We study the issue of project choice when a risk-averse agent must choose whether to invest in two projects of the same type (focus) or of different types (diversification). Projects of the same type are subject to common type-specific shocks. Hence focusing is more risky within each period, but...

This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using water quality data combined with data on child health outcomes from the Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are applied at specific times in the growing season, the...

Firm-level data from Kenya indicates that establishments rely on technologies such as computers, generators and cell-phones to conduct operations when regulations and security pose significant hurdles in the business environment. While all firms rely on technology in the face of obstacles, those...

The authors examine whether measures of job quality in India's manufacturing sector differ systematically across states with varying types of labor regulation. Their analysis uses repeated cross sections of India's National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) household survey data from 1983 to...

This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using data on water quality combined with data on the health outcomes of infants and children from the 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2005-06 Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are...

Summary This study examines how increasing competitive forces from India's trade liberalization have affected women's relative wages and employment. Neoclassical theory implies that costly discrimination against female workers should diminish over time with increased competition. We incorporate...

This study studies the benefits of membership in microfinance programmes, and examines whether membership in these programmes is an effective instrument in smoothing inter-seasonal consumption. We hypothesise that the benefits to participation accrue differentially over time, as more experienced...

This paper analyzes patterns of foreign direct investment in India. We investigate how labor conflict, credit constraints, and indicators of a state's economic health influence location decisions of foreign firms. We account for the possible endogeneity of labor conflict variables in modeling...

Household survey data for 1983-2000 from India's National Sample Survey Organisation are used to examine the impact of credit on self-employment among men and women in rural labour households. Results indicate that credit access encourages women's self-employment as own-account workers and...