PhD Candidate, University of Heidelberg
I am a PhD candidate in economics at Heidelberg University.
My research interests lie in development economics, with a focus on governance and political economy. I study these issues using lab-in-the-field experiments, quasi-natural experiments and Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs).
My work has been supported by grants from the International Growth Centre, Innovations for Poverty Action, PEDL (CEPR/FCDO) and German Research Foundation (DFG).
I am on the job market in 2022-2023 and am available for interviews at the EJM and the ASSA.
Email: chaudhryzain@gmail.com
Twitter: @ZainChaudhry
Tel: +49 6221 54 38 53
Address:
Department of Economics
University of Heidelberg
Bergheimer Strasse 58
69115 Heidelberg,
Germany
With Karrar Hussain, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and Attique-ur-Rehman, UC Delaware.
Oxford Economic Papers, May 2022
Abstract (click to expand): We provide the first estimate of a door-to-door political campaign by an incumbent politician targeting women on electoral outcomes in a developing country. Women voters are informed of the public service delivery work undertaken by the incumbent in his tenure. The campaign was randomized at the precinct level, allowing us to use official electoral data on vote shares and gender-disaggregated turnout. Our results suggest that in a highly competitive campaign, the vote share of the campaigning incumbent increased by 5%age points. This increase was primarily driven by women who were campaigned independently of their male relatives. In precincts where both men and women were mobilized, the effect is not statistically significant. However, women’s turnout in the election was unaffected.
With Karrar Hussain (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg).
Job Market Paper
Abstract (click to expand): Groups with potentially heterogeneous time preferences, in households or firms, regularly make intertemporal decisions jointly related to consumption, savings, education, and investment. While there is theoretical work on groups’ intertemporal preferences, it has yet to be fully empirically tested. This paper uses reduced-form and structural methods to study the empirical relationship between individual and group time preferences. Unlike previous work, (i) we measure time preferences through the allocation of costly tasks over time, not monetary methods, (ii) use randomly created groups, (iii) and know the time preferences of both groups as well as their constituent individuals. We find that groups are much more present-biased than individuals. Connecting group behavior with individual members’ behavior, we find that individuals with higher present bias drive group decisions within groups. Further, we find that groups exhibit greater present bias when the difference in discount rates within-group is larger. Finally, we find that present bias in the group decisions is reduced when bargaining power in the group is less symmetric.
With Markus Frölich (Mannheim) and Paula von Haaren (Heidelberg)
Funded by the DFG. Data collection begins January 2023.
With Axel Dreher (Heidelberg) and Tobias Korn (Hanover)
Funded by the DFG. Data collection begins March 2023.
With Karrar Hussain (FAU-Erlangen Nuremberg)
Funded by the IPA and IGC. Endline completed.
With Dietmar Fehr (Heidelberg), Karrar Hussain (FAU-Erlangen Nuremberg) and Muhammad Yasir Khan (Pittsburgh)
Funded by the DFG. Data collection begins Fall 2023.
I am currently hiring a Research Assistant based at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan. You should have a good econometrics and coding skills and be able to work independently. The project is on the national cash transfer program in Pakistan, which delivers cash to women with the goal of female empowerment. The project is together with Markus Frölich (Mannheim/C4ED), Paula von Haaren (Heidelberg) and Nasir Iqbal (PIDE).
Prof. Frölich is a leading econometrician who runs his own research organization in Germany (C4ED) and Pakistan and has a strong placement record for his interns/research assistants (e.g. Harvard, Stanford and LSE). Prof. Iqbal is a leading expert of the national cash transfer programme of Pakistan, having previously served as the BISP Secretariat’s Director R&D.
Website: This design, made by Xinyue Lin for Gautam Rao, is available at Gautam Rao’s GitHub repository.