Sudipta Ghosh
Education
The University of British Columbia, PhD Economics, 2019 – 2025 (expected).
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, MSc Economics, 2012-2014
University of Calcutta, Presidency College, BSc Economics (Honours), 2009-2012
About
Research areas: Macroeconomics, International Trade, Labor Economics
My name is Sudipta and I am a PhD Candidate in Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia. I am on the 2024/25 job market and expect to graduate in 2025.
I have extensive experience in both empirical and quantitative economic research. My research interests includes Macroeconomics, International Trade and Labor Economics with a particular focus on firm dynamics.
I will be available for interviews during the CEEE, EJME, and AEA/ASSA virtual meetings.
Research
Working Paper:
Re-measuring Welfare Gains from Trade with Endogenous Production Network (Job Market Paper)
Abstract: In this paper, I develop a theoretical model of firm-to-firm trade where customer-suppler linkages respond to trade shocks. Firms connect domestically and abroad. New linkages formation depends on both trade costs and network forming costs. I show that under symmetric equilibrium, trade liberalization can transform the network distribution, thus affecting the firm level and aggregate productivity in the economy. The model suggests revised observable sufficient statistics to measure welfare gains in a range of quantitative trade models with endogenous production networks. Calibrating the model to trade between the US and the rest of the world, I find additional margins of welfare gains from reduced trade costs attributable to endogenously changing firm linkages. Moving to autarky from free trade equilibrium in 2014, I find endogenous network changes contribute to more than one-third of the welfare loss.
Rural-Urban Disparities in India in the Time of Growth, with V. Hnatkovska, A. Lahiri (Pre-doc Publications)
Abstract: The period since the 1990s has seen an aggregate growth takeoff in India during which the rural agricultural sector has gradually ceded space in both employment and output share to non-agricultural sectors. How have agriculture-dependent rural workers and households fared during this episode relative to their urban counterparts? Using household-level survey data, we find that rural–urban education gaps have declined significantly between 1983 and 2012. Moreover, occupation choices in the two sectors have become more aligned with an expansion of non-farm occupations in rural India. Consumption gaps between rural and urban households also declined between 1983 and 2005 for the bottom 45th percentile of the distribution. The period since 2005 has, however, witnessed a rise in consumption gaps. Using state-level data, we show that per capita income levels and growth rates are positive correlates of rural–urban consumption gaps, while the education gap is a negative correlate.
Rural-Urban Disparities in India in the Time of Growth, with V. Hnatkovska, A. Lahiri (Pre-doc Publications)
Abstract: How much capital should the central bank of a country hold? There is no consensus on this matter. We review the balance sheets of 45 central banks from around the world to describe actual practices. The principal findings are: (a) the average capital-asset ratio of central banks globally (net of revaluation capital which is purely an accounting entry) is 6.56 percent while the number in emerging economies is 6.96 percent; and (b) our Value-at-Risk estimates for the RBI excluding exchange rate risk indicate that the current level of the core capital of the RBI as mandated by the Jalan committee may be too low. We also discuss the policy moral hazards associated with mandating RBI equity payouts to the government.
Work in progress:
Cross‑Country Heterogeneity in Labor Outsourcing, with Gorkem Bostanci
Productivity, Size and Market Competition, with Amartya Lahiri and Swapnika Rachapali
Heterogeneous Firm Sorting and Monopsony Power, with Xiaojun Guan and Jan Rosa
Awards
- Best Summer Research paper Award, VSE (UBC) 2022
- President’s Academic Excellence Award, UBC 2020‑Present
- Center for Innovative Data Research Grant, with Gorkem Bostanci, UBC 2024
- International Student Award, UBC 2019‑Present
- Doctoral Fellowship, VSE, UBC 2019‑2024
- Best Employee Award & Best Innovation Award, Crisil Ltd 2016
Teaching
- Econ 302, Intermediate Macroeconomics (BA), 2020,2021,2023
- Econ 323, Quantitative Economic Modeling and Data Science, (BA), 2021
- Econ 502, Macroeconomics (MA), 2023, 2024
- ECON 356, Introduction to International Finance (BA), 2021
- Econ 345, Money and Banking (BA), 2021, 2022
- Econ 350, Public Finance Policy Topics (BA), 2023
- BABS 502, Descriptive and Predictive Business (MBA), 2021