About Me
I hold a PhD in Economics from Newcastle University pending minor corrections, with a research specialisation in macroeconomics, particularly applied to emerging economies. I am proficient in both theoretical and empirical methodologies. I have a master’s and bachelor’s in economics, with a minor in statistics and mathematics.
My teaching portfolio spans undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I have contributed to teaching as a seminar leader, lecture developer, and marker across various courses at Newcastle University, mainly in macroeconomics. My commitment to high-quality teaching has been recognised through the award of Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). I have also helped with outreach programmes at Newcastle University as a postgraduate panelist.
I have a growing publication record (one published, two submitted, and one policy report) and have presented my work at several major conferences across the world. I have received accolades such as First Prize for Best Poster Presentation at Newcastle University’s Doctoral Conference (2024). I have also received two scholarships, a conference grant and am awaiting the outcome of two fellowships.
I have managed multiple research assistance projects under senior academics such as Professors Giorgio Fazio, Sugata Marjit, and Simon Hussain. I have independently planned and organised two international academic conferences. I have contributed to departmental service through roles such as PhD student representative and university panelist for outreach programmes.
Here is my CV.
“The Informal- Formal Economy Interlock: Evidence from the Indian Business Cycle” cowritten with Prof. Giorgio Fazio and Dr. Marco Lorusso
India, one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, has a significant informal sector, which is often overlooked in discussions of business cycles. This gap in the literature becomes even more apparent with the emergence of a new form of labour informality in India, where informal labour is increasingly being employed by formal firms. At the time of writing, India suffered from a high volatility of real interest rates and country risk. Building on the motivation, the study explores the impact of country risk, formal and informal productivity, and real interest rate shocks on the informal sector of India. We capture the theoretical analysis for India by extending the Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model of Neumeyer and Perri (2005) to include the informal sector in the model. We further conduct an empirical analysis for the informal sector of India for the dataset of 1996Q2-2016Q4 using the Mixed Frequency Bayesian Structural Autoregressive (MF-BVAR) model, whose identification is based on the results of the DSGE analysis. Our main conclusion is that the presence of informal sectors helps curb the impact of most shocks on the business cycle of India, acting as a safety net. Policymakers often view informality as a detriment to the development of emerging countries, but the ability of the informal sector to absorb shocks highlights its important role in India’s economy. However, we find that informal productivity shocks do induce country-risk shocks in India. This highlights a critical implication of our research: real interest rate fluctuations may stem from disturbances linked to the informal sector. Therefore, effective regulation of the informal sector is important.
Presented at: Royal Economic Society Annual Conference, University of Birmingham, The UK; 23rd Annual European Economics and Finance Society Conference, PRME UK&I Chapter Conference, Queen’s University Belfast, The UK; Durham University Doctoral Conference, Durham University Business School, Durham, The UK; 3rd Essex PhD Conference in Applied Economics, University of Essex, The UK; Tri-University Conference, Newcastle University, The UK; Centre for Macroeconomics PhD Colloquium, Durham University Business School, Durham, The UK; India Networking Event, Newcastle University, The UK; First Doctoral Conference, Newcastle University, The UK; Economics Department Seminar Series, Newcastle University, The UK.
Published Paper
This paper contributes to the literature on finance, production, and Research and Development (R&D) by investigating the unique possibilities of polarized decisions of entrepreneurs to yield “extreme” points rather than an “interior solution.” Financiers provide credits for employing sector-specific skilled and unskilled workers as well as for R&D. With the objective of maximizing returns, financiers’ interest lies in financing R&D only in the skilled sector while the unskilled sector—without innovation—collapses. Such corner solution occurs due to much higher skilled-augmenting technical change guaranteeing maximum prospective return than that in the unskilled. This offers a novel interpretation of a declining share of production workers.
Submitted Papers
“How to Allocate the Right to Sell a Good?—Implications for the Post-Auction Welfare in the Goods Market” cowritten with Prof. Sugata Marjit and Prof. Noritsugu Nakanishi
Literature on auction as an allocating mechanism barely talks about its impact on social welfare. This paper provides three results in this context. In a two-firm example with asymmetric technologies, when the technology gap is sufficiently large, a market sharing mechanism such as a Cournot-Nash allocation will be dominated by the monopoly of the firm with better technology or the ‘superior’ firm. The government can turn to a sealed bid second price auction which will succeed in choosing the superior firm but will provide lower social welfare under certain conditions. We then introduce a novel “Minimum-Price” auction mechanism related to an actual public policy implemented in West Bengal in India, allowing the setup of fair-price medicine shops within the premises of public hospitals. We conclude that such a mechanism dominates both the conventional sealed-bid second-price auction and market-sharing mechanisms for any possible technology gap between competing firms.
Presented at: 23rd Annual European Economics and Finance Society Conference, EDC Paris Business School, France; Symposium of Trade, Development, and History, Henan University Shenzhen Campus, China
“Path Towards Sustainable Economic Growth: How Does It Shape for ASEAN Countries?” cowritten with Prof. Atanu Ghoshray, Dr. Marco Lorusso and Dr. Yichen Zhu; submitted to International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics
This paper presents a comprehensive review of the extensive literature examining the intricate relationships between energy consumption, economic growth, and environmental sustainability, with a particular emphasis on the dynamic transition toward renewable energy. Recognizing the urgent need to reconcile sustainable economic development with climate change mitigation, the study organizes existing empirical research into four thematic areas: (i) the link between economic growth and energy consumption, (ii) the relationship between economic growth and environmental impact, (iii) the interconnected nexus of economic growth, energy use, and environmental degradation, and (iv) the role of research and development in facilitating a transition to cleaner energy sources. The paper highlights the importance of achieving an optimal energy mix that gradually reduces reliance on fossil fuels while maintaining economic growth. Special attention is given to the ASEAN region, where vulnerability to climate change and policy challenges in energy diversification remain significant. The review identifies key methodological and data limitations in the current literature and underscores the critical role of technological innovation, policy incentives, and international cooperation in driving a sustainable energy transition.
“Measuring the Productivity of Museums and Galleries and Heritage” cowritten with Prof. Giorgio Fazio and Mr. Nirat Rujimora submitted as technical report to Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Government of UK
Museums, Galleries, and the Heritage sector (collectively MH) play a vital role in the UK’s cultural, social, and economic landscape, contributing significantly to employment and economic value. However, recent DCMS estimates suggest MH exhibits low productivity compared to other cultural subsectors and the broader UK economy. This report critically reviews the literature and available data to assess whether such estimates accurately capture MH’s true performance. Key findings highlight several limitations of Gross Value Added (GVA)-based productivity measures, particularly their sensitivity to public funding fluctuations, the prevalence of free services, and the inability to account for non-monetary outputs like wellbeing and cultural externalities. The report underscores that many MH organisations, due to their unique business models and reliance on non-market outputs, are poorly represented by standard productivity metrics. It calls for more refined, disaggregated data collection and research to address these biases and better evaluate the sector’s full contribution to the UK economy and society.
Works in Progress (PhD Papers)
“Working Capital and The Real Business Cycle in India”
This paper explores the effects of fundamental shocks that translate into volatile country risk and real interest rate shocks and the role working capital plays in the transmission of these shocks to the business cycle of India. This analysis is crucial, given the high level of country risk in India, the high volatility of real interest rates and the dependence of firms in India on working capital. Firstly, we analyse the DSGE model of Neumeyer and Perrie (2005) for India from 1996Q2 to 2018Q4 and show how the impact of shocks on the business cycle changes with different levels of the working capital parameter. Secondly, we use mixed-frequency Bayesian Vector Autoregression Models (MF-BVAR) from 1996Q2 to 2018Q4 with sign restrictions to validate the model empirically. The identification of the MF-BVAR model is obtained from the analysis of the underlying DSGE model. We find that foreign real interest rate shocks and country risk shocks result in real interest rate shocks which impact the business cycle of India negatively. We further find that country risk shocks can be induced by changes in productivity level in India. The high dependence of country risk on productivity levels amplifies the impact of productivity shocks on the Indian economy. The higher the working capital, the greater the impact of foreign interest rate shocks and country risk shocks on the Indian economy. Working capital only impacts the Indian economy via the interest rate channel. Changes in working capital influence the impact of productivity shocks on the Indian economy, only in the scenario where country risk is dependent on productivity.
Presented at: Conference on Open Economy DSGE Modelling with Applications to Emerging Economies, City, University of London, The UK; Economics Department Seminar Series, Newcastle University, The UK, International Newcastle Economics Research and Development (NERD) Conference, Newcastle University, The UK.
“US-China Real Interest Rates and The Informal Sector of Emerging Economies”
The study attempts to find the differential spillover impact of the US and China’s real interest rate shocks on the informal sector and the general economy of blocks of African, South Asian, and South American emerging countries from 1990 to 2020 using Global Bayesian VAR with sign restrictions. We compare the performance of 16 models with different priors and find Stochastic Search Variable Selection prior, with Stochastic Volatility and no Trend to be the best-fit model for our analysis. We find that the South American economies and their informal output are the most impacted by both the US and China’s real interest rate shocks when compared with emerging economies in Africa and South Asia. China’s real interest rate shocks have more of an impact on South Asian emerging economies than the US real interest rate shocks. Among South Asian countries, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka seem to bear the brunt of the shocks. The distribution of the impact of the shocks on the emerging economies of Africa and South America is more even. US real interest rate shocks impact South American informal output and government expenditure more than China’s real interest rate shocks, while China impacts South America more when it comes to gross fixed capital formation. The effect of foreign real interest rate shocks on informal sectors of emerging countries depends on trade linkages with that country and the nature and structure of the informal economy. Robustness checks, conducted with the second most suitable model as per the tests for Bayesian model comparison, the Normal Gamma Model with Trend and Stochastic Volatility, yield similar results.