Research

Can generous and seemingly 'progressive' paid maternity leaves lead to decrease in female employment? In this paper, I examine the effects from the extension of paid maternity leaves on the gendered labor market outcomes, in the context of India. The empirical analysis utilizes a two-fold estimation, first using firm-level data to measure difference in policy effects across genders. Second estimation measures reallocation of female-employment between industries, by varying degrees of policy-exposure, using a fuzzy difference-in-difference design. The results indicate that policy causes firms to substitute women out by their male-counterparts and they get reallocated to less-formal industries, effectively changing the gender composition of formal-employment. The analysis suggests that the policy worsened labor outcomes for women by deriving women into unpaid house-hold chores/informal jobs and unemployment, thereby fueling gender labor differences.

The paper studies economic impacts from a state-wide ban on Alcohol implemented in the one of the poorest states in India, Bihar, in 2016. The complete liquor prohibition was predicted to bring reduction in drunken crimes, and better nutrition for families with unspent money on alcohol. But the economic damages that the policy could bring along with a sudden closure of a major industry were not at all anticipated. I utilize a difference in difference approach to provide the causal evidence for the negative economic impact brought upon the household in Bihar, using a rich household panel survey data. I find that the prohibition resulted in decline in business incomes for all households and subsample, while wage income significantly declined for those who were majority households previously consuming alcohol, but increases for those non-drinker or female majority households, who did not have any previous expenditure on alcohol. The declining incomes was accompanied by reductions in expenditures on food. I also check for heterogenous effects. The paper sheds light on unintended economic consequences followed by major political interventions and how governments should better prepare for unforeseen economic ramifications of such policies.

This research proposal aims to understand the nexus between access to credit and product mix of a firm. We propose to do so by understanding how firms would switch the products produced when credit barriers are lifted. To explore this link, we measure how the manufacturing firms in India respond to credit availability by changing their product mix, by using the Branch Authorization Policy implemented by India in 2005 as a natural experiment. This will help us understand how firm's financial constraints can affect their economic decision making which can be crucial for development policies.

The main research question of our proposal is to study how the localized labour demand shocks can affect the gendered labour market outcomes. We study this demand shock in the context of the trade liberalization episode in India from 1991-1997. We utilize the variation in tariff exposure across different locations (district-level) in India to measure the distributional impact of trade reforms and examine the changes in the gender gaps in employment and wage in the Indian industries pre and post reform.