Research
Job Market Paper
Downpours of Deprivation: Exploring the Impact of Excess Rainfall Shocks on Perceived Relative Deprivation in Peru. 2023. Blog: Economics That Really Matters
Recent Presentations: 2024 Annual SEEDS Conference (Georgia Tech); Midwest International Economic Development Conference (University of Chicago); Seminario MAP (Online); Pacific Conference for Development Economics (PacDev) 2024 (Stanford King Center on Global Development); Agricutural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meetings 2023; Development Lunch Fall 2023 (Department of AFRE & Economics, Michigan State University)
Draft
Perceptions of relative deprivation or feelings of relative poverty affect a range of economic and behavioral outcomes, such as support for redistribution, political attitudes, hostility, and risky behavior. In this paper, I test whether covariate shocks-like excess rainfall shocks can change perceptions of relative deprivation in a developing country context. Using household-level longitudinal data for Peru, I provide novel evidence showing that exposure to excess rainfall shocks increases the likelihood that households perceive their standard of living to be worse off relative to the other households in the locality. Two fundamental mechanisms could explain this- firstly, the differential effect of excess rainfall shocks across objective outcomes suggests a widening economic gap reflected in standard relative deprivation measures, and secondly, misperceptions about the losses of other households within a locality could explain the increase in perceived relative deprivation. The impact is particularly larger for historically underprivileged and less developed communities, possibly due to limited options of consumption smoothing. I show that social protection programs, such as conditional cash transfers and in-kind food assistance programs, can attenuate the effect of rainfall shocks on perceived relative deprivation. Finally, I show an association between perceived relative deprivation and political beliefs related to the functioning of democracy and support for authoritarian regimes in Peru.
Working Papers
When the Temperature Drops, Perceptions Worsen: Effects of Extreme Cold on Perceptions of Government and Civic Participation in the Peruvian Highlands. 2023. (with Leah Lakdawala and Eduardo Nakasone)
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Perceptions of government and political institutions can have important effects on a wide range of outcomes, such as compliance with laws and demand for public goods. We examine how extreme weather affects individuals’ belief of how well democracy functions in Peru. We construct a unique dataset containing spatially and temporally specific cold temperature shocks and find that extreme cold reduces positive perceptions of democracy. This translates into reductions in civic engagement in formal democratic institutions (as measured by participation in national elections) but increased involvement in local associations. We provide evidence that these effects work through several mechanisms: decreased income, assets, and expenditure as well as increased incidence of illness and some types of crime. Finally, we find that the negative effects of extreme cold are mitigated by government provision of goods and services, namely, social programs, public hospitals, and police resources.
Frosty Climate, Icy Relationships: Frosts and Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Peru. 2023. (with Katie Bollman, Leah Lakdawala and Eduardo Nakasone)
Draft
Violence against women — in particular, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) — is a major health concern for women across the world. In this paper, we study the impact of frosts (temperatures below 0°C / 32°F) on IPV among Peruvian women. Using a dataset that matches women to weather exposure, we find that overall, frost shocks increase IPV: 10 degree hours below -9°C increases the probability of experiencing domestic violence by 0.5 percentage points. These effects are larger for more extreme temperature thresholds. We provide evidence that frosts impact IPV through two main channels. First, extreme cold yields adverse consequences for income, which in turn impacts IPV. Second, extreme cold limits the mobility of individuals, potentially increasing exposure of women to violent partners. To our knowledge, we are the first to measure relative significance of these two channels by utilizing variation in frost timing to distinguish shocks that affect IPV through changes in income from those that act through time spent indoors. We find that the effect of frosts on IPV is mostly driven by frosts that occur during the growing season, when 10 degree hours below -9°C increase the probability of experiencing IPV by 1.5 percentage points. In contrast, we find that non-growing season frosts have no statistically significant effects on IPV.
Impact of COVID mortality on voting behavior: Evidence from Peru. 2023. (with Leah Lakdawala and Eduardo Nakasone)
[Draft Coming Soon]
How did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to changes in voting behavior? Are these changes been guided by drop in confidence or trust in political institutions? Using within district variation in COVID-19 incidence, this paper provides empirical evidence to these questions for a developing country context, Peru. Studying the 2021 Presidential elections in Peru, we find that- conditional on district and election-year fixed effects and a set of potentially confounding variables– districts with a higher incidence of COVID-19 before the elections, shifted their votes towards left leaning parties. This effect is largest for incidence of COVID-19 three months and 4-6 months before the election. This result can most likely be explained by examining changes in voter turnout, and confidence or trust in political institutions.
Pre-Ph.D. Publications
Continued Misery or a Change in Fortune? The Case of the Howrah Foundry Industry. Book Chapter in Industrialisation for Employment and Growth in India, Cambridge University Press, 2021 Book Review
Book Chapter
Has India Deindustrialised Prematurely? A Disaggregated Analysis.(with R. Nagaraj) Economic and Political Weekly, 2020. Media Coverage: mint, Scroll.in
Paper
Land as Collateral in India.(with Sudha Narayanan) Economic and Political Weekly, 2019. Media Coverage: mint
Paper
An Unequal Process of Urbanization. Economic and Political Weekly, 2017.
Paper