Indian Statistical Institute, India, and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author
Current position
Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
Research interest
Development economics, political economy
Past positions
Professor, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, India, 2010–2012; Professor, Durham University, UK, 2009–2010; Associate Professor and Reader, University of Nottingham, UK, 2006–2008
Qualifications
PhD Economics, University of California, Riverside, 1997
Selected publications
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“Can Extremism Reduce Conflict?” Economics Letters 215 (2022): 110482 (with D. Bakshi).
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“Touch Thee Not: Group Conflict, Caste Power, and Untouchability in Rural India.” Journal of Comparative Economics 49:2 (2021): 442–466 (with S. Pal).
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“Identity Conflict with Cross-Border Spillovers” Defence and Peace Economics 3:7 (2020): 786–809 (with D. Bakshi).
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“Between-Group Contests over Group-Specific Public Goods with Within-Group Fragmentation.” Public Choice 174: 3–4 (2018): 315-334 (with R. Guha Neogi).
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"A Model of Dynamic Conflict in Ethnocracies." Defence and Peace Economics 29:2 (2018): 147–170 (with D. Bakshi).
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The labor market in India since the 1990s Updated
Despite higher output per worker and moderate unemployment, wages and job quality have not improved proportionately
Indraneel DasguptaSaibal Kar, October 2025The Indian economy entered an ongoing process of trade liberalization, domestic deregulation, and privatization of public sector units in 1991. Since then, per capita output has increased significantly, while the overall unemployment rate has remained moderate. However, labor force participation rates fell sharply, though recovering for women since 2020. Youth unemployment remains high, an overwhelming proportion of the labor force continues to work in the informal sector, labor movement out of agriculture is slow, and there is little evidence of a sustained rise in wages for either unskilled rural or factory workers.MoreLess