Research

Broadly speaking, my research falls into four themes: (i) Welfare economics – distributional analysis, inequality of opportunity, poverty, unemployment etc., (ii) Urbanization and agrarian issues, particularly the impact of processes of economic liberalization and globalization, (iii) Problems with current organizational forms of production and distribution, and alternatives to them, (iv) Political economy of India.

I am currently involved in a project funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) on urban India. I am also involved in a collaborative project among IGIDR, University of California (Berkeley) and King's College (London) funded by UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) on the Political Economy of Contemporary India.

Below are some of my recent papers (published in the past five years):

Working Papers:

“Unemployment Burden and its Distribution: Theory and Evidence from India,” (with Karthikeya Naraparaju), Working Paper No. WP-2014-314, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

Articles in Refereed Journals:

“Growth and Deprivation in India: What Does Recent Evidence Suggest on "Inclusiveness"?” (with Karthikeya Naraparaju) Oxford Development Studies (forthcoming). (Working Paper version can be downloaded here).

"Polarization, Inequality and Growth: The Indian Experience” (with Nayantara Sarma), Oxford Development Studies, 42 (3), 2014, pp. 297-318.

“The Dissolution of ‘United’ Andhra Pradesh: Insights from Growth and Distribution Patterns, 1956-2010,” (with Vamsi Vakulabharanam), Economic and Political Weekly, XLIX (21), 2014, pp. 59-70.

“The Tragedy of Identity: Reflections on Violent Social Conflict in Western Assam,” (with Nayantara Sarma), Economic and Political Weekly, XLIX (11), 2014, pp. 45-53.

“Understanding Poverty and Inequality in Urban India since Reforms: Bringing Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches Together” (with Vamsi Vakulabharanam) Economic and Political Weekly, XLVII (47-48), 2012, pp. 44-52.

“Demand or Supply for Schooling in Rural India?” (with Lars Osberg) electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, 9 (1), 2012, pp. 1-27.

“How Close Does the Apple Fall to the Tree? Some Evidence from India on Intergenerational Occupational Mobility” (with Ashish Singh) Economic and Political Weekly, XLVII (40), 2012, pp. 56-65. (Also published as Working Paper No. wp2012-101, United Nations University, World Institute of Development Economics Research, Helsinki)

“Interlinking and Collusion,” (with James A. Robinson) Review of Development Economics, 14 (2), 2010, pp. 282-301.

“Social Capital and Basic Goods: The Cautionary Tale of Drinking Water in India,” (with Lars Osberg) Economic Development and Cultural Change, 59 (1), 2010, pp. 63-94.

“Gender Inequalities in Tasks and Instruction Opportunities within Indian Families,” (with Lars Osberg) Feminist Economics, 16 (3), 2010, pp. 141-16.

Book Chapters:

"Indian Inequality: Patterns and Changes, 1993-2010," (with Vamsi Vakulabharanam) in Mahendra Dev (ed.) India Development Report, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

“Poverty and Inequality in the Age of Economic Reforms,” (with Vamsi Vakulabharanam) in Dilip Nachane (ed.) India Development Report, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011.

“Political Economy of Agrarian Distress in India Since the 1990s,” (with Vamsi Vakulabharanam) in Sanjay Ruparelia, Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss and Stuart Corbridge (eds.) Understanding India’s New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? London: Routledge, 2011.

“Patterns of Wealth Disparities in India: 1991-2002,” (with Arjun Jayadev and Vamsi Vakulabharanam) in Sanjay Ruparelia, Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss and Stuart Corbridge (eds.), Understanding India’s New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? London: Routledge, 2011.