India took a decisive step towards universal basic education by proclaiming a constitutionally-guaranteed Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2009 that called for full access of children aged 6-14 to free schooling. This paper considers the offsetting effects to RTE from induced expansion of private...

India moved to a constitutional guarantee of universal basic education with the Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2009 that called for full access of children aged 6-14 to free schooling. This paper considers the offsetting effects from induced expansion of private tutoring that limited gains in...

Scholars argue that the presence of persistent first-mover advantages obviates the need for relatively long-lived patents as incentives for innovations. What then is the impact of the strengthening of patent protection, particularly in developing economies, on non-patent-based first-mover...

India surpassed the USA to become the second largest global smartphone market in terms of users in early 2016. India has continued to register strong demand for smartphones to connect hundreds of millions of users to the internet. There is a substantial opportunity for every player in the mobile...

Public sector provision allows redistribution of essential goods and services but may also create adverse impact on private-sector providers. How do private firms respond to the entry of a public rm? Answering this question can help design policies to balance redistribution against private...

Do political statements without a scientific basis on medicines cause global pharmaceutical demand spillovers during pandemics? We examine this question using novel sales data from 2018-2020 in the Indian domestic anti-malarial drug markets. Our context is the President of the United States...

We evaluate the welfare effects of differential pricing, voluntary licensing, and compulsory licensing in the Indian market for oral anti-diabetic (OAD) drugs. This market includes a new class of molecules called DPP-4 inhibitors, all of which are under patent protection in India. The Indian...

Free market advocates consider consumer choice unambiguously welfare-enhancing, but critics argue that availability of certain products can be detrimental for society. Contributing to this debate, we study the case of controversial skin whitening products sold widely in emerging markets....

Free market advocates consider consumer choice unambiguously welfare-enhancing but consumers are often unable to make choices aligned with their well-being, and being disempowered might sometimes drive preference for products with questionable impact. We contribute to this debate on corporate...