Research Interests: International Trade, Innovation, Organizational Economics, Development Economics
Working Paper(s):
Paper(s) Under Review:
Publications:
Journal Articles:
Other Journal Articles:
Chapters in Books:
Policy Reports:
Media and Other Writings:
Future Research:
Working Paper(s):
- Trade Liberalization, Business Investments, and Family Firms (with Huan Yang)
- [pdf]
- Import Competition, Labour Regulations, and Firm Outsourcing (with D. Mitra and A. Sundaram)
- [pdf] New Version Coming Soon!
Paper(s) Under Review:
- Import Competition, Formalization, and the Role of Contract Labor (with R. Singh and V. Soundararajan)
- Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation from Chinese imports, we provide causal evidence that higher import competition increases the share of India's formal manufacturing enterprise employment. This increase in formal share occurs both due to the rise in formal enterprise employment, driven by the high productivity firms, and a fall in informal-enterprise employment. This labor reallocation is enabled by the formal firms' hiring of contract workers, who do not carry stringent firing costs. Overall, Chinese import competition led to an increase in the share of formal sector employment by 4.1 percentage points between 2000-2001 and 2005-2006. We calculate the labor productivity gap within manufacturing between the formal and informal sectors. This gap and the aggregate labor productivity gain from the import-competition induced worker reallocation across the sectors reduce when we account for differences in prices and worker characteristics. Our estimates suggest that aggregate labor productivity increases by 3.19% in response to Chinese import competition.
- [pdf] Submitted
- Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation from Chinese imports, we provide causal evidence that higher import competition increases the share of India's formal manufacturing enterprise employment. This increase in formal share occurs both due to the rise in formal enterprise employment, driven by the high productivity firms, and a fall in informal-enterprise employment. This labor reallocation is enabled by the formal firms' hiring of contract workers, who do not carry stringent firing costs. Overall, Chinese import competition led to an increase in the share of formal sector employment by 4.1 percentage points between 2000-2001 and 2005-2006. We calculate the labor productivity gap within manufacturing between the formal and informal sectors. This gap and the aggregate labor productivity gain from the import-competition induced worker reallocation across the sectors reduce when we account for differences in prices and worker characteristics. Our estimates suggest that aggregate labor productivity increases by 3.19% in response to Chinese import competition.
- Compensate to Innovate: Cross-border Environmental Regulation and Firm Labor Demand (with A. Chakrabarti and C. Chatterjee)
- In 1994, due to environmental concerns, Germany banned a chemical called 'Azo-dyes' which used to be the primary input for the firms producing leather and textiles goods in India (a key exporter). Exploiting this as a quasi-natural experiment, we examine the effects of this cross-border regulatory change on labor compensation, particularly managerial, for both Indian upstream (dye-producing) and downstream (leather and textile) firms. We find that it is the combination of changes such as product churning, undertaking of higher R&D, and import of intermediates, due to the ban, which led increase in demand for managerial workers; in particular, the regulation increased compensation of managers by 3.7-18% in dye-producing firms compared to other chemical firms. Our results further show that it is the fixed and not variable component which drives the increase in overall compensation, consistent with the effects of a long-run or permanent shock on labor compensation (Ederer and Manso, 2013). We find no such effects for downstream firms. We believe, our study is one of the first to show that just like tariff, non-tariff barriers can also significantly affect within firm labor composition.
- [pdf] Submitted
- In 1994, due to environmental concerns, Germany banned a chemical called 'Azo-dyes' which used to be the primary input for the firms producing leather and textiles goods in India (a key exporter). Exploiting this as a quasi-natural experiment, we examine the effects of this cross-border regulatory change on labor compensation, particularly managerial, for both Indian upstream (dye-producing) and downstream (leather and textile) firms. We find that it is the combination of changes such as product churning, undertaking of higher R&D, and import of intermediates, due to the ban, which led increase in demand for managerial workers; in particular, the regulation increased compensation of managers by 3.7-18% in dye-producing firms compared to other chemical firms. Our results further show that it is the fixed and not variable component which drives the increase in overall compensation, consistent with the effects of a long-run or permanent shock on labor compensation (Ederer and Manso, 2013). We find no such effects for downstream firms. We believe, our study is one of the first to show that just like tariff, non-tariff barriers can also significantly affect within firm labor composition.
- Bank Ownership, Exports and Misallocation
- Does a bank's ownership matter for a firm's performance (to which it is connected)? Especially, in the event of a crisis? I study this question through the effect of 2008-09 crisis on Indian manufacturing firms to provide evidence on a new channel that can matter significantly for a firm's export performance - bank ownership. I find: (a) firms connected to private and/or foreign banks earn around 8% less from exports during the crisis as compared to firms' having banking relationships with public-sector banks. This happened as public-sector banks were differentially affected (in terms of credit supply) than other banks due to a clause in the Indian Banking Act of 1969; (b) drop in exports is driven by firms' client to big domestic private banks and banks of US origin; and (c) firms not connected to public-sector banks also laid-off more workers (both managers and non-managers), employed less capital and imported less raw materials. Lastly, firms with lower average product of capital (than the median) received about 50% more loans, suggesting a significant misallocation of credit.
- [pdf] Submitted
- Does a bank's ownership matter for a firm's performance (to which it is connected)? Especially, in the event of a crisis? I study this question through the effect of 2008-09 crisis on Indian manufacturing firms to provide evidence on a new channel that can matter significantly for a firm's export performance - bank ownership. I find: (a) firms connected to private and/or foreign banks earn around 8% less from exports during the crisis as compared to firms' having banking relationships with public-sector banks. This happened as public-sector banks were differentially affected (in terms of credit supply) than other banks due to a clause in the Indian Banking Act of 1969; (b) drop in exports is driven by firms' client to big domestic private banks and banks of US origin; and (c) firms not connected to public-sector banks also laid-off more workers (both managers and non-managers), employed less capital and imported less raw materials. Lastly, firms with lower average product of capital (than the median) received about 50% more loans, suggesting a significant misallocation of credit.
Publications:
Journal Articles:
- Intellectual Property Regimes and Wage Inequality (with S. Bhattacharya and C. Chatterjee)
- Journal of Development Economics, Forthcoming [pdf]
- Chinese Competition and Product Variety of Indian firms (with M. Henry)
- Journal of Comparative Economics 47 (2): 367-395, 2019 [pdf]
- Input-trade Liberalization and the Demand for Managers: Evidence from India (with O. Raveh)
- Journal of International Economics 111: 159-176, 2018 [pdf]
- The Great Trade Collapse and Indian Firms
- World Economy 41 (1): 100-125, 2018 [pdf]
- Environmental Standards, Trade and Innovation: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
- Environment and Development Economics 22 (4): 414-446, 2017 [pdf]
- Does Environmental Regulation Indirectly Induce Upstream Innovation? New Evidence from India (with C. Chatterjee)
- Research Policy 46 (5): 939-955, 2017 [pdf]
- Top three 2017 articles w/the most social media attention @ResearchPolicy
- Research Policy 46 (5): 939-955, 2017 [pdf]
- Judicial Quality and Regional Firm Performance: The Case of Indian States
- Journal of Comparative Economics 44 (4): 902-918, 2016 [pdf]
- Does Openness Affect Inequality? A Case Study for India (with A. Barua)
- Review of Development Economics 14 (3): 447-465, 2010 [pdf]
Other Journal Articles:
- Effect of Environmental Regulation on Firm Performance: Evidence from a Policy Experiment
- Economic and Political Weekly 51 (24): 104-111, 2016 [pdf]
- Standards or Hazards: Environmental Compliance and Market Access Concerns for India’s Marine and Agricultural Products
- Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law 12 (1): 85-116, 2009 [pdf]
- Environmental Regulations and Indian Leather Industry (with D. Chakraborty)
- Economic and Political Weekly 42 (19): 1669-1672, 2007 [pdf]
Chapters in Books:
- Trade Reform, Managers, and Skill Intensity: Evidence from India [pdf]
- in M. Bacchetta and M. Helble (eds.), Trade Adjustment in Asia: Past Experiences and Lessons Learned, pp. 229-275, scheduled
- Trade and Industrial Performance since the WTO Reforms: What Indian Evidences Suggest? (with A. Barua and D. Chakraborty) [pdf]
- in R. M. Stern and A. Barua (eds.), India and the WTO: Issues and Negotiating Strategies, pp. 121-144, 2010
- Environmental Service Negotiation and India: Priorities and Concerns (with O. De) [pdf]
- in B. DebRoy et al. (eds.) the trade game: negotiation trends at WTO and concerns of developing countries, pp. 203-214, 2006
Policy Reports:
- Mainstreaming Gender in Trade Policy – A Case Study on Bhutan [link]
- UNCTAD
- Asian and African Development Trajectories: Revisiting Facts and Figures (with G. Carbonnier and E. Dalle Mulle) [link]
- International Development Policy Brief, Graduate Institute (IHEID), Geneva
Media and Other Writings:
- Import Competition, Formalization, and Role of Contract Workers (with R. Singh and V. Soundararajan)
- Ideas for India: 27th January, 2021 [https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/trade/import-competition-formalisation-and-the-role-of-contract-workers.html]
- Is the Ban on BS-III Vehicles Really Bad? (with C. Chatterjee)
- livemint 11 (86): 15, April 11, 2017 [http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/BV8SwjKy9dM5V8eEMEkfSI/Is-the-ban-on-BSIII-vehicles-really-bad.html]
- Assure a Better Future for the Leather Industry (with R. Kher)
- The Financial Express: 7, Feb 17, 2005 [http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/assure-a-better-future-for-the-leather-industry/147818/1]
Future Research:
- Trade and Credit Allocation (with S K Ritadhi)
- Banking Reforms, Access to Credit, and Misallocation (with N. Mitra)
- Product Market Competition, Efficiency Gains, and Customer Capital (with M. Henry and R. Singh)
- Trade and Networks (with D. DeSilva, M. Chen, and H. Yang)
- Product Market Competition and Organizational Design (with C. Chatterjee and S. Bhattacharya)
- Board Quotas, Female Participation, and Firm Performance: New Evidence from a Developing Country (with O. Kaur and S. Sharma)
- Trade and Innovation (with R. Ahsan)
- Trade and Gender (In)Equality (with Luis Castro)
- Trade and Types of Outsourced Jobs (with Luis Castro)
