Research

From Prohibition to Choice: The Impact of Abortion Legalization on Fertility and Child Investments in Nepal (with Ajinkya Keskar)

Job Market Paper, 2025

Abstract

We study whether expanding reproductive autonomy changes fertility and early-life investments in a son-preferring society, in the context of Nepal’s 2002 abortion legalization. Using a triple-difference-in-differences design comparing girls and boys across firstborn-sex families before and after the reform, we find that the abortion legalization substantially reduced son-biased fertility stopping: the sibship-size gap between firstborn-girl and firstborn-boy families fell by nearly three-quarters. In terms of investments, daughters in firstborn-girl families gained about two months of breastfeeding, closing most of the pre-existing deficit, also consistent with reduced reliance on breastfeeding as a birth spacing tool. Effects on vaccination and under-five survival were limited, aligning with these inputs being less tied to fertility timing. Abortion access, therefore, relaxed fertility constraints and shifted investments on the birth spacing sensitive margin.

Download Paper

Is the Red-Blue Gap in Mortality Due to Government? (with David Slichter and Case Tatro)

In Preparation for Submission, 2025

Abstract

In the US, age-adjusted mortality rates are higher in “red” states, i.e., states with high support for the Republican Party. We ask whether this is attributable to state-level policies as opposed to confounding variables such as culture. Using a variety of empirical approaches, we find that state government explains between 0 and 20% of the mortality gap. Scaling this by the size of the (large) gap, red state policies increase mortality risk by 0-3% relative to blue state policies.

Download Paper

Gender Gap in Child Poverty: Evidence from India (with Ajinkya Keskar)

In Progress, 2025

Abstract

We use a collective household model to structurally estimate individual-level consumption for girl and boy children, separately, using household-level data. These estimates allow us to account for the unequal division of resources within the household and to measure poverty rates for girls and boys at the individual level, unlike standard poverty measures, which are measured at the household level. Our results indicate that girls are more likely to live in poverty compared to boys in India, and a significant fraction of poor girls in fact live in households that standard poverty measures would classify as non-poor.