Research

Spatial media competition under multi-homing (Job Market Paper) 

 This article characterizes a reader-perception measure of a media outlet’s report based on its investment and spinning choices to acquire and reveal information respectively. The measure highlights perception differences between single and multi-homing readers (who read multiple outlets’ reports) and shows multi-homer’s perception varies with the sequence of reading reports. These results help analyze how two spatially competing outlets report a state under multi-homing. Under certain states, the proportion of multi-homers and their sequence of reading reports encourage outlets towards preemptive investment and increased spin. In other states, outlets become more cautious to not acquire or reveal unfavorable information.

Land-redistribution and coercive violence (with Rohan Gudibande and Vatsalya Srivastava) under review link 

In a post land reform environment, violence and redistribution are substitutes for an opportunistic incumbent attempting industrialization. We setup a theoretical model to explore this relationship for individual and group level violence across two types of policy driven post land-reform industrialization (PLRI) --- small and large-scale, in the Indian state of West Bengal. We find strong evidence for our theoretical prediction of an inverse relationship between land redistribution and both types of violence during the period of small scale industrialization after an industrial policy was announced in 1994-95 by the incumbent. This relationship however breaks down for individual level violence during attempts at large-scale industrialization between 2006-2011, even though both types of violence increase in this phase.

Personalised Incentives: Segregation in a platform with networks* (with Ratul Das Chaudhury) (submitted) 

An online platform generates per-user revenue through two plans --- advertisements from a generic basic plan, and subscription fees from an exclusive premium plan --- the latter being higher. The utility of an user from either plan depends on whether other users they are connected with in their social network, are also using the same plan. A social connection from user a to b reflects b's influence on a and alternatively, a's susceptibility towards b. Given this directional feature of social connections, the platform endogenously chooses exclusive content to attract users on the premium plan by leveraging on users' social network information.  We find exclusive content rises (falls) with user's influence (susceptibility) in their network. Influence and susceptibility are shown to induce conformity effects to push users to basic or premium plan depending on the specific feature of the social network like symmetry and regularity.