Mani, Subha
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Publication Path Dependence in Disability(2020-11-04) Agarwal, Neha; Kohler, Hans-Peter; Mani, SubhaThe average prevalence of disability in most African countries is 10% but for many it exceeds the global disability prevalence rate of 15%. The extent to which this disability capturing functional and activity limitations results in permanent job loss, lowered lifetime income, and assets, in part, depends upon the extent to which the onset of limitations becomes permanent. In this paper we use five rounds of longitudinal data from rural Malawi, a low income African country with high prevalence of disability, to examine path dependence in activity limitations. We estimate a dynamic linear panel data model where the coefficient on the one-period lagged health outcome captures path dependence in limitations. Our preferred Arellano-Bover estimates show that males experience persistence in both the incidence and intensity of severe limitations but are able to recover from all other limitations, whereas, females exhibit no significant persistence on any type of limitations. Our findings have important policy implications for computing the long-term costs associated with onsets of activity limitations as these costs can be moderated by the recovery exhibited in these limitations.Publication Learning and Earning: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in India(2014-02-27) Maitra, Pushkar; Mani, SubhaThis paper estimates the short-and-medium-run effects of participating in a subsidized vocational training program aimed at improving labor market outcomes of women residing in low-income households in a developing country. We combine pre-intervention data with two rounds of post-intervention data from a field experiment to quantify the short-and-medium-run effects of the program. In the short-run, we find that program participants are significantly more likely to be employed, work additional hours, and earn more. These short-run impact estimates are all sustained in the medium-run. We also identify credit constraints, local access, and lack of proper child care support as important barriers to program participation and completion. We are able to rule out two alternative mechanisms - signalling and change in behavior that can drive these findings. Finally, a simple cost-benefit analysis suggests that the program is highly cost effective.Publication Gender Gaps in Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills: Roles of SES and Gender Attitudes(2021-01-01) Hervé, Justine; Mani, Subha; Behrman, Jere R.; Nandi, Arindam; Lamkang, Anjana Sankhil; Laxminarayan, RamananGender gaps in skills exist around the world but differ remarkably among the high and low-and-middle income countries. This paper uses a unique data set with more than 20,000 adolescents in rural India to examine whether socioeconomic status and gender attitudes predict gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills. We find steep socioeconomic and attitude gradients in both cognitive and noncognitive skills, with bigger effect sizes for the socioeconomic status (SES) gradients. Our results suggest that a sizable improvement in gender attitudes would yield important gains for females, but substantial gains would come only from large improvements in household socioeconomic status. Overall, the household socioeconomic and cultural environment is significantly associated with the gender gaps in both cognitive and noncognitive skills.