March 26, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. | Kreeger 100 & Watkins G02

Schedule

Jump to Abstracts below.

10:00–11:00, Kreeger 100

Session 1

Kardelen Cicek, "The Wealth and Inequality Effects of Tax Deferred 401(K) Accounts"
Supervisor: Ignacio González, Discussant: Josh Sack

Haojia Hu, "Household Attention: An Exploration of Its Causes and Impacts"
Supervisor: Xuguang Sheng, Discussant: Josh Sack

11:00–11:15, Kreeger 100

Coffee Break
 

11:15–12:15, Kreeger 100

Session 2

Jheelum Sarkar, "Impact of Climate Shocks on Gender Division of Labor: A Case Study from Indian Coastal Hotspot" 
Supervisor: Kelly Jones, Discussant: Rida Hameed

Daniela Escobar Lopez, "A Study on the Effect of Negative Shocks on Children’s Human Capital Formation in Rural Colombia" 
Supervisor: Nathan Larson, Discussant: Rida Hameed

 

12:15–1:00, Kreeger 100

Lunch Break

 

1:00–2:30, Watkins G02

Session 3

Traheka Erdyas Bimanatya, "Does Islamic Rule Affect Economic Development? Evidence from the District Parliament in Indonesia" 
Supervisor: Boris Gershman, Discussant: Nana Boayke Yiadom

Maryam Salihu, "Spatial Heterogeneity in the Welfare Effects of Fuel Subsidy Removal: Evidence from Nigeria"
Supervisor: Natalia Radchenko, Discussant: Nana Boayke Yiadom

Nico Nastri, "Do ESG Disclosure Mandates Reduce Emissions Leakage? Evidence from Global Value Chains"
Supervisor: Kara Reynolds, Discussant: Eduardo Rawet 

 

2:30–2:45, Watkins G02

Coffee Break

 

2:45–3:45, Watkins G02

Session 4

Reva Resstack, "Glass Ceiling or Class Ceiling: Labor Market Effects of Venezuelan Migrants in Peru" 
Supervisor: Maria Caballero, Discussant: Aya Aboulhosn

Fjolle Gjonbalaj, "Early Retirement Effects of Premium Tax Credits: A Difference-in-Difference Approach"
Supervisor: Nathan Larson, Discussant: Aya Aboulhosn

Abstracts

Traheka Erdyas Bimanatya, Does Islamic Rule Affect Economic Development? Evidence from the District Parliament in Indonesia

In 1999, Indonesia experienced a massive political and fiscal reform. Direct legislative and executive elections were reintroduced, and local governments gained more independence in managing their fiscal policy. This paper aims to identify the causal effect of Islamic faction rule in the district parliament on budgetary and economic outcomes. I employ a Regression Discontinuity (RD) design by using the share of Islamic faction seats as the forcing variable. The preliminary results reveal that Islamic rule in parliament leads to a higher share of expenditure on education and infrastructure. However, the share of expenditure on health is smaller. These results may suggest evidence of the budget reallocation effect when Islamic parties won at least 50% of the seats. It is also evident that the own-source revenue per capita is smaller in those districts about four years after the election.

Kardelen Cicek, The Wealth and Inequality Effects of Tax Deferred 401(K) Accounts

401(k) plans are a type of tax-deferred retirement savings account that provides income tax advantages to participants. In the United States, these plans were introduced to increase private savings. Contributions to these accounts are limited by a contribution cap. The increase in pension fund amounts over time, combined with rising wealth inequality in the U.S., raises the question of how these tax-advantaged accounts impact wealth distribution. Several papers in the literature examine the impact of 401(k) accounts on economic outcomes. However, the specific impact of the contribution cap on these accounts in an overlapping generations model setting has been studied only by Nishiyama (2011) and Ho (2017). This paper further extends their work by specifically focusing on the impact of 401(k) accounts on wealth inequality using a two-generation overlapping generations model.

Daniela Escobar Lopez, A Study on the Effect of Negative Shocks on Children’s Human Capital Formation in Rural Colombia

The effects of negative income shocks have been widely studied in the economic and development literature. In this article, I present a theoretical and empirical framework to address the question of how negative income shocks affect children's human capital formation in households in rural Colombia. Fundamentally, I find that violent events and natural disasters affect children’s schooling at a young age, and most of the burden falls on young girls. Not only are their school attendance chances more severely impacted by the shocks than for boys, but it appears that if there are any positive effects on cognitive development, they are not reaped by girls.

Fjolle Gjonbalaj, Early Retirement Effects of Premium Tax Credits: A Difference-in-Difference Approach

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded healthcare access for low-income individuals, closing a coverage gap for those earning too much for Medicaid but unable to afford private insurance. This study examines how Premium Tax Credits (PTC) influence early retirement decisions. I find that for individuals aged 55-61 without Employer-Sponsored Insurance (ESI), ACA exposure increases early retirement likelihood by 6.1 to 7.5 percentage points. For those aged 62-64, rates rise by 5.5 to 7 percentage points. Effects are larger for women in the 100%-138% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) range but generally smaller for women overall, who tend to have lower lifetime savings. The impact is most pronounced for individuals in poor health, with variations across income groups. These findings suggest that PTC reduces financial incentives to continue working, particularly for lower-income individuals, influencing retirement decisions.

Haojia Hu, Household Attention: An Exploration of Its Causes and Impacts

This paper examines the concept of household attention and its cycle, investigating how consumer attention to different goods and price categories fluctuates over time and its potential implications for economic behavior. Grounded in theories of limited attention and rational inattention, this study explores whether household attention follows a cyclical pattern and how such patterns may interact with inflation expectations and the business cycle. Using search trend data as a proxy for household attention, this research aims to uncover underlying patterns in attention allocation and assess possible links to economic conditions. The findings may provide insights into the role of household attention in shaping macroeconomic dynamics.

Nico Nastri, Do ESG Disclosure Mandates Reduce Emissions Leakage? Evidence from Global Value Chains

Asymmetric implementation of environmental regulations across countries allows firms in regulated jurisdictions to shift emissions-intensive activities to countries with weaker standards, undermining the effectiveness of domestic policies. This paper investigates whether mandatory Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure policies can mitigate emissions leakage through global value chains (GVCs). I focus on the European Union’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), which requires comprehensive ESG reporting for large EU firms. Using OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) tables and International Energy Agency (IEA) emissions data from 2010-2020, I develop an industry level measure of indirect exposure to the NFRD via trade for non-EU countries and assess whether the directive drives emissions reductions in exports. I find that increased exposure to the NFRD has no effect on ESG disclosure or performance in non-EU countries. However, exposure is associated with a 1.5% reduction in carbon emissions embedded in exports to the EU, suggesting that mandatory ESG disclosure plays a role in reducing emissions leakage. These results contribute to understanding the spillover effects of mandatory ESG disclosure driving global sustainability improvements.

Reva Resstack, Glass Ceiling or Class Ceiling: Labor Market Effects of Venezuelan Migrants in Peru

More than 1.6 million Venezuelans migrated to Peru between 2017 through 2019, constituting more than 70% of Peru’s recorded immigration history and a 4% increase in the country’s population. In this paper, I study the labor market effects of Venezuelan women displaced abroad to Peru, estimating outcomes for Peruvian men and women, with secondary questions on outcomes for Venezuelans. Using novel satellite data on migration routes and cost data from UNHCR to construct an instrumental variable, I find that a 1% increase in the Venezuelan migrant women population working at the municipal level corresponds to a XX% decrease in wages for Peruvian workers with low levels of education and a XX% increase in wages for Peruvian workers with high levels of education. Further, I find that Venezuelans with formal work authorization are XX% more likely to work at firms owned by Peruvians as compared to Venezuelans who work without formal authorization. Lastly, I find heterogeneous effects by date of arrival and subsequent visa status.

Maryam Salihu, Spatial Heterogeneity in the Welfare Effects of Fuel Subsidy Removal: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper studies the differential welfare impacts of the 2023 fuel subsidy reform on households in border and non-border states. Specifically, I examine whether the loss of cross-border arbitrage opportunities affected food security perceptions and household consumption patterns across these regions. My estimates suggest that before the subsidy removal, households in border states were approximately 33 -40 % less likely to report any kind of food insecurity- compared to their counterparts in non-border states. After the reform, they lost this advantage and became only approximately 9 to 14 % less likely to report food insecurity. Notably, households in border regions spent 9.8% less on food expenditures before the reform but increased their relative spending by 23.7 % afterward. This paradox: increase in food spending and reported food insecurity may suggest how the reform disrupted previously established informal markets. This finding helps shed light on the fact that policy reforms that correct price distortions can affect informal markets, resulting in spatially heterogeneous welfare effects.  In an extension, I will investigate if the observed differences in consumption expenditures are driven by differences in prices. This will allow for a more in-depth understanding of the mechanisms at play.

Jheelum Sarkar, Impact of Climate Shocks on Gender Division of Labor: A Case Study from Indian Coastal Hotspot

This study examines how climate shocks affect gender division of labor in India. Using catastrophic 2018 floods in coastal state, Kerala, this paper employs difference-in difference strategy to assess the changes in men’s and women’s paid labor between treatment and control groups. Individual and household level data has been drawn from 2017-2018 and 2018-19 rounds of Periodic Labor Force Surveys. Data on flood damage and inundation are obtained from Kerala Disaster Management Handbook and Google Earth Engine respectively. I define treatment in two ways: (a) state level treatment (Kerala vs. unaffected neighboring state); (b) inundation-based treatment (highly vs lowly inundated districts in Kerala). Preliminary findings show that the flood significantly reduced women’s paid labor across both treatment definitions while its effect on men’s paid labor varied by treatment definition. Moreover, unpaid care burdens further constrained women’s paid labor post-flood while the impact on men was insignificant.