Published & Works in Progress
Persistent Effects of a Conditional Cash Transfer: A Case of Empowering Women through Kanyashree in India
With Gitanjali Sen
Published in Journal of Population Economics, September 2024
Abstract:
Launched in 2013 in West Bengal, India, Kanyashree Prakalpa is a conditional cash transfer program incentivizing girls to stay in school and delay marriage. The program provides annual scholarships to 13–18-year-old girls for remaining enrolled in school, and a lump-sum transfer upon attaining adulthood, conditional on remaining unmarried and pursuing education. Using pre- and post-program data and cohort-specific eligibility rules for 15–35-year-old women, and by employing double-differences and triple-difference frameworks, we find that exposed women experience 7 to 8 percentage points higher likelihood of independent movement outside the home and have a lower tolerance for domestic violence. We find the affected cohort to have a 4 to 5 percentage points lower likelihood of justifying wife-beating by husbands. We find suggestive evidence of these results being mediated by access to bank accounts and increased schooling. This underscores the importance of education and financial independence as a pathway to women’s empowerment.
Under Pressure: High-Stakes Exams and Student Mental Health
With Gitanjali Sen
Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Development Economics
Abstract:
We estimate the association between high-stakes exams and student suicides in India using geocoded, high-frequency media data. There is an 18 percent rise in suicides during high-stake exam months, with results robust to alternative regression methods. We analyze subsamples with less media attention and use cyclone months as exogenous shocks, finding no evidence of media bias driving the results. We find regional heterogeneity, and girls experiencing a 33 percent higher suicide during exam months, primarily due to competitive medical and nursing entrance exams. The results withstand sensitivity and falsification checks, including Oster Bounds analysis to address omitted variable bias. Peer pressure and economic incentives in highly competitive urban environments may drive mental health deterioration. We estimate the cost of exam-related student suicides at USD 1.67 billion, or 0.08% of India’s GDP. Lacking granular mental health data, we generate an alternative database to address a key policy question and spur future research.
Can Media-Reported Sexual Violence Deter Women’s Educational Participation?
With Gitanjali Sen
Under Review
Abstract:
We study the effect of proximity to sexual assault events reported by media on women’s education in India. By combining novel geocoded data on media coverage of sexual crimes with nationally representative micro-data, we find that one standard deviation increase in the lagged average distance to sexual assaults increases the schooling of women by 0.17 years and the chances of middle school completion by 1.05 percentage points. Regions that have more access to television, radio, internet, and cellular devices drive our results. The effect is stronger in localities with higher son preferences, a proxy for gender norms. Our estimates are robust to empirical specifications that remove the effects of reported crimes. The results survive sensitivity and falsification checks. These findings highlight that while mass media can influence the stigma and threat of sexual violence, it can also exacerbate the problem of underinvestment in girls’ education by families in conservative societies.
From Heaps to Insights: Aadhaar’s Role in Enhancing Age Data Quality
Abstract:
I examine the evolution of age data quality in India over the past 30 years using five rounds of nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). My research explores whether the introduction of Aadhaar—a nationwide biometric identification system that serves as proof of identity and simplifies government processes—has played a role in reducing age-heaping, which occurs when individuals are unaware of their exact age and tend to round it to preferred digits. Additionally, I analyze annual reports on state-level Aadhaar coverage to assess its influence on local age-heaping patterns. The results reveal a significant decline in age misreporting in India over time, with a reduced tendency to round ages to multiples of five or even numbers. Moreover, age-heaping at the local level is negatively associated with Aadhaar ownership, and this relationship aligns with state-level variations in Aadhaar coverage. These associations remain robust even after controlling for state- and year-specific unobserved factors and time-varying demographic and economic variables. States with higher Aadhaar saturation, as reported to UIDAI, have experienced a more substantial decline in age-heaping since the system’s introduction. Interestingly, this reduction has been particularly pronounced among older individuals, suggesting that the results are not driven by other interventions, such as the push for formal birth registrations, which have mainly affected younger populations in recent years.
Listen to the NDIC podcast interview here!
Political Competition and Media Bias
With Gitanjali Sen
(Work in Progress)