"The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes." — Ibn Sina

Research Projects

Working Papers:

• Demand for Crop Insurance: Evidence from Pakistan
  with Patrick Baylis (UBC) and Guglielmo Zappala (UCB)
  Status: Draft available upon request
  Funding: International Growth Centre, CIDER Small Grants
  Presented at: VSE Dev/PE Lunch (2025)
  
  

• Differentiated Responses to Shocks: Evidence from Agricultural Households
  Status: Draft available upon request
  Presented at: VSE Dev/PE Lunch (2024)
  
  

• Clean Air in the Classroom: Environmental Inputs and Human Capital Formation
  with Nitin K. Bharti (NYUAD), David S. Blakeslee (NYUAD), Samreen Malik (NYUAD), and Torsten F. Walter (NYUAD)
  Abstract:  Poor air quality is a growing concern worldwide due to its adverse effects on health and cognitive performance. In many developing nations, this issue has reached crisis levels, with entire regions forced to suspend education and economic activities during periods of hazardous air pollution. Young children are especially vulnerable to early exposure, which can lead to severe, lifelong health impacts (Prunicki et al., 2021). While large-scale efforts to improve outdoor air quality are complex and costly, addressing indoor air pollution (IAP) presents a more immediate, cost-effective intervention. However, evidence on the effectiveness of IAP improvements remains limited. To fill this gap, we are conducting a randomized field experiment within a private school network in Lahore—one of the most polluted cities in the world. By providing air purifiers and air quality monitors to a randomly selected subset of schools, we aim to evaluate the effects of enhanced IAP on students' health, cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes while tracking how these impacts evolve over time with cumulative exposure.
  Status:  Draft available upon request | AEA Registry
  Funding: International Growth Centre
  Presented at: VSE Empirical Lunch (2025)
  
  

Selected Work in Progress:

• Trading Against the Storm
  Status: Data collection ongoing
  Funding: Structural Transformation and Economic Growth (STEG), CIDER Small Grants, Centre for Effective Global Action (CEGA)
  
  

Last Updated: February 1, 2025