Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
PEPE (Political Economy & Public Economics) Reading Group - Shruti Agarwal (PGR)
Title: Expanding Choices, Shifting Peers: Evidence from Indian Schools
Abstract:
Exposure to out-group peers in childhood shapes trust, cooperation, and shared norms. It has implications for social cohesion and equal opportunity. Schools are a primary setting where such contact forms, and parental choice in local school markets determines who meets whom. This study builds on the traditional school-choice framework to allow households to value peer composition, in addition to distance, and perceived quality. I use geocoded administrative records linked to household settlements to build a village–school-year panel for over 350K schools in India over a 13-year period. Identification comes from a national policy that required a public school within one kilometer of each habitation. Villages that did not meet this threshold before the reform saw more school openings, which provides plausibly exogenous variation in local entry. Results show that when a new public school opens, caste-based segregation in schools rises, even after controlling for distance and observed school traits. The results show that local school-supply expansion interacts with parental preferences so that each additional school becomes a new margin for same-group sorting, narrowing children鈥檚 exposure to out-group peers.