Centre for Development Economics
Department of Economics
Delhi School of Economics
ANNOUNCE A SEMINAR
by
Sounak Thakur
(IIM Calcutta)
Joint with
Bilal Ahmad Bhat
(Thursday, August 7, 2025, at TBA )
Venue: Amex Room
Abstract:-
Barriers to migration lead to intersectoral misallocation of labor in developing countries. We provide novel evidence that parental concerns about daughters being potential victims of sexual crimes act as a barrier to temporary migration for adult males. Families with firstborn daughters end up having more daughters, and are 20% less likely to have an out-migrant. We provide evidence that this is driven by the imperative to have male members around to protect daughters. Our results suggest that improved law and order and more security for women may improve efficiency of intersectoral allocation, and increase GDP.