Research

This study investigates the causal relationship between weather shocks and women’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural India. Using geo-coded weather data linked to domestic violence reports from the two recent rounds of the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2015–16 and 2019–21), I find that exposure to droughts, heat and cold during the growing season significantly increases the likelihood of women experiencing IPV. Specifically, exposure to a drought during the growing season increases the prevalence of overall IPV by 6.5%, and physical IPV by 13.2%. Heat and cold stress during the growing season also have independent effects on IPV, comparable in magnitude to those of drought. Additional heterogeneity analyses provides suggestive evidence that household access to bank accounts helps mitigate the impact of drought on IPV, highlighting the potential role of financial instruments as a key mitigating factor against weather-induced violence against women.

This paper studies the long-run effects of India's Emergency-era coercive sterilization campaign (1976–77) on three underexplored margins: long-run healthcare avoidance, chronic disease management, and mental health among older adults today. Using the 2017–18 Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI), I identify exposure through an interaction of individual age-cohort in 1976 and district-of-birth coercion intensity, measured as the district-level growth rate in sterilized couples between 1975–76 and 1976–77 digitized from historical records. I instrument coercion intensity using distance from New Delhi, exploiting spatial variation in political pressure during the Emergency. Three findings emerge. Men aged 25–39 in 1976 — the cohort experiencing the sharpest rise in vasectomies — are significantly less likely to visit a doctor today and more likely to rely on traditional medicine. Second, while coercion intensity does not affect objectively measured hypertension prevalence, exposed individuals are significantly less likely to carry a clinical diagnosis, raising rates of undiagnosed hypertension. Medication use for chronic conditions (hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol) also declines, with no corresponding effect for non-chronic conditions — pointing to reduced disease management rather than lower underlying prevalence. Third, I find suggestive evidence of elevated depression among the 25–39 cohort, concentrated among those reporting poor childhood financial conditions, consistent with historical accounts of disproportionate targeting of the poor. Together, these results show that coercive public health interventions can generate persistent distrust of formal healthcare, with lasting consequences for chronic disease management.

Despite progress towards a more gender equal society, substantial gender-based disparities persist in the division of paid and unpaid work, often underpinned by deeply rooted attitudes surrounding gender appropriate roles in work and family life. Understanding how gender role attitudes form and evolve is, therefore, crucial. Using longitudinal data from Egypt, this study examines how key life-events such as marriage and parenthood shape the gender role attitudes of men and women. We find that marriage leads to a significant shift towards more conservative attitudes among women, with no comparable shift observed after parenthood. In particular, this shift in attitudes is driven by beliefs regarding the perceived incompatibility between a woman’s full-time job and maintaining a good marriage or being a good mother, as well as beliefs regarding husband’s involvement in domestic and caregiving responsibilities. In contrast, for men, we observe a shift towards more egalitarian views following childbirth. Further, the shift towards more conservative attitudes among women is driven primarily by women who were relatively more progressive before marriage. Additionally, we find that the absolute distance between the gender role attitude index of women and their husbands declines post marriage, suggesting that women may adjust their views to align more closely with a new, gendered marital identity.

This study provides new evidence on the debate surrounding international trade and the gender wage gap in a developing country context. It asks whether increased competition from trade has any causal effect on the district-level gender wage gap in India. Changes in competition from trade are measured using changes in imports from China, owing to the dramatic rise in Chinese imports into India in recent years. To isolate the supply-driven component of Chinese imports and establish causality, I use Chinese import growth in other low and lower-middle-income countries as an instrument for Chinese import growth in India. Results indicate a positive and statistically significant impact of an increase in Chinese imports on the gender wage gap over time. In addition to the economy-wide sample of workers, this effect holds true for the sub-samples of casual laborers and rural sector workers where the majority of women workers in India are concentrated. Unlike previous studies using industry-level data, the district-level focus of this study allows us to capture micro-level effects, as well as the net effects of trade in the surrounding district.