Working Papers

1. Gender-Specific Transportation Costs and Female Time Use: Evidence from India's Pink Slip Program

with Kerem Cosar (UVA), Devaki Ghose (World Bank), Sheetal Sekhri (UVA), and Shirish Mahendru (GIZ)

[2nd Round Revise & Resubmit, The Economic Journal] [NBER WP] [CEPR Discussion Paper][Latest]

2. Liquidity Constraints and Real-Time Adaptation to Extreme Heat: Evidence from Gig Workers (Funded by UVA and UTA)

with Md Amzad Hossain (UArk) and Sheetal Sekhri (UVA)

Coverage: Ideas for India

3. Credit Crisis and Strategic Human Capital Decisions: Evidence from Micro-Finance Regulation in India

with Md Amzad Hossain (UArk) and Sheetal Sekhri (UVA)

4. Algorithmic Fairness on Online Platforms with Biased Consumers

with Wei Jiang (UTA)

Works in Progress

1. Scorching Streets: Heatwaves and Gig Workers in India (Funded by UVA and UTA)

with Sheetal Sekhri (UVA)

2. Investing in AI Talent: Labor-Market Returns to AI Skilling College Infrastructure in India

with Sheetal Sekhri (UVA)

3. Cash Transfers, Liquidity Constraints, and Investment under Climate Risk

with Sabina Yasmin, Sheetal Sekhri (UVA), Poonam Tripathi, and Sankha Mitra

4. Historical Roots of Gender Equity (Funded by UTA)

with Yiyu Xing (UCLA)

Publications

Economics (Authors listed alphabetically by last name)

1. Chen, Y. (2026). Digitalization as a Double-Edged Sword: Winning Services and Losing Manufacturing in India. Journal of Development Economics, 179, 103618. [Appendix] [eIndex_Fig2.dta]

Coverage: Ideas for India, Substack

2. Chen, Y., Chiplunkar, G., Sekhri, S., Sen, A., & Seth, A. (2025). How Do Political Connections of Firms Matter During an Economic Crisis? Journal of Development Economics, 175, 103471. [Appendix]

Coverage: Ideas for India, VoxDev

3. Chen, Y. (2024). Does the Gig Economy Discriminate Against Women? Evidence from Physicians in China. Journal of Development Economics, 169, 103275. [Appendix]

Coverage: VoxDev, 劳动经济学与社保研究, 香樟经济学术圈

Typo correction: The estimated coefficient in column 1 of Panel A of Table 3 should be "-0.023*", not "-0.023***".

4. Chen, Y., Debnath, S., Sekhri, S., & Sekhri, V. (2023). The Impact of COVID-19 Containment Lockdowns on MSMEs in India and Resilience of Exporting Firms. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 210, 320-341.

Health

1. Chen, Y., Xu, L., Jiang, W., & Fields, N. L. (2026). Staffing of Qualified Social Workers and Nursing Home Quality of Care. JAMA Network Open, 9(2), e260074.

2. Chen, Y., Kim, J., Chow, T. G., Hong, A. S., Liao, J. M., & Xie, L. (2026). Association between Astham and Dementia Across Age Groups. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 14(3), 715-717.e1.

Coverage: Healio

3. Xie, L., Tang, Y., Felix-George, R. Il, Joo, J. H., Chen, Y., Rivera-Sanchez, Y., & Liao, J. M. (2025). Factors Associated with Cost Barriers to Asthma Management by Insurance Coverage Status Among U.S. Adults. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 13(6), 1412-1420

Coverage: Medscape

4. Padula, W. V., Chen, Y. H., & Santamaria, N. (2019). Five‐layer border dressings as part of a quality improvement bundle to prevent pressure injuries in US skilled nursing facilities and Australian nursing homes: a cost‐effectiveness analysis. International Wound Journal, 16(6), 1263-1272.

Other Publications

1. Chen, Y., Miller, A. R., Segal, C., Spencer, M. (2025). Effects of COVID-19 Shutdowns on Domestic Violence in the U.S.  in K. Couch (Ed.), Handbook of Inequality and COVID-19. [NBER Working Paper] (Book Chapter)

2. Padula, W., Chen, Y., Reid, N., Tierce, J., Popper, C., & Walz, K. (2020). PCN67 Using information from the microbiome to improve the efficiency of selecting therapeutic options for melanoma: A cost-effectiveness analysis. Value in Health, 23, S35. (Conference Abstract)