Past Seminars

 Measuring unilateral and multilateral gains from tackling current economic inefficiencies in CO2 reductions: Theory and evidence. bySushma Murty University of ExeterOn20th October, 2016 (Thursday) at 3:00 PMVenue : Seminar Room (First Floor) Department of Economics, Delhi School of EconomicsAll are cordially invitedAbstractWe develop a methodology for (a) constructing unilateral profit (producer surplus)- increasing and emission-decreasing policy reforms and (b) measuring marginal abatement cost (MAC), when countries operate inefficiently in meeting their self-imposed emission caps and when instantaneous radical jumps from their inefficient status-quos to their emission-constrained optima are infeasible due to existing institutional and political constraints. Data from 118 countries combined

 Misled and Mis-sold: Financial misbehaviour in retail banks? byRenuka SaneISI, New DelhiOn22nd September, 2016 (Thuresday) at 3:00 PMVenue : Seminar Room (First Floor) Department of Economics, Delhi School of EconomicsAll are cordially invitedAbstractWe use an audit methodology where auditors ask for tax saving instruments from banks and document the disclosures made on product features at the time of sale. In private sector banks with high sales incentives, the high commission product is recommended. In public sector banks, where there are deposit mobilisation targets, fixed deposits are recommended. Banks rarely make voluntary disclosures on product features. When specifically requested, information provided is

 An Application (or Two) of the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) in Policy Evaluation byDevesh Roy IFPRI, New DelhiOn1st September, 2016 (Thuresday) at 3:00 PMVenue : Seminar Room (First Floor) Department of Economics, Delhi School of EconomicsAll are cordially invitedAbstractWe estimate the impact of the Hartz Reforms, the most prominent labor reforms in Germany since the Second World War, on the German labor market. We adopt a cross-country program evaluation approach where, employing Synthetic Control Method (SCM) for comparative case studies, we utilize the characteristics of OECD countries to construct a counterfactual for Germany. We find that while the reforms did not

 Student Performance and the Effects of School Quality versus School FitbyKehinde Ajayi Boston UniversityOn23rd August, 2016 (Tuesday) at 3:00 PMVenue : Seminar Room (First Floor) Department of Economics, Delhi School of EconomicsAll are cordially invitedAbstractThis paper quantifies the effects of attending a school with high academic quality versus one with preferred characteristics. Analyzing data on secondary students in Ghana, I find that school quality generates larger benefits than school fit — students admitted to schools with high performing peers are more likely to stay in the same school and have modest gains in exam scores; students admitted to schools with

 Mandated Political Representation and Development Outcomes: Evidence from Indiaby Arka Roy ChaudhuriIndian Statistical Institute, DelhiOn18th August, 2016 (Thursday) at 3:00 PM Venue : Seminar Room (First Floor) Department of Economics, Delhi School of EconomicsAll are cordially invited AbstractIndia has a history of various affirmative action policies which include political representation to erstwhile untouchable castes, Scheduled Castes. The paper estimates the causal effect of political quotas of Scheduled Castes in Indian state assemblies on development outcomes of households belonging to their own ethnic group. Specifically I look at how political reservations for these communities in India affect schooling outcomes, health outcomes, access to the