Research Statement:
Overview:
For specific projects within each theme, please see:
- Agricultural Development
- Crime and Conflict
- Governance and Public Service Delivery
- Political Selection
Job Market Paper:
Parachuters vs. Climbers: Economic Consequences of Barriers to Political Entry in a Democracy
[How does a legislator’s career prior to joining politics impact local economic growth?]
Under Review:
Impacts of the Green Revolution on Infant Mortality in the Developing World (with Gordon McCord, Ram Fishman, Nathan Mueller, Prabhat Barnwal and Jan von der Goltz). Revise and Resubmit, Nature.
[What are the health impacts of the green revolution?]
Working Papers:
Designing Policy in Weak States: Unintended Consequences of Alcohol Prohibition in Bihar (with Abhilasha Sahay)
[What happens to crime when the consumption and sale of alcohol is completely banned?]
Electoral Cycles in Food Prices: Evidence from India (with Pranav Gupta and Rahul Verma)
[Under what conditions do prices of essential food commodities vary with the timing of elections? ]
Reducing Corruption in Bihar’s Public Distribution System (with Chinmaya Kumar and Pankaj Verma)
[How important are ‘monitoring’ effects in an informational campaign?]
In Progress:
The Groundwater Constraint: Responses to Falling Water Tables in India (with Ram Fishman and Meha Jain)
[What are the short-run consequences of environmental degradation?]
“All is Water”: Role of Irrigation in History
[Does history have persisting effects through mechanisms other than extractive land institutions?]
Modern Crop Varieties and Yield Growth in the Developing World (with Gordon McCord, Ram Fishman, Nathan Mueller, Prabhat Barnwal and Jan von der Goltz)
[Did yields for cereal and root crops increase uniformly when modern variety seeds were adopted?]
Public or Private Leviathan? Crime and Development in Contemporary Bihar (with Ashwani Kumar)
[How do low-income, conflict prone societies control crime, restore autonomy of the state and transition to developed ones?]
Non-academic:
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (2017) Engaging Indian Overseas Electors: Online Competition Results and Survey Findings – A Report to the Election Commission of India
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (2015) Inclusive Elections in India: A Study on Domestic Migration and Issues in Election Participation – A Report to the Election Commission of India [Report]
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (2013) Analysis of KABBP surveys – A Report to the Election Commission of India
