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Gaurav Khanna
Gaurav Khanna is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and an editor at the Journal of Labor Economics.
He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, with interests in development economics, labour economics, and applied econometrics.
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The electoral consequences of India’s demonetisation
It is widely believed that there may have been little or no electoral consequences of India’s demonetisation in 2016. This article analyses voter behaviour following demonetisation. It finds that places with fewer banks were more adversely affected by demonetisation, and that this was associated with fewer votes for the ruling party BJP and its allies. However, there were no impacts in BJP-stronghold areas.
How the American Dream led to India's IT boom
In the context of the ongoing global debate on migration policies, this column shows that the H-1B visa programme of the US had a powerful impact on the US IT sector, and played a prominent role in spreading the boom to India.
Transit networks and regional development in India
Recent research illustrates the immediate positive effects of transit networks in India on rural employment, manufacturing growth and so on. This column focuses on the long-term impact of national highways and shows that they gave rise to a dynamic pattern of regional development over time. Regions along the highways were the first to develop, after which economic activity spread to their neighbours, and then to their neighbours’ neighbours.
Covid-19 and mental health: Large-scale phone survey in six Indian states
The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it the dual crises of public health and the economy, particularly in low-income settings with limited formal safety nets. Based on a large-scale phone survey conducted across six Indian states, this article finds that stricter containment measures, while potentially crucial to check the spread of the virus, are associated with worse mental health among women and higher food insecurity.
What are schools worth?
Since large-scale expansions in education impact both individual behaviours and labour markets, convincing causal estimates of their overall benefits are hard to generate. Analysing the overall economic consequences of the District Primary Education Programme in India, this column finds that more educated individuals earned substantially more. However, since others were also receiving more education, this stymied the increase in individual earnings and had significant distributional consequences.
Maoist violence and MNREGA
The spate of Maoist attacks on security personnel in Chhattisgarh this week serves as a reminder that Moaist insurgency is the single biggest internal security threat faced by India. This column analyses the impact of MNREGA on Maoist violence and finds a spike in police-initiated attacks on Maoists following the implementation of the job guarantee scheme in 2006. This is possibly because MNREGA provides credibility to the government’s commitment to development, making the local population more willing to share information on Maoists.
How firms adapt supply chains to climate risk
Amidst growing climate risks, localised weather events such as floods or droughts pose a threat to the links between firms and their suppliers. Using data from India, this article analyses how businesses adapt their sourcing strategies to mitigate climate risks, and the broader economic implications of their responses. It finds that while supply chain diversification by firms enhances economic stability, it may deepen regional disparities.