About Me
I'm a third-year PhD candidate in Political Economy and Government, affiliated with the Harvard Department of Economics and Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to graduate school I worked as a pre-doctoral research fellow with the Princeton Program in Public Finance. I hold an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi. Thanks to the generous support of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School and the Adriene Hall Fund, I will spend the summer before my fourth year conducting exploratory research for my dissertation.
About the Project
Female labor force participation in India has fallen persistently since 2005. As agricultural employment has declined, a shortage of jobs in rural areas combined with norms discouraging women from economic migration have pushed millions out of the workforce. Although the rise of low-skill manufacturing jobs has economically benefited some women and holds promise for improving the livelihoods of millions more poor women and their families, these jobs often entail harsh work environments (Heath and Mobarak, 2015; Blattman and Dercon, 2018). Information frictions, lack of agency, and low bargaining power inhibit female migrants from demanding better working conditions (Heath et al. 2022). This summer, I aim to conduct exploratory research for a project addressing information and bargaining power constraints which might be deterring female migrants from demanding improved working conditions or switching employers.
My fieldwork will inform the design for a study seeking to answer:
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Do information frictions and employer monopsony power inhibit female migrant garment workers from demanding better working conditions or leaving jobs that harm their health/safety?
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What additional support can empower women to act on this information?
My research setting is the Tirupur garment manufacturing cluster in Tamil Nadu, India, a major export hub where 50% of workers are migrants and 60% are women.
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This summer I plan to conduct surveys and focus group discussions with migrant workers in Tirupur to inform future pilot interventions to reduce information frictions about job opportunities and increase female migrants’ bargaining power. I will survey migrants about wages/working conditions (own vs. perceived at nearby factories), living conditions, safety, sources for learning about job openings, and barriers to demanding better working conditions/switching jobs. I also aim to understand whether providing skill training and certification (for technical or other skills such as language training, communication, problem solving etc.) can help workers switch to better jobs or demand better wages/amenities from current employers.
