Working Papers
- ▷ Abstract NBER Working Paper No. 32375
Are labor markets in higher‑income countries more meritocratic, in the sense that worker‑job matching is based on skills rather than idiosyncratic attributes unrelated to productivity? If so, why? And what are the aggregate consequences? Using internationally comparable data on worker skills and job skill requirements of over 120,000 individuals across 28 countries, we document that workers’ skills better match their jobs’ skill requirements in higher‑income countries. To quantify the role of worker‑job matching in development accounting, we build an equilibrium matching model that allows for cross‑country differences in three fundamentals: (i) the endowments of multidimensional worker skills and job skill requirements, which determine match feasibility; (ii) technology, which determines the returns to matching; and (iii) idiosyncratic matching frictions, which capture the role of non‑productive worker and job traits in the matching process. The estimated model delivers two key insights. First, improvements in worker‑job matching due to reduced matching frictions account for only a small share of cross‑country income differences. Second, however, improved worker‑job matching is crucial for unlocking the gains from economic development generated by adopting frontier endowments and technology.
Work in Progress
Family Matters: Globalization, Firm Management and Productivity (Job Market Paper)
- ▷ Abstract
How does globalization affect firm management and productivity? I investigate this question using a product‑specific import‑competition shock in India, focusing on family‑managed firms—the predominant form of corporate governance in the developing world. Utilizing a novel manager‑firm matched dataset, I analyze tenure records and family ties of over six million company directors. Employing an event‑study approach, I find that firms exposed to import competition replace family managers with unrelated professional executives, increasing firm productivity by 20 percent. To evaluate the aggregate implications, I construct a model of industrial equilibrium where family firms balance non‑pecuniary private benefits of family management against higher profits achievable through professional management. Consistent with the empirical findings, the model predicts that import competition drives the least‑productive family firms to adopt professional management to avoid exit. These results underscore managerial restructuring as a critical mechanism linking competition to productivity gains.
Globalization and Domestic Industrial Policy
AI and Bureaucratic Decision Making
AI and Judicial State Capacity in India
How Much Do Firms Save? Financial Frictions and the Microeconomic Implications of the Euler Equation
Aggregate Impacts of Command‑and‑Control Environmental Policy: Evidence from Court‑Ordered Mining Bans in India
Labor Market Frictions, the Organization of Labor, and Structural Change
Digitizing Historical Indian Plant‑Level Data on Labour Outcomes