Abstract: We studied the relationship between alcohol consumption and crime using the implementation of a statewide total prohibition of alcohol in the Indian state of Bihar in 2016. Testing the theoretical argument that alcohol has differential effects on different kinds of crime, we used a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach and found that the prohibition led to a 0.22 standard deviation point reduction in the reported incidence of violent crimes but had no significant impact on nonviolent crimes. The effect is fairly persistent over time, with the initial impact being large enough that, on average, there is a reduction in violent crime over at least a three-year period following the ban. Heterogeneity tests revealed that the effect on crime was stronger in interior districts and districts with higher baseline alcohol consumption. We also observed stronger effects in districts where a smaller proportion of the population faced religious restrictions on alcohol consumption. Since all these subgroups indicate districts where the ban is likely to have had a larger effect on alcohol availability and consumption, we conclude that the ban affects crime through this channel rather than that of institutional changes.
Abstract: This study examines the impact of a law that increased penalties for dowry on educational attainment in rural India, using data from the Rural Economic and Demographic Survey. A difference-in-differences approach reveals that the law effectively reduced dowry payments, but also female education, with the decline in female education being most pronounced in communities with higher dowry prevalence. Since dowry payments signal adherence to traditional values, after anti-dowry laws, families must come up with an alternative signal. Consequently, lowering female education becomes the alternative signal showing adherence to tradition. Hence, while the anti-dowry law combats an exploitative system, it inadvertently reduces female education.
Abstract: This paper examines how groundwater irrigation in India, while crucial for poverty reduction, created an environmental externality through arsenic contamination. Using historical variation in groundwater stocks and high-yielding variety seed diffusion, I find that districts with richer groundwater endowments have 70% more habitats exceeding safe arsenic levels in their groundwater. The relationship is strongest in districts with medium-thick aquifers, which had higher early adoption of deep tubewells. Analysis reveals that historical irrigation practices, rather than contemporary agricultural inputs, drive arsenic contamination, highlighting the long-term environmental consequences of irrigation technology choices.
Abstract: Distortions introduced by price-controls may be underestimated if controls are captured for uses beyond fixing market failures. We study India’s minimum support prices (MSP) for food grains, and find that the central government announces a higher MSP for a crop when a larger area under cultivation for that crop is slated to go for state elections. Since the government’s procurement price is the same across states, this blunt instrument is used more when other policy instruments are unavailable, i.e., when the incumbent state government is unaligned with the center. Higher MSP directly reduces welfare by increasing consumer prices.
Abstract: We examine gender differences in access to and service within a publicly financed tertiary healthcare program in Andhra Pradesh India. We use claim-level administrative data from the program to estimate gender differences in access and services. We classify the distance the patient travels as access variables and the time for claim authorization, treatment, and discharge, as well as the amount approved and paid as service variables. We use a regression framework to control for the influence of other patient characteristics, the type of procedure, hospital, and quarter of treatment in making gender comparisons.