Gautam Rao

Associate Professor of Economics, Harvard University


Bio

Contact

Office Hours

Publications

Working Papers

Work in Progress

From Another Life

Personal

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Bio

I am an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley.

My research brings insights from psychology to bear on topics in economics, particularly topics relevant to developing countries. My current research agenda is centered on the economics of mental health in developing countries. Past projects include studying how improving sleep affects the economic outcomes of workers in India, how the endowment effect influences consumer demand for collateralized loans in Kenya, how research findings affect the beliefs and policy choices of mayors in Brazil, and how mixing rich and poor students in schools in India affects social preferences and behaviors.

Together with Frank Schilbach and Heather Schofield, I help run the Behavioral Development Lab in India. I am a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and a faculty affiliate at the The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL). From 2018 to 2020, I served as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Political Economy.

Curriculum Vitae (Updated March 2023)

Research Statement


Contact

Email: grao@fas.harvard.edu
Phone: +1-734-846-7754
Address:
Department of Economics
Littauer Center M-30, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
U.S.A.

Teaching (Spring 2021)
Econ 2338: Behavioral Development Economics
Econ 980: Behavioral Economics of Poverty and Development (junior seminar)

Information for (potential) advisees


Office Hours

To sign up for office hours with me, use this link: https://calendly.com/raogautam

Office Hours are restricted to my current PhD or MBA students or research advisees. If you don’t fit that description, please email me for permission to sign up.


Publications

The Importance of Being Marginal: Gender Differences in Generosity

(with Stefano DellaVigna, John List and Ulrike Malmendier)

American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, May 2013

Abstract (click to expand)

Online Appendix

Voting to Tell Others

(with Stefano DellaVigna, John List and Ulrike Malmendier)

Review of Economic Studies, January 2017

Abstract (click to expand)

Online Appendix

Data and Code

Status Goods: Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards

(with Leonardo Bursztyn, Bruno Ferman, Stefano Fiorin and Martin Kanz)

Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2018

Abstract (click to expand)

Online Appendix

Data and Code

Pre-Registration

Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Diversity, Discrimination and Generosity in Delhi Schools

American Economic Review, March 2019

Abstract (click to expand)

Online Appendix

Behavioral Development Economics

(with Michael Kremer and Frank Schilbach)

Handbook of Behavioral Economics, Volume 2, 2019

Slides (pdf)

Slides (tex and bib files)

Slides (ppt)

Poverty, Depression and Anxiety: Causal Evidence and Mechanisms

(with Matthew Ridley, Frank Schilbach and Vikram Patel)

Science, December 2020

Abstract (click to expand)

How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities

(with Jonas Hjort, Diana Moreira, and Juan Francisco Santini)

American Economic Review, May 2021

Abstract (click to expand)

The Economic Consequences of Increasing Sleep Among the Urban Poor

(with Pedro Bessone, Frank Schilbach, Heather Schofield and Mattie Toma)

Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2021

Abstract (click to expand)

Pre-Registration

Informing Sleep Policy through Field Experiments

(with Susan Redline, Frank Schilbach, Heather Schofield and Frank Schilbach)

This is a peer-reviewed policy forum article in Science

Science, October 2021

Abstract (click to expand)

Published Version

Self-Control and Demand for Preventive Health: Evidence from Hypertension in India

(with Liang Bai, Benjamin Handel and Ted Miguel)

Review of Economics and Statistics, Dec 2021

Abstract (click to expand)

Pre-Registration: Including theoretical model and pre-analysis plan

Estimating Social Preferences and Gift Exchange at Work

(with Stefano DellaVigna, John List and Ulrike Malmendier)

Current Version: August 2021

American Economic Review, March 2022

Abstract (click to expand)

Pre-Registration: This includes a full pre-registration of the structural model


Working Papers

Not Learning from Others

(with John Conlon, Malavika Mani, Matthew Ridley and Frank Schilbach)

Current Version: October 2022

Revised and Resubmitted, Econometrica

Abstract (click to expand)

Pre-Registration

The Endowment Effect and Collateralized Loans

(with Kevin Carney, Michael Kremer and Xinyue Lin)

Current Version: May 2022

Revise and Resubmit, Econometrica

Abstract (click to expand)

Learning in the Household

(with John Conlon, Malavika Mani, Matthew Ridley and Frank Schilbach)

New Version: October 2022

Abstract (click to expand)

Pre-Registration

The Long-Run Effects of Psychotherapy on Depression, Beliefs, and Economic Outcomes

(with Bhargav Bhat, Jon de Quidt, Johannes Haushofer, Vikram Patel, Frank Schilbach and Pierre-Luc Vautrey)

Current Version: April 2022

Abstract (click to expand)


Work in Progress

The Long-Run Impacts of Corporal Punishment in Schools

(with Maria Petrova and Brian Wheaton)


From Another Life

Interactions between Organizations and Networks in Common-Pool Resource Governance, with Arun Agrawal, Dan Brown, Rick Riolo and Derek Robinson, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 25, January 2013, Pages 138–146

Preservation or degradation? Communal management and ecological change in a southeast Michigan forest, with Fred Nelson, Elisa Collins, Alain Frechette, Cynthia Koenig, Mosé Jones-Yellin, Brihannala Morgan, Gita Ramsay, and Claudia Rodriguez, Biodiversity and Conservation, October 2008, Volume 17, Issue 11, pp 2757-2772


Personal

Current reason I’m behind on everything

Fearless Sidekick - Kirby passed in Aug 2016

Website: I am grateful to Xinyue Lin for building my website. Please feel welcome to use and re-purpose the code for the website, which you can find at my GitHub repository.