Research & Publications
My body of work spans the space of empirical analysis of health economics, poverty, and social welfare within the context of international development. My portfolio includes a diverse range of publications, from rigorous empirical studies in peer-reviewed journals that showcase methodological excellence to approachable research briefs and reports tailored for development policy audiences. The common theme of this research is to provide rigorous evidence needed to develop strategic data driven recommendations to identify impactful investment opportunities.
Published Report2015
Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific.
Special Chapter: A Smarter Future: Skills, Education, and Growth in Asia.
While progress in the spread of education is noticeable, shortfalls in the quantity and, especially, quality of education constrain skill development and growth. This report examines learning progress based on empirical research finding that beyond public expenditures, families and firms need to be involved in the region's skill development agenda.
#Development Economics#Skills#Education#Asia
Published Paper2015
Journal of Productivity Analysis
Bonus compensation and productivity: evidence from Indian manufacturing plants (with S. Lee)
This paper examines whether bonus compensation for managers and workers matter for manufacturing plant productivity. We find that conditional on a plant’s observable and unobservable characteristics, allocating a higher proportion of compensation to bonus pay for managers and workers has a significant positive effect on productivity.
#Development Economics#Compensation#Manufacturing#India
Published Paper2014
Journal of Water Resources Development
Increasing households access to water services: a cost recoverable pricing model
Pricing policies can serve as a low-cost and effective tool for increasing access to water and sanitation services among poor households while allowing the provider to recover costs. An empirical model is applied to contingent-valuation survey data for water services in Cebu, Philippines.
#Development Economics#Water Services#Pricing#Phillipines
Published Paper2013
Energy Economics
How households in Pakistan take on energy efficient lighting (with Y. Jiang)
A household survey in Pakistan is used to examine drivers of more efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) adoption and the impact of CFL adoption on the demand for lighting services.
#Development Economics#Energy Economics#Pakistan
Published Paper2012
Journal of Development Effectiveness
Can skill diversification improve welfare in rural areas? evidence from Bhutan (with M. Watanabe)
Income growth in rural areas is a considerable challenge to further poverty reduction and economic development. Using a survey of rural Bhutanese households, we investigate the impacts of a vocational skills training programme that was intended to diversify incomes outside agriculture.
#Development Economics#Rural Economics#Skills#Bhutan
Published Paper2012
European Journal of Health Economics
The impact of health insurance mandates on drug innovation: evidence from the United States (with M. Park)
An important health policy issue is the low rate of patient enrollment into clinical trials, which may slow down the process of clinical trials and discourage their supply, leading to delays in innovative life-saving drug treatments reaching the general population. This paper evaluates empirically how effective these policies were in increasing the supply of clinical trials and speeding up their completion, using data on cancer clinical trials initiated in the US between 2001 and 2007.
#Health Economics#Health Policy#Clinical Trials
Published Paper2012
Applied Economics
The impact of clinical trial insurance coverage mandates on racial minorities and low income individuals (with M. Park)
This article examines if state mandates requiring health insurers to cover routine care costs for patients enrolled in clinical trials helped reduce the gap in clinical trial access between the affluent and the poor and between whites and racial minorities.
#Health Economics#Health Policy#Clinical Trials
Published Paper2011
Journal of Health Economics
Do markets respond to quality information? The case of fertility clinics (with M. Bundforf, G. Shah Goda, D. Kessler)
Although policymakers have increasingly turned to provider report cards as a tool to improve healthcare quality, existing studies provide mixed evidence on whether they influence consumer choices. We examine the effects of providing consumers with quality information in the context of fertility clinics providing Assisted Reproductive Therapies (ART).
#Health Economics#Report Cards