Ashish Adhikari

This paper provides a unified, cross-country assessment of how unmet son preference shapes fertility and child health across South Asia, leveraging quasi-random variation in firstborn sex. First, we show that son preference, activated by a firstborn daughter, reduces contraceptive use, shortens birth intervals, and reduces breastfeeding duration. These responses are pronounced in India, Nepal, and Pakistan but substantially weaker in Bangladesh. Second, we show that son preference also affects child health, with estimates concentrated in India. Second-born girls with an older sister are shorter and lighter than those with an older brother, while second-born boys with an older sister are taller and heavier. Third, we document asymmetric survival responses consistent with activated son preference: girls’ survival is unaffected, but boys born after a sister are more likely to survive. Overall, the findings suggest that unmet son preference continues to shape fertility behavior and generate unequal child health outcomes.

Developing countries often rely on trade policy to stabilize food prices during supply disruptions, yet the spatial distribution of these benefits remains poorly understood. This paper studies India’s 2015–2016 pulses crisis, when consecutive domestic production shortfalls sharply raised pulses prices and triggered a surge in imports. We examine whether internal trade frictions generated uneven price relief across domestic markets. Using a district-level panel of wholesale pulses prices from 2009 to 2019 and a difference-in-differences design, we show that the import surge did not provide uniform price relief. During the crisis, each additional 100 kilometers from a major import port translated into about a 1.7 percent larger increase in pulses prices. A simple calibration suggests that imports lowered prices by about 11 percent near ports, but more than half of this relief had dissipated by the median district–port distance. The results suggest that while imports can moderate national price spikes, their stabilizing effects may be limited by incomplete internal market integration.

This paper examines how seasonal variation in agricultural production shapes migration aspirations among rural households in Nigeria. Drawing on rich household panel data from the 2023–2024 wave of the Nigeria General Household Survey Panel (GHS Panel), we exploit within-season variation in harvest outcomes and migration intentions to estimate the short-run behavioral response to realized agricultural productivity. Our findings reveal a robust inverted U-shaped relationship: migration aspirations initially rise with improvements in harvest value but decline once households reach higher levels of productivity. This non-monotonic pattern reflects the joint influence of rising capability and diminishing incentive to migrate. Further analysis identifies food insecurity as a key moderating mechanism. Households experiencing moderate-to-severe food insecurity are significantly more responsive to agricultural shocks, with migration aspirations rising more steeply following poor harvests. By linking food security, agricultural outcomes, and migration intentions within the same season, this study highlights the dynamic nature of rural mobility preferences in response to production-based livelihood risks.

Irrigation in the Eastern Gangetic Plains is changing fast in water use and energy. Focusing on Nepal’s Terai, we provide an updated assessment of irrigation patterns, with attention to irrigation assets, costs, and access. Three findings stand out. First, irrigation is shifting from surface water to groundwater and from diesel to electric pumps. Second, despite cheaper electric pumping and rapid grid expansion, access remains uneven, with regional differences in ownership and rental markets shaping both cost and timeliness. Third, renters face higher irrigation costs and longer delays than owners. These patterns reveal persistent disparities in irrigation access despite ongoing transitions.

Political reservation brings disadvantaged groups into leadership positions and can change which policies are chosen and who benefits. Yet representation can improve welfare only if local leaders can also implement public programs effectively. Using administrative records on sanctioned public works and their implementation status, I examine how reserving Gram Panchayat leadership for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and women affects program execution across two electoral terms in Uttar Pradesh, India. I find that SC-reserved Gram Panchayats complete fewer projects and have more abandoned works than unreserved Gram Panchayats. I find similar but smaller effects for OBC reservation and almost no effect of women’s reservation. These findings suggest that political inclusion alone may not ensure effective program delivery.

In India, state election (Vidhan Sabha) results significantly impact constituencies, as state governments hold substantial power over policies and expenditures. These elections occur at the assembly level, a smaller administrative unit than districts. “Low-caste parties,” or political parties focused on representing marginalized groups such as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC), can run for office. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and assuming close election results are quasi-random, we examine the welfare impacts when low-caste parties win elections, particularly on health outcomes, which have historically been worse for these marginalized households. We also test whether these effects are lasting or depend on subsequent elections.