Editorial : Profile

Posts by Farzana Afridi

Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize winning research

On Sunday, Claudia Goldin will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her work on women’s progress in the workforce. In this piece, Farzana Afridi reflects on the significance of Goldin...

DP-WEE Panel Discussion: Status and rights of platform and gig workers

A virtual panel discussion was organised by the Digital Platforms and Women’s Economic Empowerment (DP-WEE) programme, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to understand the status and l...

Bringing skilling and productive employment closer to women

On International Women’s Day, Farzana Afridi considers a key issue in the creation of good jobs for women – the provision of skilling. She discusses the lack of physical and financial access to sk...

The promise of technology for women’s employment

The growth of digital labour platforms holds tremendous potential to improve employment outcomes for India’s young, urban population. In this post, Farzana Afridi discusses the challenges in leverag...

Leveraging digital labour markets to increase employment opportunities

India’s relatively young population, the pace of adoption of smartphones and digital technology, and rapid urbanisation has contributed to the growth of digital labour markets. In recent years, we h...

Leveraging digital labour markets to increase employment opportunities

India’s relatively young population, the pace of adoption of smartphones and digital technology, and rapid urbanisation has contributed to the growth of digital labour markets. In recent years, we h...

Covid-19 and mental health: Introduction to e-Symposium

The Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns had a devastating effect on the economy, with loss of livelihoods, earnings, and food insecurity suffered by the most vulnerable sections. Although econo...

Gendering technological change: Evidence from agricultural mechanisation

Rising mechanisation in Indian agriculture has been accompanied by reduction in farm employment in rural areas, particularly for women. This article shows that the observed 32 percentage point increas...

How has the Covid-19 crisis affected the urban poor? Findings from a phone survey - III

While the devastating impact of the second Covid-19 on public health in India is well-known, there is relatively little evidence on its economic and psychological dimensions. Based on surveys in indus...

Did MNREGA cushion job losses during the pandemic?

The 2021-22 Budget allocation for MNREGA is 34% lower than the revised estimates for the programme in 2020-21. Analysing official MNREGA data, this article suggests that districts that have historical...

DUET: Weighing the costs and benefits

Presenting her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Farzana Afridi contends that in the net, we need to evaluate the relative cost and benefit of having a potentially administratively complex urb...

How has Covid-19 crisis affected urban poor? Findings from a phone survey - II

While several commentators have highlighted the plight of migrants due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, less is known about how low-income families living in urban shanty towns are faring. Afridi et al...