Research Papers

Land Market Liberalization and Firm Dynamics: Theory and Evidence from India (Job Market Paper) 

      with Jean-Félix Brouillette and Dian Jiao

This paper examines the impact of land market liberalization on the productivity and growth of manufacturing firms in India, using the staggered repeal of India's Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA) as a natural experiment. The ULCRA imposed ceilings on landholdings and restricted land transfers, potentially leading to land misallocation and hindering creative destruction. We find that the repeal of the ULCRA reduced land misallocation by allowing previously more productive firms to increase their land use by 17%. As a result, treated firms expanded their production capacity and became more productive. The liberalization also influenced firm dynamics. Following the repeal, treated firms exhibited a 15% increase in product turnover, introducing more new products and phasing out old ones. Moreover, the liberalization improved firm selection by facilitating the exit of unprofitable firms and attracting more innovative entrants. Using a dynamic innovation model with land market frictions, we find a 2.7% increase in aggregate productivity due to reduced land misallocation and a 14-basis-point rise in the growth rate, resulting in a 5% improvement in consumption-equivalent welfare. These findings underscore the importance of considering both the static and dynamic impacts of land market regulations.

The Church, the State, and the Genocide: Evidence from Rwanda (submitted)

This paper examines the persistent impacts of colonial institutions and missions on ethnic dynamics. In Rwanda during the early 20th century, the Catholic missions collaborated with the colonial regime to establish a system that was highly biased against the Hutu majority. This system played a profound role in molding ethnic identity, leading to heightened conflict during the 1994 Genocide. Areas proximate to these Catholic missions witnessed fewer inter-ethnic marriages in 1991 and intensified genocide violence. Conversely, neighboring Protestant and Adventist missions, despite bearing similar local characteristics, had no notable effects on genocide as they played differentiated roles in colonial politics. To further establish causality, I conduct a randomization inference by constructing plausible sets of counterfactual missions. This strategy identifies counterfactual configurations of mission locations that mirror the actual distribution, further mitigating concerns about selection bias. I also demonstrate that the results are not merely the byproduct of missions' economic legacies or religious doctrines. By utilizing multiple conflict databases and the Afrobarometer survey, I explore the correlation between missions and ethnic conflict across the African continent. 

Bank Expansion, Firm Dynamics, and Structural Transformation: Evidence from India’s Policy Experiment

      with Bharat Chandar and Dian Jiao

      STEG Small Research Grants: Link

This paper examines the impacts of bank expansion on firm dynamics and labor allocation, exploiting a policy experiment in India designed to encourage bank expansion in “under-banked” districts. Empirical findings demonstrate significant growth in manufacturing firms in these districts due to eased credit access, resulting in increased capital accumulation, sales revenue, and employment. However, the expansion predominantly benefited incumbent firms, with minimal stimulation of firm entry or product innovation. The reform also induced notable labor reallocation towards manufacturing sectors, particularly in areas with lower agricultural productivity.

Gender Gap in Apologies 

      with Lily Liu

We use an online experiment to study a novel behavioral gap that helps explain gender disparities in the labor market: the gender gap in apologies. We hypothesize that women are more likely to apologize than men, conditional on having the same ability. Apologies could be seen as a signal of incompetence, which might hold women back in the labor market. We first provide evidence for the gender apology gap and explore confidence as a reason behind it. We find that while the gender confidence gap plays a role, it cannot fully explain the apology gap. Regarding the labor market consequences of the gender apology gap, we show that employers infer lower ability from workers’ apologies and do not take gender differences into account when making ability inferences. As a result, employers tend to judge female workers’ abilities more negatively.

Works in Progress

Swing with the State: Preference Falsification and Public Support for Policies under Authoritarianism (draft coming soon)

      with Mingcong Pan and Yiqing Xu

Authoritarian regimes often report high public support for policies, even when the policies in question seem controversial. Does such public support reflect people’s genuine opinions? We argue that the observed high support is largely due to individuals' preference falsification in public expression, and the falsified public expression leads to individuals' misperceptions about true public opinion, further nudging their attitudes and behavior in the government's favor. Through a series of online experiments administered in China, we find that Chinese respondents tailor their public expression, but not private attitudes, toward the government’s stance on policy issues, even when the government radically shifts its policies in different directions. Moreover, such preference falsification leads to individuals' misperceptions regarding true public opinion, and wrongly believing that the government's policies are widely supported is closely associated with higher government approval and higher willingness to engage with the government.

Marriage and Savings in Polygynous Households: Does Marriage Crowd out Savings?

      with Maxim Bakhtin and Lily Liu

Polygyny, a historically widespread tradition, is still prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. We test whether polygyny crowds out savings, which could lead to slower development in polygynous communities. Our main hypothesis is that men use marriages as a way of saving. We propose a model and test its predictions using the data from the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Kenya, which provided exogenous income shocks to a subset of the population. We find that the data tends to support predictions of the model, which suggests that men indeed view wives as a form of savings to some degree. In particular, men in communities with higher rates of polygyny marry more wives and save less in cash and livestock after receiving a cash transfer.