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 DFG (German Research Foundation).
Curriculum Vitae (Updated August 2022)
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.
Current Version: August 2022
Job Market Paper
Abstract (click to expand): Groups with potentially heterogenous time preferences, in households or firms, regularly make intertemporal decisions jointly related to consumption, savings, education and investment. While there is theoretical work on group’s intertemporal preferences, it has not been fully empirically tested. This paper studies the empirical relationship between individual and group time preferences using reduced-form and structural methods. 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 time preferences of both groups as well as their constituent individuals. We find that group’s are much more present-biased than individuals, a finding that is robust to a variety of alternative specifications. Connecting group behavior with individual members’ behavior, we find that within groups, the individuals with higher present-bias are the ones driving group decisions. Further, we find that group’s exhibit a higher degree of present-bias when the difference in measured discount rates between group members is larger. Finally, we find that present-bias in the group decisions is reduced when bargaining power in the group is less symmetric.
Pre – Registration
With Paula von Haaren (Heidelberg)
Funded by the DFG
With Karrar Hussain (FAU-Arlangen Nuremberg)
Funded by the IPA and IGC
I am currently hiring a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan. 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 Froelich (Mannheim/C4ED), Paula von Haaren (Heidelberg) and Nasir Iqbal (PIDE).
Prof. Froelich is an econometrician who runs his own research organization in Germany (C4ED) and Pakistan and has a strong placement record for his interns/research assistants. 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.
Further details about the position and how to apply can be found here.
Website: This design, made by Xinyue Lin for Gautam Rao, is available at Gautam Rao’s GitHub repository.