Research Interests:
  • Primary: International Trade, Innovation, and Development Economics
  • Secondary: Finance

Working Papers: 
  • ​​​War and Trade (with Anindya S Chakrabarti and Avi Dutt)
    • Wars disrupt trade flows of countries who are directly engaged into it. But do they also affect the trade patterns of a third country who is not a party to the war? We show this indeed happens. Following the onset of the Russia--Ukraine war in February 2022 and the resulting sanctions issued by the US and EU, a demand shock originated in Russia for some products, like leather which are also needed in the war. Utilizing monthly firm-product-destination level information we show that in response to this demand shock, Indian leather exporters redirected their sales of leather goods from relatively less important export destinations such as Oceania, South-east Asia, Africa, Caribbean to Russia while keeping the major destinations -- primarily the US and Europe -- undisturbed. Exports of leather goods from India to Russia went up by 186% -- due to both quantity and price rise. The bulk of this increase is driven by the incumbent exporters, using air shipments more than the sea route, and non-sanctioned products. We verify a similar trade diversion in medical products as well. This paper presents evidence that war not only affects trade patterns of the countries affected, but also of a third country.
  • Import Competition, Knowledge Diffusion, and Innovation (with R. Ahsan)
  • Can Globalization Affect Ethnic Politics: Evidence from the Rise in Caste-based Parties in India (with A. Aneja and S. K. Ritadhi)
  • Do Lenders also Respond to Import Competition? Evidence from Bank-Firm Loan Level Data (with S. K. Ritadhi)
  • Bank Entry, New Loans, and Misallocation (with N. Mitra)
  • Broadband Policy, Adoption of Digital Processes, and Firm Performance: Evidence from China (with W. Zhu)
  • ​​​​Globalization and Domestic Outsourcing (with L. Castro and V.  Tyazhelnikov)
  • Trade Reform, M&A Activity, and Family Firms (with H. Yang)​​

Paper(s) Under Review:
  • ​Can a Trade Policy Change Gender Equality? New Evidence from Chile (with U. Banerjee and L. Castro) [pdf] Revised & Resubmitted (2nd Round) at Journal of International Economics 
    • ​Do firms reorganize gender composition of their employment in response to a trade shock? Using novel data on gender composition of employment across several occupational groups for Chilean manufacturing firms matched with customs data for 1995--2007, a developing country with low gender equality, and utilizing the 1999 Chile-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as the quasi-natural shock, we document the first evidence that the share of female white-collar workers increased by 10% for new exporters exporting to Mexico due to the FTA or complete elimination of tariffs. This happened through a substitution effect from male to female high-skilled workers caused primarily due to higher use of technology, high-skilled non-productive tasks, and reduction in discrimination in hiring of female white-collar workers. Our results are driven by domestic firms producing final goods. We also show that re-organization of labour force led to about 14% increase in labour productivity. Overall, we underscore that trade policy can play an important role in addressing gender gap in employment.
​
Publications: 
Journal Articles:
  • Chinese Import Competition and Prices: Evidence from India (with M. Henry and R. Singh)
    • ​Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 86(6): 1484-1510, 2024 [pdf]
  • Import Competition, Formalization, and the Role of Contract Labor (with R. Singh and V. Soundararajan)
    • ​The World Bank Economic Review 38 (4): 708-740, 2024 [pdf]
  • Import Competition, Labour Regulations, and Firm Outsourcing (with D.  Mitra and A. Sundaram)
    • Journal of Development Economics 168: 103272, 2024 [pdf]
  • Bank Ownership and Firm Performance
    • Economica 91 (361): 238-267, 2024 [pdf]
  • Cross-border Environmental Regulation and Firm Labor Demand (with A. Chakrabarti and C. Chatterjee)
    • Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 117: 102753, 2023 [pdf]
  • Intellectual Property Regimes and Wage Inequality (with S. Bhattacharya and  C. Chatterjee)
    • ​Journal of Development Economics 154: 102709, 2022  [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  
  • 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]
​​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, 2019
  • 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
Future Research:
  • GST, Inputs Use, and Quality Upgrading (with Yogeshwar Bharat)
  • R&D Tax Credit and Firm Performance: Evidence from a Quasi-natural Experiment (with S. Sircar, R. Verma, and S. Mathur)
  • Creditor Rights, Bank Lending, and Product Variety (with V. Tyazhelnikov)
  • Cotton and Conflict: How the U.S. Civil War Revolutionized India's Industrial and Social Hierarchy (with U. Banerjee)
  • TBTs and Product-Input Choice (with A. de Pirro)
  • Does Gender Reform Affect Financial Behaviour of Firms? New Evidence from India (with S. Banerjee and U. Banerjee)​