical exposure to female deities correlates with current IPV incidence. The results suggest a counterintuitive association: higher exposure to female-deity temples is associated with increased IPV. This suggests a complex relationship between religious beliefs and gender norms, where cultural reverence for goddesses might not translate into respect for women, potentially exacerbating IPV.

[Current Draft]

Working Paper: The role of state-level wage and hour protections under weakened federal enforcement

(with Lauren Schechter)

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of the Supreme Court decision in EPIC Systems v. Lewis on the incidence of wage theft, specifically focusing on overtime violations. The 2018 ruling mandated individual arbitration for wage and hour disputes, potentially undermining collective legal recourse at the federal level and thus deterring employees from reporting violations. Utilizing data from the Current Population Survey's Outgoing Rotation Group/Earner Study, we examine differential changes in overtime work and apparent underpayment for overtime across states with varying strengths of administrative enforcement mechanisms. By imputing weekly earnings based on reported hours and wages, and identifying discrepancies indicative of underpayment, we identify instances of overtime violations. Our analysis, employing two-way fixed effects and event study methodologies, finds no significant differential impact of the EPIC decision between strong and weak enforcement states. Robustness checks excluding states without codified overtime statutes confirm these findings. This study contributes to the wage theft literature by developing a novel measure of overtime underpayment and leveraging unique state-level enforcement variation.

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