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Biography

Personal Details:

Dr. Somdeep Chatterjee is an applied microeconomist by training. His research interests are in the fields of empirical issues in development economics with particular focus on the economics of education, labor, health, gender and human capital in general. Other than these, he takes keen interest in topics in political economy of development such as public policy implementation, electoral behavior as well as behavioral economics perspectives on public institution efficacies. He has experience of teaching courses on Indian Economy, Managerial Economics, Behavioral Economics, Applied Econometrics as well as Economics of Human Capital. Dr. Chatterjee is an Editorial Board Member at the Journal of Development Studies (ABDC: A). In 2023, he was the recipient of the Prof. M. J. Manohar Rao Award for Young Economists given out by The Indian Econometric Society. He is a Non-Resident Fellow of the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES) at Monash University and a fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). He is also an affiliated researcher at the Global Action for Policy (GAP) Initiative (Northeastern University, USA) and a pro-bono advisor for the Carbon Shunya Initiative at People4Planet. His research has appeared in journals like the Journal of the European Economic Association, Economica, World Development, Journal of Human Capital, Public Choice, Oxford Economic Papers etc.

Contact Details:

M-105, New Academic Block (NAB) Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Diamond Harbour Road Joka, Kolkata 700104 Direct: +91-33-71212028

Website:

sites.google.com/site/somdeepuh/

Academics

Academic Background:

PhD in Economics; University of Houston (TX, USA) - 2016 
MA in Economics; Jadavpur University - 2011 
BA (Hons) in Economics; Jadavpur University - 2009

Courses Taught:

IIM Calcutta

 

 1. India and the World Economy (MBA - core) 

2. Behavioral Economics for Managers (MBA - elective) 

3. Behavioral Economics for Executives (MBA-Ex elective) 

4. Economics of Human Capital (PhD)

 5. Political Economy (PhD)

 

 IIM Lucknow 

1. Managerial Economics (MBA - core) 

2. Indian Economy (MBA - core) 

3. Behavioural Economics and Management (MBA - elective) 

4. Economics of Labor Markets and Human Capital Investments (MBA - elective) 

5. Policy Evaluation Techniques - Theory and Methods (PhD - elective) 

6. Empirical Issues in Labor and Education Economics (PhD - elective) 

 

FLAME University 

1. Development Economics (UG - Senior Level) 

2. Principles of Behavioral Economics (UG - Sophomore level) 

 

University of Houston

 1. Intermediate Microeconomics (UG - Junior level) 

2. Principles of Microeconomics (UG - Sophomore level)

Awards:

1. Prof M. J. Manohar Rao Award for Young Economists - The Indian Econometric Society (TIES) - 2023 2. Best Business Environment Elective at IIM Lucknow for the course, "Behavioral Economics & Management" - 2018, 2019, 2020

Consulting Interests:

Interested in the following areas: 

1. Impact Assessment 

2. Development Policy 

3. Behavioral Economics and Nudges 

4. Human Capital Issues: Labor, Education and Healthcare

Current Projects:

1. Navigating Health Choices Under Cognitive Constraints: Evidence from India - funded by Taiwan Ministry of Education through National Cheng Kung University Taiwan - US$ 9000 (Local PI)

Past Projects:

1. External Investigator on a School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Research Support Grant at the University of Manchester, UK (PI: Prof Katsushi Imai) - GBP 9,000 

2. Building Resilient Systems in Education - Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) - US$ 8000 (PI)

Experience

Work Experience:

Employment Details: 
 

October 2024 - present: Associate Professor, Economics Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

December 2021 - October 2024: Assistant Professor, Economics Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 

December 2016 - August 2016: Assistant Professor, Business Environment Area, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow 
 

Other Appointments 

October 2021 - November 2021: Lecturer in Development Economics, University of Manchester 

June 2016 - November 2016: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, FLAME University 
 

Research

Journal Publications:

1. State Capacity and the Catch-Up Effect (with Shubham Ojha), Journal of Development Studies, forthcoming

2. Female Politicians and Corruption in Rural India (with Shiv Hastawala and Elisa Taveras), European Journal of Political Economy, Vol 90 (Part B), December 2025

3. A Violent Win: How Conflict Affects Political Competition in India? (with Manhar Manchanda), Scottish Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming

4. Who Benefits from Appeals to Vote? Evidence from a Get-out-the-Vote (GOTV) Campaign in India (with Manhar Manchanda), Public Choice, Vol 204 (January 2025)

5. Nutri-Farming! Estimating the Impacts of a Nutritional Security Program on Agricultural Productivity (with Sarthak Agarwal), Review of Development Economics, forthcoming

6. Conditionality Matters -  A Samaritan's Dilemma with In-Kind Transfers Targeting Educational Attainment (with Oindrila Dey), IIMB Management Review, Vol 37 (3), 2025

 2024

7. Motherhood Penalty Revisited: Impacts of Maternity Leave Mandates on Nature of Employment Contracts (with Saheli Bose),  Journal of Development Studies, Vol 60 (9), 2024

8. Women's Empowerment and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Multidimensional Policy in India (with Prashant Poddar), Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol 72 (2), January 2024

 2023

9. (En-) 'lightening' Children: Assessing the Impacts of Access to Electricity on Children's Achievement Levels (with Shiv Hastawala and Jai Kamal),  Review of Development Economics, Vol 27 (4), November 2023

10. Passing the Buck! - Do Individual Biases affect Measures of Confidence in Public Institutions, Oxford Economic Papers, Vol 75 (3), July 2023

11. Does Increased Credibility of Elections Lead to Higher Political Competition? Evidence from India (with Mehreen Mookerjee, Manini Ojhaand Sanket Roy), European Journal of Political Economy,  Vol 77, March 2023

 2022

12. How hard did that sting? Estimating the economic costs of locust attacks on agricultural production , Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy , Vol 44 (1), March 2022

13. "Does Investment Climate Affect GDP? Panel Data Evidence Using Reduced Form and Stochastic Frontier Analysis" , (with Debdatta Pal and Subrata K Mitra), Journal of Business Research, Vol 138, January 2022

 2021

14. "Long-Term Labor Market Consequences of Costly Signalling: Evidence from a Natural Experiment" (with Jai Kamal),  Journal of Human Capital, Vol 15 (4), Winter 2021

15. "None of the Above: Protest Voting in the World's Largest Democracy" (with Gergely Ujhelyi and Andrea Szabo), Journal of the European Economic Association , Vol 19 (3), 2021
    {For a summarized blog on this research, visit the IGC page.}

16. From Safe Motherhood to Cognitive Ability: Exploring Intra-Household and Inter-Generational Spillovers (with Prashant Poddar), Economica , Vol 88 (352), 2021

[An Earlier Version appeared as a Discussion Paper: GLO DP 332]

17. Voting for the Underdog or Jumping on the Bandwagon? Evidence from India's Exit Poll Ban (with Jai Kamal),  Public Choice,  Vol 188 (3-4), 2021

18. Is there Political Elite Capture in Access to Energy Sources? Evidence from Indian Households  (with Debdatta Pal),  World Development, Vol 140 (April), 2021

19. Access to Credit and Temptation Goods, The Journal of Developing Areas, Vol 55 (3), 2021

20. "Moving up the energy ladder: Does socio-religious status matter?" (with Prashant Poddar and Debdatta Pal), Population and Environment,  Vol 42 (3), 2021

 2020

21. From Better Schools to Better Nourishment: Evidence from a School Building Program in India, IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Vol 10 (1), 2020

 2019

22. The Curious Case of Farmer Credit Cards: Higher Output with No Increase in Borrowing, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol 19(1), 2019.                                                                                                  
     {Summarized versions of this research were featured in the Business Standard newspaper and Ideas for India portal in English and Hindi. The Editorial Page of Bengali Newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika also carried a vernacular summary.}

23. Fruit Consumption and Morbidity: Can Policymakers Trust the Proverbial 'Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away' Theory? [Abstract] , The Empirical Economics Letters, Vol 18 (10), 2019

 2018

24. "Storage Infrastructure and Agricultural Yield: Evidence from a Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme", Economics-the open access open-assessment e-journal, Vol 12 (2018-65), 2018

25. "Do Private Tutors Enhance English language Ability? Regression Discontinuity Evidence from a Policy Experiment in India", Bulletin of Economic Research, Vol 70 (2), 2018

 2017

26. "Getting Girls to Schools! Assessing the Impacts of a Targeted Program on Enrollment and Academic Performance", The B. E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol 17(1), 2017

 2016

27. "The Role of the Firm in Worker Wage Dispersion: An Analysis of the Ghanaian Manufacturing Sector", IZA Journal of Labor and Development, Vol 5 (16), 2016

 2015

28. " 'Powering' Agriculture: Andhra Pradesh's Free Electricity Story" , Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 50 (44), 2015

 

Conferences:

 

• Keynote Address – Research Scholars’ Workshop – Dept of Economics, University of Calcutta (January 2025)
• Annual Conference on Contemporary Issues in Development Economics – Jadavpur University (January 2025)
• Reflections on Development Economics Conference – Presidency University (December 2024)
• EIITF Conference – IIFT Kolkata (December 2024)
• Invited Seminar - IISER Bhopal (2024 - TBA)
• Invited Seminar - ISI Delhi (2024 - TBA)
• EEA-ESEM Congress (August 2024, scheduled)
• Invited Seminar - IIFT Kolkata (August 2024, scheduled)
• Invited Seminar - CMIE - Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (April 2023)
• Invited Seminar - Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (March 2023)
• Asian meeting of the Econometric Society - IIT Bombay (January 2023)
• ACEGD Conference - ISI Delhi (December 2022)
• Conference on Contemporary Issues in Indian Economy - Jadavpur University (December 2022)
• National Cheng Kung University - November 2022
• University of Sussex Business School - November 2022
• Inclusion Economics India - August 2022
• AASLE Conference 2021 - December 2021
• Invited Seminar - UNU WIDER - December 2021
• Invited Seminar - ADRI Patna - June 2021
• Invited Seminar - University of Groningen (NL) - May 2021
• Invited Presentation - NIPFP Economic Theory and Policy Conference - Delhi (March 2021)
• Invited Seminar - Centre for Management in Health Services - Indian Institute of Management Ahmed-
• abad (December 2020)
• Seminar in Applied Microeconomics - Virtual Assembly and Discussion (SAMVAAD) - (July 2020)
• Invited Seminar - Department of Economics - The Bhawanipur College, Kolkata (July 2020)
• American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meetings 2020, San Diego, California (January 2020)
• Asian and Australasian Society for Labor Economics (AASLE) Conference, NUS Business School,
• Singapore (December 2019)
• 5th Society of Economic Research (SERI) Conference, IIT Kanpur (July, 2019)
• Invited Seminar, FLAME University, Pune (2019)
•  International Conference on Public Finance and Public Policy, CTRPFP Kolkata (2019)
•  UGC-DSA Conference, Calcutta University (2018)
•  27th Annual Conference on Contemporary Issues in Development Economics, Jadavpur University,
• Kolkata (2017)
• Forum of Development Economics Kolkata (FDEK) Conference, Calcutta University (2017)
•  Invited Seminar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (2017 and 2016)
• Invited Seminar at the Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), New Delhi Center (2016)
• Winter School, Center for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi (2015)
•  11th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), New Delhi (2015)
• 25th Annual Conference on Contemporary Issues in Development Economics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (2015)
• Stata Texas Empirical Microeconomics Conference - Poster Session, Federal Reserve Bank, Dallas (2015)
• University of Houston Empirical Microeconomics Seminar Series, Houston (2015)
• Invited Seminar at the Economic Research Unit (ERU), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata Center (2015).
• 52nd Annual Conference of the Public Choice Society, San Antonio, TX, USA (2015)
•  University Grants Commission { Centre for Advanced Studies (UGC-CAS) National Seminar at Utkal University (Bhubaneshwar, 2011)
•  National Seminar on Prospects and Challenges for Rural Economic Development (Visva Bharati, Shantiniketan,2011)

Research Interests:

• Development Economics
• Economics of Education
• Labor Economics
• Political Economy

Books/Book Chapters:

• Confidence in Healthcare during Pandemics: A Developing Country Perspective (with Oindrila Dey) Flattening the Curve: Covid-19 & Grand Challenges for Global Health, Innovation, and Economy- (Chatterjee, C., Chakrabarti, A.S. and Deolalikar, A.B.) Eds, World Scientific, 2023 
   
• "Asymmetric Information, Non-cooperative Games and Impatient Agents: Modeling the Failure of Environmental Awareness Campaigns." (with Asim Karmakar) Analytical Issues in Trade, Development and Finance -(Ghosh, A.N and Karmakar, A.K) eds; Springer India, 2014 
   
• ``Role of Public Capital in Rural India: Identifying the Bottlenecks of Welfare." (with Rituparna Dey Rural Development in India: Challenges and Prospects" - (Ghosh, M and Chattopadhyay A.K) eds; Serials Publications, 2013

Articles/Cases:

1. Labor Market Penalty for Single Mothers (with Ralitza Dimova and Shubham Ojha), Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

2. Delivering Contraceptives at the Doorstep: Reducing Costs of Access or Increasing Costs of Stigma? (with Prashant Poddar and Shreya Mishra), Revise and Resubmit, Oxford Economic Papers

3. Do 'Women Hold Up Half the Sky' in Fuel Choices? Revisiting the Role of Adolescent Empowerment in a Developing Country Context (with Prashant Poddar), Revise and Resubmit, World Development

4. Does Paternal Exposure to an Industrial Disaster affect Early Life Health Investments of Children? (with Sarthak Agarwal and Shreyasee Das), Revise and Resubmit, Environment and Development Economics

5. The Relevant Third (with Sourav Bhattacharya, Pushkar Maitra and Manhar Manchanda)

6. Centralized Governance, Household Preferences, and Publicly Provided Education: Evidence from Vietnam (with David Fielding and Manhar Manchanda)

7. From Star to Threat: Lessons from Political Party Organizations (with Arghya Banerjee and Manhar Manchanda)

8. Internalizing the Negative Externality from Urbanization: Evidence from India's Rurban Mission (with Manhar Manchanda and Shubham Ojha)

9. Long Term Labor Market Consequences of Keeping Girls in School: Evidence from a Conditional Cash Transfer in India (with Saheli Bose)

10. Income Shock and Women's Health Spending: Evidence from India (with Shubhangi Agrawal, Sambit Bhattacharyya and Chirantan Chatterjee)

11. Leveraging Upward Inter-Generational Spillovers for Sustainable Living: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in India (with Debdatta Pal and Shreya Mishra)

12. A Wedding Gift from the Government!! - On Marriage Subsidies and Fertility Preferences in India (with Sulagna Bhattacharya and Shubham Ojha)

13. Droughts: Learning Continuity and Recovery (with Neeraj Katewa)

14. Family Planning in Mission Mode: Evidence from India's Mission Parivar Vikas (MPV) Program (with Sarthak Agarwal and  Oindrila Dey)

15. 'Culture Fit' or 'Culture Filter'? The Role of Subjective Signals in Hiring Decisions (with Shreya Mishra and Shubham Ojha)

16. Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory English Education: Evidence from India (with Tanika Chakraborty and Shubham Ojha)

17. Diminishing One Gap, Widening Another: Unintended Consequences of Adult Literacy on Medium Term Child Dropouts in India (with Sulagna Bhattacharya and Prashant Poddar)

18. Welcoming Thy Neighbor! : Perverse Consequences of Refugee Integration on Native Outcomes in Ethiopia (with Sulagna Bhattacharya and Ralitza Dimova)

19. Place-Based Policy and Agricultural Commercialization: Evidence from India's Export Zones (with Shiv Hastawala and Shubham Ojha)

 

1. Navigating Health Choices Under Cognitive Constraints: Evidence from India (with Chon-Kit Ao, Chien Yu-Lai and Naveen Sunder)

2. The Political Economy of Protest Voting (with Sarthak Agarwal and Manhar Manchanda)

3. Estimating the efficacy of "Art-Integrated Learning" Pedagogy - Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial (with Chon-Kit Ao and Josie Chen), working title

4. Impact of Linguistic Peers and Cultural Assimilation on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Residential Schools in India (with Divyanshu Jain, Tarun Jain and Neeraj Katewa), very preliminary 

 

1. Effect of Leadership and Contract Sequence on Three-echelon Supply Chain Coordination (with Anupam Agrawal,  Indranil Biswas and Rohit Gupta)

2. Marketing Government Policies through Emotional Nudges: Theory and Experimental Evidence  (with Prashant Poddar, Indranil Biswas and Fuzail Ahmad)

3. "The Effects of Political Reservations on Credit Access and Borrowing Composition: New Evidence from India" (with Chon-Kit Ao) GLO Discussion Paper No: 227, Global Labor Organization, Maastricht

4. Revisiting Gender Inequality in Healthcare: New Evidence from Eye Surgeries in India (with Chirantan Chatterjee, Anthony Vipin Das, Raja Narayanan, Shubhangi Agrawal and Puja Roy) 

5. Cost Learning Effect in the Used Product Market and its Impact on Seller's Choice in the Presence of Multiple Resellers (with Pinakhi Suvadarshini and  Indranil Biswas)