PUBLICATIONS

The Ties that Bind us: Social Networks and Productivity in the Factory (with Farzana Afridi and Amrita Dhillon), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 218, Pages 470-485.

Social Protection Policies and Women’s Employment During COVID-19 (with Nikita Sangwan), Contextualizing the COVID Pandemic in India, Springer 2023.

Understanding the barriers to women’s career advancement in manufacturing sector: diagnostic study of Indian garment factories, IWWAGE working paper series, 2021

Using Social Connections and Financial Incentives to Solve Coordination Failure: A Quasi-Field Experiment in India's Manufacturing Sector (with Farzana Afridi,  Amrita Dhillon, Sherry Xin Li ) ,  Journal of Development Economics, 144, 1024–45, May 2020.

Social Networks and Labour Productivity: A Survey of Recent Theory and Evidence (with Farzana Afridi and Amrita Dhillon),  Indian Economic Review, 50, 25–42, 2015.

WORKING PAPERS

Labor market shocks, Social Protection and Women's Work  (with Nikita Sangwan), IEG Working Paper No. 453, 2022.

Abstract: 

In this study we focus on the lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that highlighted the vulnerabilities faced by women in labor markets - globally and domestically. We investigate whether public policy measures mitigate these vulnerabilities. In particular, we study the implications of lockdown triggered reverse migration on Labor Force Participation of rural women, focusing on mandated provisions under MGNREGA and GKRA. We find evidence of complementarity of the two social employment schemes and rule out any crowding out of NREGA person-days by GKRA. Our analysis shows that despite these schemes rural women lost employment due to competition from men. Their share in NREGA person-days fell by 0.4\% during the pandemic. Interestingly, the mandated provisions for women in NREGA works helped women preserve their employment status. Our findings underscore the need for special provisions and targeted programs for women to reduce their withdrawal and enhance their participation in the labor market. Our results are robust to seasonality patterns in rural employment and MGNREGA. Furthermore, we validate our findings using monthly individual-level employment data from Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS), CMIE.

Breaking Glass-Ceiling for Women using Vertical Ties: Evidence from Indian Garment Manufacturing (with Ajit Mishra), Working paper ,University of Bath 2023.

Abstract: 

Large manufacturing factories majorly rely on referrals for screening workers for managerial roles. We use knowledge acquisition and signaling model to show that historically disadvantaged groups lose promotions when the non-referral screening process is relatively costly for the management making stereotypes persistent and self-fulfilling. We overcome sample size issues to test the predictions of the model by using unique and novel data collection process from Indian garment manufacturing factories. We find that women are less likely to be referred for high-valued managerial roles and in the short run, women can signal their aspirations and ability by forming vertical ties to break the `glass ceiling'. Further, management can ask/assign male intermediate managers to specifically mentor more women workers to balance gender representation at managerial levels.

Gender and Workplace Interactions: Who is Likely to Lose?, IEG Working Paper No. 426, 2021

Abstract: 

Workplace interactions have been identified as a valuable source of information and career advancement. This study examines workplace interaction by looking at personal ties of 1744 blue-collar workers in 2 garment manufacturing units in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, India. Data analysis shows that men have a more expansive set of personal ties, even after controlling for variation in interpersonal and workplace-related characteristics. Women's personal networks are smaller, clustered within their functional units and more homogeneous. While supervisors do not figure in personal networks of either gender, women are significantly less likely to mobilize interactions with supervisors for professional or personal purposes. Thus, women's personal ties at the workplace exhibit patterns that are opposite of those identified by existing literature as instrumental for career advancement.

UPCOMING WORK

Efficacy of negative marking as a screening tool: a survey of recent exam taking behavior studies

Does negative marking lead to gendered exam taking behavior: experimental evidence from India (with Nandana Sengupta, Sumitava Mukherjee)

Debunking myths associated with affirmative action: using evidence from Supernumerary Seat Scheme (with Nandana Sengupta)

Teams, leadership and attitudes (with Nandana Sengupta)