Working Papers
The Old-Age Care Motive for Son Preference: New Evidence from India (with Abhishek Chakravarty and Aruni Mitra). Submitted to Journal of European Economic Association.
Abstract: In many emerging economies, households follow the patrilocality norm where eldest sons live with their parents into adulthood to provide old-age support, which can lead parents to discriminate against younger siblings during periods of hardship. We find that the Indian demonetisation shock in 2016 induced patrilocal households with an eldest son to increase son-biased fertilitystopping and sex-selective abortion of daughters. In more affected districts, sons with an older brother also experienced higher neonatal mortality than sons without. Households therefore appear to insure old-age consumption against adverse shocks by protecting eldest sons’ human capital, with considerable welfare costs for younger children.
The Gendered Labour Market Impacts of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from India (Revising) [Slides]
Abstract: I assess the impact of Special Economic Zones established in India between 2006-18 on the gender gap in employment at the local level. Comparing outcomes in between districts where zones became operational with those where they at least reached the approval stage, I find that SEZs reduced gaps in both employment and job quality, even after controlling for south/north location of SEZs. Districts hosting manufacturing SEZs are likely to experience a larger impact. The study contributes to the literature that discusses the role of demand-side economic policies in reducing gender-based labour-market inequalities in a setting where cultural barriers against female labour-force participation are high.
Effects of labour-market deregulation on workers: Insights from state-level amendments in India [Paper]
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
Borrowing constraints, college choice and mobility (with Sujan Bandyopadhyay and Chinh Hoang-Duc)