Econ-on-Mics

In our final episode, Leila Baghdadi is joined by Amal Medini to speak about her work on the environmental impact of globalisation, trade and participation in global value chains, as well as her findings on how environmental provisions in trade agreements and tariffs can affect carbon emissions. She also discusses some of her new research on gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa, which explores topics such as the provision of childcare, hiring discrimination against women, and implementing training programs.

For listeners interested in learning more about the economic landscape in the MENA region, Prof. Baghdadi recommends reading the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa economic updates. She also recommends two books on the subject:

1.⁠ ⁠Crony Capitalism in the Middle East by Ishac Diwan, Adeel Malik and Izak Atiyas (Editors)

2.⁠ ⁠Tunisia's Economic Development by Mustapha Nabli and Jeffrey B. Nugent

In this episode, Adriana Camacho talks about her work on the Colombian cash transfer program and domestic violence. Interviewed by Santiago de la Cadena, she goes over how a lack of resources could trigger domestic violence, and why the timing, expectation and duration of cash transfers matter when it comes to household behaviours. They discuss how such programs could have positive externalities in terms of investment in human capital, and the need for policymakers to primarily address the issue of scarcity
Prof. Camacho recommends two books for anyone interested in learning more about scarcity or domestic violence:
1. Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan
2. Shame by Annie Ernaux

In this episode, Nisha Arunatilake shares her insights on women's access to decent work in Sri Lanka. In conversation with her colleague Lakmini Fernando, she delves into social and legal barriers - including workplace discrimination, maternity leave, and the poor coverage of labour laws - that might restrict women's participation in such work. She discusses how providing access to childcare and public transport, as well as introducing legislature which makes workplaces inclusive of women, can be a step towards facilitating female labour force participation.

Dr Arunatilake's study is part of a group of studies conducted in 6 countries - including Peru, Brazil, Senegal, Kenya, and the Philippines. These studies are available for interested listeners to read and learn more about the issue on a global scale.

In the third episode, Eleni Yitbarek is interviewed by Michelle Pleace about her research on intergenerational mobility in sub-Saharan Africa. The first part of their discussion focuses on the association between social and economic indicators of children and that of their parents. They then delve into comparisons between the mobility of sons and daughters, and the part played by parental bias and women's role in the household.

For those interested in learning more about intergenerational mobility, Prof. Yitbarek recommends looking at work by Raj Chetty and his team in the US, and research by Lambert, Ravallion and van de Walle on mobility in Senegal. She also recommends reading Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century and A Brief History of Equality.

In this episode, Kanika Mahajan discusses her work on gender and labour economics. Interviewed by WiEP Director Anahita Karandikar, she touches upon the stagnation of women's labour force participation in India, exploring both labour supply and demand in light of factors such as social norms and returns to education.

For interested listeners, Prof. Kanika recommends looking at the work on labour and gender by Ashwini Deshpande, Anisha Sharma, and Lisa Ho. She also recommends these must-read books:
1. Woman's Role in Economic Development by Ester Boserup: Published in 1970 and using data collected across various developing countries, the book provides insights into how women contribute to the economy in traditional settings and how this role transforms as these countries transition from agrarian societies to industrial and service-led ones.
2. Understanding the Gender Gap by Claudia Goldin: While this book is based on the experiences of women in the US, many lessons and patterns discussed are also relevant to the experience of developing countries currently.
3.Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez: This book weaves the narrative of how women's needs often get neglected in policy-making and even technological development, the primary reason being that the world has been designed to suit the needs of an average male.

Welcome to Econ-on-Mics, a joint production of the International Economic Association’s Women in Leadership in Economics initiative and Women in Econ and Policy.

Join us as we delve into pressing economic questions with six women economists from across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In our inaugural episode this week, we feature Elisa Belfiori discussing the intersections of Climate, Policy, and Inequality. Interviewed by Maria Alsina-Pujols, Belfiori navigates the complexities of studying climate policy, illuminates the current landscape, and discusses the challenges encountered by developing countries in addressing climate change while fostering development.

Prof. Belfiori recommends these must-read books tailored for climate enthusiasts:

The Economics of Climate Change in Argentina: The book includes research by Argentinean economistson agricultural yields, human health impacts, carbon emissions, climate policy, and economic growth. The book sheds light on the challenges and opportunities for sustainability in the region, appealing to policymakers, academics, and anyone concerned about climate change and its implications in LatinAmerica. No Brainers and Low-Hanging Fruit in National Climate Policy: This book, with contributions from economists working in more than 18 countries, provides timely and concise recommendations onachievable and efficient climate change policies that can be fast-tracked into implementation.

Dr. Siwan Anderson, Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia and Ieda Matavelli, PhD candidate of Economics at the Vancouver School of Economics discuss a range of research topics that Dr. Anderson is passionate about and has been researching on since decades. They range from research on missing women- a term coined by Amartya Sen to address the worsening sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in countries such as India and China, feminization of HIV specifically in Africa and the utmost importance of improving legal rights of women outside of marriage.

Professor Anderson also discusses her super interesting paper Intimate Partner Violence & Female Property Rights in which she parses through data across Sub-Saharan Africa. She also talks at length about her research paper - Legal Origins and Female HIVwhere she delves deeper to understand the feminization of HIV and the possible reasons of why Africa is the only continent where women tend to die more in number when compared to men due to HIV.

She has some excellent advice for researchers who are starting out on a new idea or subject area and stresses why reading its history and tracing its inception is the best way to understand anything.

Dr. Heather Schofieldis an Assistant Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School and Vasanthi Pillai, PhD researcher in the Professorship of Behavioral Science for Disease Prevention and Health Care at theTechnical University of Munich discuss a range of research areas including sleep, Ramadan fasting and its impact on the economic production in agriculture, loneliness and cognitive endurance. She briefly also talks about the Behavioral Development Lab (BDL) at Chennai which she co-founded with two other researchers. BDL focuses on integrating behavioural economics and development economics to understand the causes and consequences of poverty

Dr. Heather also delves deeper into how she picks a research idea and the intermediary methods that ultimately lead to the fruition of a research project. She focuses on her paper - The Economic Consequences of Increasing Sleep Among the Urban Poor and how using actigraphy was central to tracking sleep patterns and motor movements among the respondents. 

She also discusses her study Ramadan Fasting and Agricultural Output” which studies overlaps between Ramadan and the labour-intensive portions of cropping cycles and provides a very interesting insight into the correlation between religiosity and growth. Given that this is a rather unexplored issue, religious influence is rarely analyzed when constructing/discussing labour policies

In conclusion, Dr. Heather also provides extremely valuable advice that researchers should be mindful of while conducting research. 

Dr. Charity Troyer Moore, Director for South Asia Economics Research at Yale University’s MacMillan Center along with Shambhavi Sawhney, Data Associate at Good Business Lab revisit the seminal paper - On her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Affects Labour Supply and Gender Norms. Dr. Charity along with co-authors Dr. Rohini Pande, Dr. Simone Schaner and Dr. Natalia Rigol focused on answering whether greater control over earned income incentivises women to work and influence gender norms. 

Dr. Charity recounts her experience while working in Delhi and noticing how public spaces were dominated by men. She describes at length her experience of working with the government and the bureaucratic hurdles the research team faced. Given her extensive field research experience, she discusses how the nature of survey questions may incentivise respondents to withhold information, thereby affecting the quality of data collected.

Furthermore, she discusses how the solution to spousal discordance on key issues at the household level is access to economic opportunities for women which leads to more bargaining power for them.

S. Anukriti, Research Economist at The World Bank unpacks the complexities of restrictive social norms and women’s social networks through her paper titled “Curse of the Mummy-ji: the influence of Mothers-in-law on Women in India” in an engaging conversation with Sakshi Hallan, a Research Analyst at The World Bank.

Using primary data from Jaunpur district in rural Uttar Pradesh, the study characterises the social networks of young married women. Adopting an instrumental variables approach, the study then shows how co-residence with a mother-in-law affects the daughter-in-law’s access to family planning and reproductive health resources by imposing restrictions on the daughter-in-law’s ability to form social connections outside of her household.

“It could be that you have a very well-intentioned programme but it overlooks how the mother-in-law will either perceive that program or will prevent the daughter-in-law from accessing it or maybe she is actually going to be a supportive influence”

 Anandi Mani walks the listeners through her paper - Sex Workers, Stigma, and Self-Image: Evidence from Kolkata Brothels along with  host Avantika Prabhakar, a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Virginia.

The second episode focuses on the paper which studies the link between self-image and behavior among those who face stigma due to poverty and social exclusion. Anandi speaks of her experiences, collaborating with Dr. Smarajit Janaand Durbar; an organisation working for sex workers’ rights.

Using a randomized field experiment with sex workers in Kolkata (India), the paper examines whether a psychological intervention to mitigate the adverse effects of internalized stigma can induce behavior change. The study findings show significant improvements in participants' self-image, their savings choices, and health clinic visits. Anandi shares the potential of purely psychological interventions to improve the life choices and outcomes of marginalized groups.

Monica Biradavolu, Founder and CEO of QualAnalytics and host Ambika Chopra, Senior Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia discuss an approach which combines mixed-methods data collection and machine learning.

The host and the speaker discuss the paper ‘Using machine learning and qualitative interviews to design a five-question women’s agency index’. Together they highlight the challenges, success, and some interesting behind-the-scenes of the paper. Monica shares her experiences and how her perception of ‘women’s agency’ evolved while working on the paper.

"What seems like the perfect example of agency to one woman might not be the same for another. It’s important to acknowledge such subjectivities and caveats  in surveys when  gathering  pre-planned data."

Monica, on the basis of her field experiences, also talks about the scope of using ML in designing such short surveys.