Research

Working Papers

Abstract: I conduct a district-level analysis to investigate the effects of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on labour-market outcomes across gender in India. Based on a novel data set that combines household survey data with district-aggregated measures of SEZ exposure, I find that operational SEZs had a significantly positive effect on local formal-sector employment of women and that of men and women in their late 20s to early 30s. I also find that it had no effect on incidence of employment across all groups. Further, I find strong evidence to suggest that operation of SEZs led to a greater increase in the probability of women attaining tertiary levels of education which is a possible supply-side factor which can explain their increased participation in the formal-sector.

Note: Distribution of SEZs across Indian districts, based on timing of the first operational SEZ. 

Disclaimer: International borders shown do not imply agreement or endorsement by the author.

Abstract: In 2014, the state of Rajasthan in India passed significant labour-law amendments, spearheading labour reforms in India. It increased size-based thresholds for the applicability of employment protection and factory registration provisions such that many firms will no longer remain in their coverage. This paper uses cross-sectional labour force survey data from 2009-20 to investigate the impact of these reforms on the incidences of paid employment, unemployment, as well as, formal and temporary employment of workers. A robust finding is that the reforms increased substitution of permanent workers for temporary, without any corresponding change in paid employment. Reforms that reduced restrictions on hiring of temporary workers drove the increase in share of temporary employment. On the other hand, reforms that reduced workplace safety requirements and restrictions on firing permanent workers had little effect.   

Work-in-progress


Abstract: We use the context of India to explain college choice (whether to enrol and the discipline to pursue) when households face borrowing constraints and high initial costs for the pursuit of more lucrative college majors like engineering and business. We aim to test a novel dynamic structural model incorporating borrowing constraints, costs and diverse abilities to test if the model can explain persistently low rates of intergenerational mobility.  The research contributes to the literature on social mobility in developing countries, an area less explored within economics (Iversen et al. 2017). 

Fig: Predicted college enrolment by household income and grades