Rahul Singh

Rahul Singh is Assistant Professor of Economics at Ahmedabad University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in 2020. His research interests include international trade, empirical industrial organisation, labour economics, and development economics.

Import competition, formalisation, and role of contract workers
Given the recent expansion in the participation of developing countries in global trade, it is important to understand the role of trade in the composition of employment in these countries. Analysing the case of Indian manufacturing and Chinese imports, this article shows that import competition leads to an increase in the share of formal-sector employment – driven by greater usage of contract workers in the formal sector – and higher aggregate labour productivity.

How R&D tax credits can drive price competition in Indian industries
In the last few decades, tax credits have been introduced in many developing countries to incentivise investment in research and development (R&D). Looking at the staggered introduction of R&D tax credits across industries, this study finds that increases in tax credits were effective in increasing R&D expenditure, while leading to a decline in prices. This decline is primarily driven by a decline in markup, conditional on cost, as opposed to the passthrough of cost savings to prices

Debt contract enforcement and product innovation
Weak enforcement of debt contracts can have undesirable consequences for financial development, as difficulty in recovering claims from distressed firms causes banks to reduce lending. Leveraging the staggered implementation of debt recovery tribunals across Indian states, this article shows that the legal reform had a positive impact on product growth in firms – as such innovation require considerable upfront investment and access to credit.
