Research

Working Papers

“Who Benefits from Better Internet Connectivity? Evidence from the Labor Market in South Africa” under review

Presented at Pacific Development Conference(PacDev) 2023, Midwest International Economic Development Conference (MWIEDC) 2023.

I study how expansion of fast Internet availability affect job outcomes and the extent to which online job information can substitute for social networks. I use a two-way fixed effects identification strategy with continuous treatment at district level, and find that Internet availability has a positive impact on average employment and total income. Jobseekers are more inclined to search for job information online with increased access, while their reliance on social networks remains unchanged. The study also finds that young workers tend to search more through both online and network channels, suggesting that personal connections could complement internet job searching for some individuals. Workers without a primary education are discouraged from searching online and have worse employment outcomes. Constraints on effective uses of Internet job search and Internet activities, such as social networking, could help explain the results.

“The Effects of Increasing Community Participation on School Management Outcomes: Evidence from India” (with Natalia Cantet, Clara Delavallade, Alan Griffith, and Rebecca Thornton) under review

Policies aimed at improving school governance via community-based management are common but understudied. We present the results of a cluster-randomized trial of a multi-faceted education intervention that involved support for local School Management Committees (SMC) in rural India. The intervention increased SMC meetings held by 17 percent and completed school improvement plans by 38 percent, gains that persist for one year after the intervention ends. We find a 14 percent increase in the number of teachers and a 25 percent increase in the likelihood of having a kitchen. We provide suggestive IV analyses to show that the increases in teachers and having a kitchen may be attributed to the increased school management committee activities.

“Who Has the Right to a Job? Labor Market Competition and Men’s Support for Women’s Work” (with Rachel Heath and Alex Philip)

Studies have shown that social norms have the potential to shape labor market equilibria. We test to what extent labor market conditions can alter social norms. In particular, we test whether men’s support for women’s work depends on the competition they face from women in their industries. We use labor market data from India to construct a measure of labor market competition that considers the industry percent female of average male worker in a given state and match this to attitudes on women’s work from six waves of World Value Survey data spanning from 1980 to 2010. We find that men are more supportive of women’s work when the overall female labor force participation is high, however, they are less supportive if more women work in their own industry.