Work in Progress

Allocation Mechanisms, Information Frictions, and Welfare in Centralized College Admissions

Studies India’s centralized engineering admissions system as a rank-based allocation mechanism in a market without prices. Exploits institutional changes across allocation regimes (serial dictatorship and modified deferred acceptance) to examine how mechanism design and information constraints affect sorting, strategic behavior, and welfare. Constructs candidate-level feasible choice sets to derive revealed-preference implications and quantify distortions from constrained information.

The Causal Effect of Social Media Access on Electoral Outcomes: Evidence from Brazil’s Twitter Ban (with Sebastián Ramirez)

Exploiting Brazil’s 2024 Twitter ban as a quasi-experimental shock to identify the causal impact of social media on voting behavior. Employing difference-in-differences methodology comparing border municipalities (with potential cross-border network access) to non-border municipalities. Currently constructing a municipality-level internet penetration index using PCA on data from IBGE’s PNAD Contínua and Cetic.br surveys, addressing district-to-municipality harmonization challenges through population-weighted aggregation. Incorporating spatial RD and heterogeneity analysis by baseline internet penetration and bordering country. [Draft available soon]

Displacement or Expansion? The General Equilibrium Effects of EWS Quotas in Indian Higher Education

The paper exploits India’s 2019 introduction of a 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) as a natural experiment to study the impact of expanded affirmative action policies. The study examines how this policy change affects the composition of students in elite institutions and their subsequent labor market outcomes, particularly focusing on its impact on traditionally reserved categories (SC/ST/OBC).

Reports

Rationalisation of Explicit Subsidies at State Level (2024)
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. NITI Aayog, Government of India Study.
With Amar Nath, H. K., Nayudu, S. H., Gurdatta, M. & Raj, A.

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