Chaudhary, Amit (2021) Four essays in empirical economics. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis studies four topics in empirical economics as summarized below.

Chapter 1 documents the roles of heterogeneity, sorting, and complementarity in a framework where workers, managers, and firms interact to shape productivity. I show that the source of heterogeneity in the form of manager ability is an important driver of differences in firm productivity. I empirically identify complementarities between workers, managers, and firms using my estimation methodology. Counterfactual results show that reallocating workers by applying a positive assortative sorting rule can increase police department productivity by 10%.

Chapter 2 documents that growth of Airbnb is likely to affect the local housing rental market by reducing the supply of properties. I combine data from Airbnb and Zoopla and examine how the price of individual houses evolves over time, as Airbnb penetrates the market in the area of Greater London. Leveraging the fact that properties with more than three bedrooms are less exposed to Airbnb, I use a difference-in-differences strategy by year and house type. I find that a 10-percent increase in the number of Airbnb properties in a ward increases real rents by 0.1 percent.

Chapter 3: Religious groups sometimes resist modern welfare-enhancing interventions,
adversely affecting the group's human capital levels. In this context, we study whether the two largest religious groups in India (Hindus and Muslims) resisted western education because they shared religious identity with the rulers deposed by the British colonisers. We find that Muslim literacy in an Indian district under the British is lower where the deposed ruler was a Muslim, while Hindu literacy is lower where the deposed ruler was a Hindu.

Chapter 4: We digitize the financial disclosure of elite bureaucrats from India and combine this novel data with web-scraped career histories to study the private wealth accumulation of public servants. Employing a difference in difference event study approach, we find that the annual growth rate is 10% higher for the value of assets and 4.4% higher for the number after bureaucrats being transferred to an important post with the power to make influential policies. We document that the results are consistent with a rent-seeking explanation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Econometrics, Industrial productivity, Labor productivity, Airbnb (Firm) -- Economic aspects -- Great Britain, Housing -- Economic aspects -- Great Britain, Economic development -- India, Well-being -- Economic aspects, India -- Economic conditions, Bureaucrats -- Economic aspects -- India
Official Date:	October 2021
Dates:	Date Event October 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Fenske, James ; Rens, Thijs Van ; Rathelot, Roland
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Department of Economics
Extent:	vii, 172 leaves : illustrations, maps, charts
Language:	eng

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