Research

Journal Articles

"The Colonial Legacy in India: How Persistent are the Long-Run Effects of Historical Institutions?" (with Lakshmi Iyer) Journal of Development Economics, forthcoming.

Abstract: Using updated data, we analyze the long-run effects of two British colonial institutions established in India. Iyer (2010) showed that areas under direct colonial rule had fewer schools, health centers, and roads than areas under indirect colonial rule. Two decades later, we find that these differences have been eliminated, and that the gaps in poverty, health and education attainment are also smaller. Banerjee and Iyer (2005) found lower agricultural investments and productivity in areas with landlord-based colonial land tenure systems. Our updated data finds that only some of these differences have been eliminated, while others have remained constant and even widened. Consistent with this lack of convergence, we find that non-landlord areas continue to have higher education attainment and lower poverty rates six decades after the end of colonial rule. We conclude that the impact of colonial institutions can eventually fade away under the influence of targeted policies.

• Pre-publication version

• Coverage: 2024 Nobel Lecture in Economics, Our Long Walk

Policy Publications

"Retirement Investments: Agencies Can Better Oversee Conflicts of Interest Between Fiduciaries and Investors" (US GAO Report 24-104632)

Fast Facts: The interests of financial professionals and retirement investors often conflict. For example, a financial professional may earn a commission from selling a product to a client—whether it makes money for the client or not. We reviewed how such conflicts are communicated, their link to returns, and more. Our review of 2,000 conflict disclosures and our calls posing as potential clients to 75 financial professionals found many complex conflicts that can be difficult to explain. We also found mutual funds that paid financial professionals were associated with lower returns for investors. We recommended ways to better protect investors.

Economics

"Education, Marriage, and Banning Female Genital Cutting: Evidence from Benin" (Revisions requested)

Abstract: I estimate the causal effect of banning female genital cutting on female education using the 2003 ban of female genital cutting in Benin as a natural experiment. The law decreased the likelihood of a woman undergoing genital cutting, despite inconsistent enforcement. A difference-in-difference estimation indicates that banning the practice of female genital cutting decreases women’s years of education, the probability of completing primary school, and the probability of starting secondary school. I show the decrease in educational outcomes is accompanied by a substitution towards earlier marriage, which is accompanied by increased spousal match quality. The educational decrease dissipates with the implementation of free primary education.

Mathematics

"Markov chains, CAT(0) cube complexes, and enumeration: monotone paths in a strip mix slowly" with Federico Ardila-Mantilla and Naya Banerjee (Revisions requested)

Abstract: We prove that two natural Markov chains on the set of monotone paths in a strip mix slowly. To do so, we make novel use of the theory of non-positively curved (CAT(0)) cubical complexes to detect small bottlenecks in many graphs of combinatorial interest. Along the way, we give a formula for the number cm(n) monotone paths of length n in a strip of height m. In particular we compute the exponential growth constant of cm(n) for arbitrary m, generalizing results of Williams for m=2, 3.

"Does the Type of Quota Matter? Comparing the Public Goods Effects of Mandatory and Voluntary Gender Quotas"