Publications
Effect of Social Information on Competition Choice (with Ritwik Banerjee, Lata Gangadharan, Anand Kumar)
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol 248, August 2026, 107591. [Working Paper]
Asymmetric Wage and Employment Dynamics in Segmented Labour Markets (with Abhishek Naresh, Jong Kook Shin, Chetan Subramanian)
Economic Modelling, Vol 156, March 2026, 107486. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Wage Cyclicality Across Time and Frequencies (with Shweta Sogani)
Applied Economics, Forthcoming. [Working Paper]
Job Specialization and Labor Market Turnover
Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol 58, October 2025, 101305. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Pandemic Containment and Inequality in a Developing Economy (with Kunal Dasgupta)
Economic Inquiry, 2024, 62(2), pages 837-864. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Labour Search with Endogenous Outside Option (with Ritesh Jain)
Economics Bulletin, 2022, 42(2), pages 1092-1102. [Working Paper]
Working Papers
Macroeconomics of Racial Disparities: Discrimination, Labor Market, and Wealth (with Guanyi Yang)
This paper examines the impact of racial discrimination in hiring on employment, wages, and wealth disparities between black and white workers. Using a labor search-and-matching model with racially prejudiced and non-prejudiced firms, we show that labor market frictions sustain discriminatory practices as an equilibrium outcome. These practices account for 57% of the racial unemployment gap, 48% of the average wage gap, and 16% of the median wealth gap. Discriminatory hiring also increases unemployment and wage volatility for black workers, increasing their labor market risks over the business cycle. Eliminating prejudiced firms reduces these disparities and improves the welfare of black workers as well as the overall economic welfare.
Gender Gap and Decline in Female Labour Force Participation in India: A Joint Search Perspective (with Monisankar Bishnu and S Chandrasekhar)
India, on top of having a large gender gap in labour force participation, also experienced a significant decline in participation rate of women in the recent years. In order to understand, and to decompose the gender gap and the decline in female labour force participation into demand and supply side factors, we present an equilibrium joint search model of couples with gender-specific wage offers and home productivities. In this heterogeneous agents setup, our counterfactual exercises show that, gender disparities in labour demand can account for only 6.4% of the level difference, while the differential trends in labour demand can explain around 35% of the decline in female participation over time. We find that the increase in average household income driven by a large increase in male wages compared to female wages, reduced the need for women to supplement the family income, in turn causing them to drop out of the labour force.
Other Writings
Need focus on removing obstacles to 'good' jobs (with Kunal Dasgupta and Vidhya Soundararajan)
Hindustan Times, January 21, 2021
India's Labour Market Databases (with Monisankar Bishnu and S Chandrasekhar)
Moneycontrol, October 10, 2022
Housing and Labour Markets (with Prakshi Goyal and Durga Shirsat)
Forbes India, January 9, 2023
Effect of Social Information on Competition Choice (with Ritwik Banerjee, Lata Gangadharan, Anand Kumar)
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol 248, August 2026, 107591. [Working Paper]
Asymmetric Wage and Employment Dynamics in Segmented Labour Markets (with Abhishek Naresh, Jong Kook Shin, Chetan Subramanian)
Economic Modelling, Vol 156, March 2026, 107486. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Wage Cyclicality Across Time and Frequencies (with Shweta Sogani)
Applied Economics, Forthcoming. [Working Paper]
Job Specialization and Labor Market Turnover
Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol 58, October 2025, 101305. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Pandemic Containment and Inequality in a Developing Economy (with Kunal Dasgupta)
Economic Inquiry, 2024, 62(2), pages 837-864. [Working Paper] [Replication]
Labour Search with Endogenous Outside Option (with Ritesh Jain)
Economics Bulletin, 2022, 42(2), pages 1092-1102. [Working Paper]
Working Papers
Macroeconomics of Racial Disparities: Discrimination, Labor Market, and Wealth (with Guanyi Yang)
This paper examines the impact of racial discrimination in hiring on employment, wages, and wealth disparities between black and white workers. Using a labor search-and-matching model with racially prejudiced and non-prejudiced firms, we show that labor market frictions sustain discriminatory practices as an equilibrium outcome. These practices account for 57% of the racial unemployment gap, 48% of the average wage gap, and 16% of the median wealth gap. Discriminatory hiring also increases unemployment and wage volatility for black workers, increasing their labor market risks over the business cycle. Eliminating prejudiced firms reduces these disparities and improves the welfare of black workers as well as the overall economic welfare.
Gender Gap and Decline in Female Labour Force Participation in India: A Joint Search Perspective (with Monisankar Bishnu and S Chandrasekhar)
India, on top of having a large gender gap in labour force participation, also experienced a significant decline in participation rate of women in the recent years. In order to understand, and to decompose the gender gap and the decline in female labour force participation into demand and supply side factors, we present an equilibrium joint search model of couples with gender-specific wage offers and home productivities. In this heterogeneous agents setup, our counterfactual exercises show that, gender disparities in labour demand can account for only 6.4% of the level difference, while the differential trends in labour demand can explain around 35% of the decline in female participation over time. We find that the increase in average household income driven by a large increase in male wages compared to female wages, reduced the need for women to supplement the family income, in turn causing them to drop out of the labour force.
Other Writings
Need focus on removing obstacles to 'good' jobs (with Kunal Dasgupta and Vidhya Soundararajan)
Hindustan Times, January 21, 2021
India's Labour Market Databases (with Monisankar Bishnu and S Chandrasekhar)
Moneycontrol, October 10, 2022
Housing and Labour Markets (with Prakshi Goyal and Durga Shirsat)
Forbes India, January 9, 2023
