Archives: Publication

Persistence in physicians’ locations: Long-run evidence from decentralised loan repayment programs

Do temporary labor supply programs cause physicians to move to and stay in undesirable areas? To what extent do these programs improve the health of the elderly and non-elderly population in those areas? I investigate these questions by studying state and local loan repayment programs for new eligible physicians which were rolled out over the last four decades in hundreds of counties across US states. Leveraging a new longitudinal dataset that tracks all physicians from medical school to mid-career, and exploiting both space and time variation, I find that these policies increase the number of physicians by 5% in treated counties relative to untreated counties in the state. The inflows of physicians are driven by higher paying eligible specialities. The programs continue to influence physicians’ location decisions even after they end –- effects persist for at least ten years after the minimum obligation period. Furthermore, the programs modestly spur trainees to enter eligible specialities in treated states by substituting away from ineligible specialities. Treated counties also see the elderly increase their visits to physicians while reducing those to the emergency rooms. Using patient level data from California, I demonstrate these results are not driven by selective admission of patients to treated hospitals. Overall, my findings emphasize the importance of policies that reduce financial frictions for highly skilled professionals –- in shaping not only their migration and labor market trajectories, but also the health outcomes of people in their communities.

Intended and unintended effects of state tuition benefits to undocumented students: Institution level evidence

I investigate how allowing lower tuition for undocumented students at public colleges improves education outcomes, and changes institutional pricing patterns. I use administrative data and a residual method to quantify the actual number of undocumented students at school level in the pre-reform period. Exploiting the reforms staggered adoption across states and time, as well as variation in the intensity of exposure to the reform across institutions. I find a higher enrollment of undocumented students at the treated states ‘more exposed’ community colleges. Transfer, technical and vocational colleges drive the enrollment outcomes. In contrast to enrollment, there is strong evidence of higher graduation of undocumented students at both 2-year and 4-year colleges in the treated states. I also observe that students at these ‘more exposed’ institutions experience modest tuition reductions. There is negligible displacement of Americans in treated public colleges. My findings indicate that the education benefits to undocumented students come with no significant unintended costs to other students. I estimate that the reform costs around $16.4 million per year on average.

Network Externalities, Strategic Delegation and Optimal Trade Policy

This paper examines strategic trade policy for differentiated network-goods oligopolies under alternative scenarios when there is export-rivalry between two countries. We demonstrate that, in the absence of managerial delegation, the optimal trade policy entails an export tax (subsidy) if network externalities are weak (strong). However, when price competition is combined with managerial delegation, the opposite is true. Subsidizing exports, on the other hand, is always optimal under quantity competition. We also show that the welfare consequences of strategic trade policy depend not only on the mode of product market competition, but also on firms’ internal organizations and the strength of network externalities.

GenderTalk: Gender and Internal Migration

NCAER National Data Innovation Centre
Measurement Brief | 2024-01

Welcome to the fourth issue of GenderTalk from the NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre’s Gender Hub. In this issue of GenderTalk, we focus on the gender implications of internal migration in India. The drivers of women’s migration are complex and can include economic and educational opportunities, cultural practices surrounding family structure and marriage, desire for exploration of new built and social environments, a combination of these reasons, and many more.

GenderTalk is a space where scholars, policymakers, and civil society members can engage with each other on a theme vital to women’s well-being in India. For previous issues, scroll to the bottom.

In particular, this brief discusses the following:

1. Women’s internal migration in India: Data gaps and needs – In the introductory article, Reshma Roshania (NCAER) demonstrates how gaps in data on internal migration disproportionately invisibilize women migrants, especially circular migrants in rural destination spaces….more

 

 

2. Women’s labour migration: Systems, practices and agency – Neetha N. (Centre for Women’s Development Studies) highlights the gendered structure of labour migration, from the nature of work, to recruitment practices, to payment systems….more

 

 

3. Female migrants from North-East India in Delhi’s service industry – Drawing on primary data, Priyakshi Baruah (Jamia Millia Islamia) unpacks growing female migration from North-Eastern states to Delhi, finding that exoticism drives service industry recruitment, while discrimination stifles work opportunities in other sectors..…more

 

 

4. Intermittent migration: Female agency within marriage and beyond  – Employing oral history research methods, Priti Ramamurthy (University of Washington) finds that women intermittently migrate as a strategy to escape poor treatment in their marital households, and to pursue social relationships…..more

 

 

5. Role of Marriage Migration in Determining Women’s Autonomy in the Indian Context  Using IHDS 2011-12 data, Esha Chatterjee (IIT Kanpur) explores the nuances of marriage migration, finding that women’s autonomy after marriage varies by kinship patterns and physical communities….more

 

 

6. Conversation with Manju Rajput The Conversation with Manju Rajput showcases Aajeevika Bureau’s work mobilizing women with migrant husbands who remain in source villages, migrant women, and adolescent girls to access their entitlements and exercise their voice…more

 

 

READS…from around the web

Bhagat, R. B. (2017). Migration, gender and right to the city: the Indian context. Economic and Political Weekly, 35-40.
https://www.epw.in/journal/2017/32/perspectives/migration-gender-and-right-city.html

Desai, S., & Banerji, M. (2008). Negotiated identities: Male migration and left-behind wives in India. Journal of Population Research,25, 337-355. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03033894

Mazumdar, I., Neetha, N., & Agnihotri, I. (2013). Migration and gender in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 54-64.https://www.epw.in/journal/2013/10/special-articles/migration-and-gender-india.html

Shah, A. (2006). The labour of love: Seasonal migration from Jharkhand to the brick kilns of other states in India. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 40(1), 91-z18. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/006996670504000104 

Singh, C. (2019). Migration as a driver of changing household structures: Implications for local livelihoods and adaptation.Migration and Development, 8(3), 301-319. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21632324.2019.1589073 

Wadhawan, N. (2013). Living in domesti-city: Women andmigration for domestic work from Jharkhand. Economic andPolitical Weekly, 47-54. https://www.epw.in/journal/2013/43/review-womens-studies-review-issues/living-domesti-city.html

Click here to download the current measurement brief

This measurement brief is part of the Gender Hub led by Dr. Pallavi Choudhuri and Dr. Sonalde Desai. The Gender Hub initiative is a part of the National Data Innovation Centre at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. GenderTalk, is a space where scholars, policymakers, and civil society members can engage with each other on a theme vital to women’s well-being in India. Our website can be found at https://ndic.ncaer.org/research-theme/gender-data-hub/.

Previous Issues of GenderTalk:

2023-03: Women’s Agency in Marriage Choice;

2023-02: Gender and Land Rights;

2023-01: Gender and Public Safety