Research

Published Papers

Female Labor Force Participation in Bangladesh and Neighboring Indian States. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 2024. With Shankha Chakraborty

Abstract: The female labor force participation rate in South Asia, already among the lowest in the world, has been falling in several countries of the region. To understand the sources of this pattern, we use a decomposition method to compare the experience of Bangladesh during 1991–2011 with that of neighboring Indian states during 1987–2009. The results point to the role of structural change: changes in women’s employment rate in the neighboring Indian states relative to Bangladesh were driven more by changes in opportunities in the agricultural sector. At the same time, changes beyond economic opportunity alone may have played a role: women’s education led to increased labor force participation in Bangladesh, while the opposite was true in the Indian states.

Working papers

Creating consistent level three geographies. With Mashfique Mehzad

Abstract: Economic analysis increasingly relies on spatially disaggregated data to understand how local factors shape development, productivity, and inequality. Yet, administrative boundaries and spatial definitions often change over time, creating inconsistencies that bias temporal comparisons and undermine causal inference. This paper develops a methodological framework to construct a consistent geography for economic analysis by harmonizing historical and contemporary administrative boundaries in Bangladesh over 1991-2011. Using spatial intersection and area-weighting algorithms, we generate time-consistent spatial units that allow direct comparison of regional indicators across multiple census rounds. We illustrate the need to harmonize by focusing on a few key indicators obtained from census data.

Garment Manufacturing and Women’s Work, Reproduction, and Human Capital Accumulation. With Promise Kamanga

Abstract: Over the past thirty years, Bangladesh has emerged as the second largest exporter of garments in the world. The industry has given millions of Bangladeshi women their first opportunity for non-farm employment. I estimate the long-term effects of this increase in employment opportunities on female labor force participation (FLFP), fertility and marriage behavior, and the schooling choices of Bangladeshi women by employing a Bartik-style instrument. Specifically, I use variation in employment opportunities arising from differences in product specialization within areas with RMG factories. I find that increased exposure to the garment industry led to a substantial increase in FLFP among women of all ages and a small decline in school enrollment only among working age teenage girls. However, I find no impact on marriage rates, fertility rates, literacy, enrollment among younger women, and total years of schooling.

- Awarded “Best Field Paper 2021”, Department of Economics, University of Oregon

Link to the latest version of the paper

Rural Fertility Transitions: The Role of Land Constraints.”

Abstract: Bangladesh saw a decline of roughly five births per woman between 1970-2020. Policy reports and commentaries often credit successful family planning programs for this fertility transition, and the role of economic conditions remains relatively unexamined. I combine retrospective birth history data from several rounds of nationally representative surveys to estimate age-specific completed fertility rates. My estimates suggest that the urban transition in Bangladesh started in the early 1970s, followed soon by the rural transition that started in the late 1970s. I find that land-owning famers experienced a slower decline in fertility. This finding, coupled with the population explosion in prior decades, suggests an important role of land-constraint in initiating fertility transitions in rural Bangladesh. The next phase of this research project will employ a structural model to further examine the mechanisms of rural fertility transitions in agrarian economies like rural Bangladesh.

- Awarded “Gerlof Homan Scholarship”, Department of Economics, University of Oregon.