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Ritam Chaurey
Ritam Chaurey is an Assistant Professor of International Economics at Johns Hopkins SAIS. He holds a PhD in Economics from Columbia University. Prior to his doctoral studies, he completed an MA (Cantab.) from Cambridge University, and a BA (Hons) in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. His research interests are in the fields of development economics with a focus on firms and labour markets in developing countries. He has published his research in multiple academic journals, and written policy-relevant pieces for various outlets.
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Rural infrastructure development and economic activity
Estimating the effects of physical infrastructure investments on economic growth has remained challenging, especially in rural settings. This article studies the effects of a rural infrastructure grants programme launched to facilitate physical infrastructure development in the most economically backward districts in India. It provides evidence on the effectiveness of the programme, especially on microenterprises, with stronger impacts in electricity and road-intensive industries, and in villages that had paved roads and electricity prior to the programme
Industrial Policy in India
In this article, Ritam Chaurey provides an overview of India’s industrial and labour policy to put in perspective the issues facing firm growth.
Structural transformation and spillovers from ‘Industrial Areas’
A defining feature of economic development is the reallocation of labour from subsistence agriculture to manufacturing. To shed light on this process, this column analyses Karnataka’s Industrial Areas (IAs) programme that facilitated the establishment of industrial firms in rural areas. It finds that IAs caused a large increase in the number of firms and employment with substantial spillovers to neighbouring villages, and triggered a classic ‘structural transformation’ of the economy.
Do location-based incentives promote industrialisation?
In a bid to industrialise the relatively under-industrialised states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the government implemented a tax incentive and capital subsidy scheme in the two states in 2003. This column finds the policy change led to new business creation and growth of existing firms in these states, most of which was not at the cost of neighbouring regions.
आप्रवासन नीति सम्बन्धी अनिश्चितता श्रम बाज़ारों को प्रभावित करती है
राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प के फिर से चुने जाने से एच-1बी वीज़ा सम्बन्धी नीतियों पर बहस फिर से शुरू हो गई है, यह एक अस्थाई उच्च कौशल कार्य वीज़ा है जिसमें 70% वीज़ा भारतीयों के पास हैं। इस लेख में, वर्ष 2016 में ट्रम्प की पहली बार हुई जीत के दौरान भारत से प्राप्त नौकरियों के आँकड़ों का विश्लेषण करते हुए पाया गया है कि अमेरिकी आप्रवासन नीतियों के बारे में अनिश्चितता बढ़ने के कारण तथा वीज़ा कोटा एवं प्रक्रियाओं में कोई बदलाव नहीं होने के कारण, कई फर्मों ने नौकरियाँ अमेरिका से भारत स्थानांतरित कर दीं।
How immigration policy uncertainty affects labour markets
President Trump’s re-election has reignited debate over H-1B visa policies, a temporary high-skill work visa programme wherein 70% of visas are held by Indians. Analysing jobs data from India from the period around Trump’s first victory in 2016, this article finds that increased uncertainty around US immigration policies – without any change in visa quotas and procedures – caused firms to relocate jobs from the US to India.
The impact of services trade on non-tradable services in India
A share of India's service sector growth can be attributed to tradable services, which can also have positive productivity impacts on manufacturing. This article looks at the effect of services trade on employment growth in non-tradable services. It finds that an increase in tradable services employment led to an increase in employment in non-tradable services from 1990 to 2013, and that this is explained by increases in consumer demand. The impact is larger among female workers and small firms.
Implicit costs of factor allocation for Indian firms
Looking at variations in factor misallocation across states, Chaurey et al. measure trends in factor adjustment costs incurred by firms between 1999 and 2014. They find that adjustment costs for labour and land across India fell during this period, with the decline in labour adjustment costs declining significantly faster in states with fast growing manufacturing. They discuss other factors which affect adjustment costs, including firm size and governance quality of state, and the pattern between misallocation and low growth.