Sandip Sukhtankar
Development economist \ potter \ cricket fan \ besotted father
uva.theopenscholar.com/sandip-sukhtankar/
- India now spends ₹2 trillion/year (0.6% of GDP) on cash transfers to 130M+ women—yet we know little about their effects. In a new paper (bit.ly/4mE6EtW), @karthik-econ.bsky.social Paul Niehaus Jeff Weaver & I present findings from the first large-scale RCT of maternal cash transfers in India (1/10)
- The intervention: ₹500/month (~10% of HH consumption) for 2 years to ~1,200 new mothers across 8 Jharkhand districts; given unconditionally, but labeled as support for nutritious food. We tracked food, nutrition, and child development over 3 years. (2/10)
- Food consumption rose significantly: household food spending up >11%; calorie intake up 9% (Y1) and 14% (Y2) for mothers and children; protein and iron intake also improved. Dietary diversity gains persisted 18 months after the transfers ended. (3/10)
-
View full threadThese positive effects contrast with recent U.S. evidence: Noble et al. (2025) found no developmental gains from large 4-year transfers. Context matters—underscoring the importance of testing in relevant settings. @nberpubs WP: nber.org/papers/w32093 10/10
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarLong time (8 yrs!) in the making, but it's here! Our article on gender, policing, & institutional change is out (Open Access) in @apsrjournal.bsky.social! Working on this @amangla.bsky.social & @sandipz.bsky.social was a privilege, adventure, esp in mixed method research. tinyurl.com/yc4f6ste
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarReal Estate Regulatory Authority was introduced in 2016 to bring transparency in the Indian real estate What was its impact on outcomes? We answer this question in our new @jpube.bsky.social paper "Do mandatory disclosures squeeze the lemons?" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/6
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarCongratulations to J-PAL affiliated professor @sandipz.bsky.social and coauthors for winning the APSA-PSA International Partnership Award! Read about their #RCT evaluating the impact of women's help desks in Indian police stations: povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/i...
- *PSA Prizes* 'Policing in #Patriarchy' wins APSA-PSA International Partnership Award 2025. @apsa.bsky.social. Congratulations @amangla.bsky.social @sandipz.bsky.social and @gabikw.bsky.social buff.ly/jm7zMOk
- Reposted by Sandip Sukhtankar*PSA Prizes* 'Policing in #Patriarchy' wins APSA-PSA International Partnership Award 2025. @apsa.bsky.social. Congratulations @amangla.bsky.social @sandipz.bsky.social and @gabikw.bsky.social buff.ly/jm7zMOk
- Our first round of decisions for UVA Econ Phd admissions went out on Fri Feb 28. We will have an Open House on Mon Mar 24, both in person and virtual. We can only host a limited number in person, so only admitted students and those high on the waitlist will receive invites for visiting C'ville. 1/n
- All other waitlisted students are invited to the virtual open house. Invitations for both Open Houses will go out this week, so look out for these in your email soon. 2/n
- We tend to make offers all the way until April 15, and will update waitlist status as best we can once we start hearing back from the first round of admits. At this point we have limited information, so please hold off on waitlist status inquiries at least until after the Open House. n/n
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarTrump’s attack on US institutions, even if fully expected, is dispiriting, discombobulating and dangerous. In this very difficult time, we have to remember one thing: This is not normal, and it should not be normalized.
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarOne last conference announcement for today... Submit your papers to the BREAD Development Economics conference at Princeton, May 2-3! Submission deadline Feb 25. ibread.org/conference/b... #EconSky
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarHere’s a piece I wrote with @rfisman.bsky.social in the NYT, collecting some of our thoughts about what the oligarchic embrace of Trump can do to our economy and our politics. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/o...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarWe spent time thinking carefully about best practices/suggestions for the use of social media in Economics and the report is now out here: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co... #Econsky 1/n
- Report from the AEA Ad Hoc Committee on the Use of Social Media in Economics is out. www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co... @belindaarch.bsky.social @florianederer.bsky.social @sarahjacobson.bsky.social @corinnelow.bsky.social & I were the committee thanks to everyone who answered survey or commented.
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarReport from the AEA Ad Hoc Committee on the Use of Social Media in Economics is out. www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co... @belindaarch.bsky.social @florianederer.bsky.social @sarahjacobson.bsky.social @corinnelow.bsky.social & I were the committee thanks to everyone who answered survey or commented.
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarForthcoming book review in the JEL: "Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance by Karthik Muralidharan" by Jishnu Das. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
- Reposted by Sandip Sukhtankar1/ This very important paper by Tim Conley and Morgan Kelly is now forthcoming. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarPretty striking findings! www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/app/uploads/...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarHow to Promote Equality without Backlash? This is a major challenge, exacerbated by social media. I welcome critique and would love to see further research www.ggd.world/p/how-to-pro...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarAn intervention within schools in Mozambique aimed at reducing gender-based violence mitigated violence by deterring potential perpetrators and fostering a proactive stance among victims, from Amaral, Garcia-Ramos, Gulesci, Ramos, Ore-Quispe, and Sviatschi nber.org/papers/w33203
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarMark Cuban gets it. See my op ed from last year: www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/o...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarI've posted several times about the working paper, but the publication on "AER: Insights" is a good occasion to do it again: immigrants to the US have been less likely to be incarcerated for over 50 years **even without controlling for demographic characteristics.** www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarPostdocs on industrial policy at Columbia University www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarThe Environmental Inequality Lab is hiring 2 new pre-docs to join our team! We do research in environmental economics but those with interests in labor/public/urban/spatial/development economics should def apply. Apply here: tinyurl.com/EIL-pre-doc @AereOrg
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarPlease spread far and wide: we (Johns Hopkins SAIS) are looking for an assistant professor in international macro. Come work with our amazing group of economists (and beyond), in our wonderful new building right at the heart of Washington, DC! apply.interfolio.com/159423
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarMaybe an example of negativity bias - there is a massive literature (deservedly so) on India’s missing women, but very little on the recent normalization of the sex ratio www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...
- Some announcements related to admissions to our PhD program @UVAEcon! Please see full thread below for updated information on application deadlines, application fee waivers, and TOEFL waivers. All information is also available on our updated website, economics.virginia.edu/graduate 1/n
- Our application deadline is now December 15, and we officially require 3 reference letters. You can send in updates (e.g. Fall semester transcripts) up to January 3, but all main elements of the application must be completed by December 15 2/n
- Application fee waivers are available for US and international applicants. US applicants please see: graddiversity.virginia.edu/application-.... Internationals from countries below (big expansion this year) get automatic waivers – just indicate country on application form 3/n
-
View full threadFor all other requirements, information, etc, please carefully go through our website, especially the FAQ page economics.virginia.edu/FAQ-Graduate before emailing us with questions. We get a high volume of enquiries and it is difficult to respond to all n/n
- Application fees should not deter you from applying to our PhD program @UVAEcon! Waivers are available for US and international applicants. US applicants please see: graddiversity.virginia.edu/application-.... Internationals from countries below get automatic waivers!
- Since my co-authors Paul and Karthik are not on this site, it's up to me to point folks to this wonderful piece by Pramit Bhattacharya on the impact of India's workfare program (NREGS) on the rural economy, drawing on our recently published Econometrica article www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/the-...
- Reposted by Sandip Sukhtankar617 of 1700 IZA fellows have signed this letter, including Nobel Prize and Clark Award winners If you are a fellow who loves the network and has not signed, please understand the status quo is not an option if Falk takes over, 1/3 of the fellows are gone The network you value is gone
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarHi Everyone! New job ⚠️ alert for UVA| Batten. We are looking for a *Full* or Associate Professor with specialty in Health Economics. Deadline: December 9, 2023 More information at apply.interfolio.com/135055 Feel free to email me questions and help me spread widely!
- Reposted by Sandip Sukhtankar🆕 Improving the payment infrastructure for India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme raised incomes — mostly through increases in non-programme earnings. Today on VoxDev, Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus & @sandipz.bsky.social outline their research in #India: voxdev.org/topic/public...
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarI have a PhD and consider myself a fairly sophisticated user of technology, but I have failed after multiple attempts to access the academic readiness results that my kids' school district has allegedly placed online. There's got to be a better way.
- We're hiring "bigly" @UVAEcon ! At the senior chair level (any field), and junior level in both micro and macro. So at least 3 (hopefully, possibly more) hires, + our friends across the street @UVABatten hiring too! Please apply: aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarThe World Bank is hiring again this year on the junior market. Both the research group (DECRG) and impact evaluation group (DIME) are hiring, with separate applications: DECRG: www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.... DIME: www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarFor econ JMCs: We're hiring one-year postdocs, aimed at those who accept a faculty position and are able to defer start to Fall 2025. No teaching obligations. (The grad student migration here isn't far along, it seems, but please pass along to JMCs you know.) www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
- Reposted by Sandip SukhtankarPaul Niehaus + Pierre Azoulay are incredibly inspiring mentors, researchers, and individuals -- I couldn't recommend this J-PAL/MIT Sloan post-doc in the economics of innovation / metascience more highly as an invaluable opportunity to work with and learn from them. aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
- Ok i clearly don't know how to thread or link or anything on this site... oh well...
- Lots of caveats: these are all my opinions, I am just starting out, YMMV on submissions, etc. But I’m very much hoping that many of you will choose to look beyond traditional economics outlets and send your excellent papers to Science n/n
- If I were more generous/not already overwhelmed, I would offer to give advice on suitability for individual papers. However, it is easy to submit – there is no fee, and the process is fast! So instead of agonizing over whether you should, just go ahead and send it in 10/n
- On “how”: Science will let you submit your paper written in economics style. And your reviewers will be economists expecting high technical standards. However, it might be worth writing the introduction to highlight the quality and importance to non-economists too 9/n
- So ask yourself: Is it an “important” paper that will have an impact not just on research but beyond? Will it interest economists as well as non-economists? Can the results be clearly explained without relying on too much jargon? 8/n
- Importantly, though, they will often consult other editors (possibly even farther from the economics field) at Science before they make these decisions. This has a bearing on what types of papers you should submit. 7/n
- The professional editors make all actual decisions on the papers – whether to send to BoRE, whether to send to review after BoRE advice, whether to proceed to R&R based on reviewer comments, and whether to accept for publication 6/n
- [For example, the excellent new social science editor Ekeoma Uzogara is a psychologist.] So they rely on the BoRE for advice, mainly on whether to send papers out to review and to find reviewers. 5/n
- Science has professional editors – i.e. their full-time job is at Science, not at a university. They are smart people with PhDs, who are very good at their jobs in identifying and publishing important and high-quality research, but may not necessarily be experts in *your* field 4/n
- Before answering the other questions, it is important to understand the editorial process at Science, which is a bit different than the process at most economics journals (at least based on my experience at JPUBE and conversations with other editors) 3/n
- Answering “why” is easy: your paper will get more eyeballs – literally orders of magnitude more – if it is published in Science than in even the very top economics journals. And the process is much faster than most economics journals, so you won’t lose much time 2/n
- Some news: I have joined the Board of Reviewing Editors (BoRE) at Science. Part of the remit is to encourage more high-quality economics submissions. So here’s a long-ish thread on why, what, and how you should submit to Science, as well as some details on the editorial process 1/n
