Highlights

Does maternal migration affect spousal labour market decisions? Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), Singapore Economic Review, forthcoming. Download; Working Paper

We examine what happens to Sri Lankan men’s labour market outcomes when their wives emigrate to work and leave the husbands and their children at home in Sri Lanka—the effects of maternal migration on the husbands’ labour market decisions. We use nationally representative cross-sectional data and historical migration rates at the community level as an instrument for maternal migration in two-stage least-square estimations. We find maternal migration reduces the husbands’ labour supply. The husbands are more likely to exit the labour market and become unemployed; the employed are less likely to moonlight and have lower wages; those that exit the labour market are more likely to become stay-at-home dads. Using a second instrument, an indicator of whether a community has foreign-employment agencies, we also confirm our main results. Our findings indicate that policies that aim to promote female migration as an exogenous income source may fall short if they do not address the effects of the husbands’ labour market decisions.

Working papers

Does social health insurance help owners of micro- and small firms cope with family hardships? Evidence from Indonesia (with Siew Yee Lau and Yoong Hon Lee), MPRA Paper No. 95295, 2019. Download;
 
The effects of mediums of instruction on educational- and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Malaysia (with Kian Ong), MPRA Paper No. 87560, 2018. Download;
 
Evaluating efficiency gains from tenancy reform targeting a heterogeneous group of sharecroppers: Evidence from India (with Takashi Kurosaki and Saumik Paul), Center for Economic Institutions Working Paper Series No. 2016-10, 2016. Download;
 
Investors are unwilling to pay for corporate social responsibility activities: Evidence from India’s Companies Act 2013 (with Saumik Paul), MPRA Paper No. 61360, 2015. Download;
 
Growth volatility and trade: Evidence from the 1967-1975 closure of the Suez Canal, MPRA Paper No. 39040, 2012. Download;

Journal articles

Does maternal migration affect spousal labour market decisions? Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), Singapore Economic Review, forthcoming. Download; Working Paper;  
 
The effects of social health insurance on women’s healthcare Use: Evidence from Indonesia (with Shanika Samarakoon), Singapore Economic Review, forthcoming. Download; Working Paper;  
 
Does education increase political participation? Evidence from Indonesia, Education Economics, 27(6), 645-657, 2019. Download; Working Paper
 
The effects of bigger rewards in individual tournaments on efforts and risk taking: Evidence from chess (with Lee Yoong Hon and Kung Ming Tiong), Oxford Economic Papers, 71(4), 979–995, 2019. Download; Working Paper
 
Does education improve health? Evidence from Indonesia, Journal of Development Studies, 53(9), 1358-1375, 2017. Download; Working Paper
 
Do Islamic banks shift from mark-up to equity financing when their contracting environments are improved? (with Nafis Alam), Applied Economics Letters, 24(8), 545-548, 2017. Download; Working Paper
 
What happen to children’s education when their parents emigrate? Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), International Journal of Educational Development, 46, 94-102, 2016. Download; Working Paper
 
Does the three-point rule make soccer more exciting? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design (with Lee Yoong Hon), Journal of Sports Economics, 17(4), 377-395, 2016. Download (open access); Working Paper
 
Children and maternal migration: Evidence from exogenous variations in family size (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), Applied Economics Letters, 22(15), 1184-1187, 2015. Download; Working Paper
 
The effects of the intensity, timing, and persistence of personal history of mobility on support for redistribution (with Andrew Dabalen and Saumik Paul), Economics of Transition, 23(3), 565-595, 2015. Download; Working Paper
 
Does education empower women? Evidence from Indonesia (with Shanika Samarakoon), World Development, 66, 428-442, 2015. Download (open access); Working Paper
 
Do children spend too much time in schools? Evidence from a longer school year in Indonesia, Economics of Education Review, 41, 89-104, 2014. Download (open access); Working Paper
 
Family hardship and the growth of micro and small firms in Indonesia, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 50(1), 53-73, 2014. Download (open access); Working Paper
 
Bank ownership and efficiency in the aftermath of financial crises: Evidence from Indonesia (with Yohanes E. Riyanto), Review of Development Economics, 18(1), 93-106, 2014. Download (open access); Working Paper
 
Trade liberalization, FTAs and the value of firms: Stock market evidence from Singapore (with Shandre M. Thangavelu), Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 22(6), 924-941, 2013. Download; Working Paper
 
The effect of publishing hospital charges on healthcare costs: Evidence from Singapore, Empirical Economics Letters, 12(5), 521-526, 2013. Download; Working Paper
 
The impact of the strategic sale of restructured banks: Evidence from Indonesia (with Yohanes E. Riyanto), World Development, 40(3), 446–457, 2012. Download; Working Paper
 
Cross-border M&A inflows and quality of country governance: Developing vs. developed countries (with Jung Hur and Yohanes E. Riyanto), Pacific Economic Review, 16(3), 638–655, 2011. Download; Working Paper
 
Do banks respond to capital requirements? Evidence from Indonesia (with Yohanes E. Riyanto), Applied Financial Economics, 21(9), 651-663, 2011. Download; Working Paper

Books

Attitudes toward land acquisition in Indonesia (with Naoyuki Yoshino and Yoko Oishi). In: Yoshino, N. and Paul, S., eds., Land acquisition in Asia: towards a sustainable policy framework. Palgrave Macmillan, 57-79, 2019. The chapter; Website;
 
Trade liberalization, productivity growth, and structural transformation: A synthetic control approach (with Cesar Blanco and Saumik Paul). In: Paul, S., ed., Kuznets beyond Kuznets: Structural transformation and income inequality in the era of globalization in Asia. Asian Development Bank Institute, 76-92, 2018. The chapter; Website;
 
Electronics industry in Malaysia (with Shandre M. Thangavelu). In: Findlay, C., ed., ASEAN and regional free trade agreements. Routledge, 256-296, 2015. Amazon; Website;
 
Exchange rate, monetary and financial issues and policies in Asia (with Ramkishen S. Rajan and Shandre M. Thangavelu), World Scientific, 2008. Google Book; Amazon; Website;

Conference papers

Evaluating efficiency gains from tenancy reform targeting a aeterogeneous group of sharecroppers: Evidence from India (with Takashi Kurosaki and Saumik Paul, the 12th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, 2016, New Delhi.

 

The effects of English as a medium of instruction on education and earnings (with Kian Ong), Indonesian Regional Science Association (IRSA) Insitute 2016, Malang; the 15th International Convention of the East Asian Economic Association, 2016, Bandung.

 

Does education increase political participation? Evidence from Indonesia, Indonesian Regional Science Association (IRSA) Insitute 2015, Denpasar.

 

Social health insurance improves women’s healthcare use: Evidence from Indonesia (with Shanika Samarakoon), 2015 Australian Conference of Economists, Brisbane.

 

Married men with children may stop working when their wives emigrate to work: Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), CSAE Conference 2015: Economic Development in Africa, Oxford.

 

Does education empower women? Evidence from Indonesia (with Shanika Samarakoon), Econometric Society Australasian and Australian Conference of Economists Meeting 2014, Hobart.

 

Did the three-point rule make soccer more exciting? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design (with Lee Yoong Hon), Singapore Economic Review Conference 2013, Singapore.

 

The effects of education on health: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design, The 42nd Australian Conference of Economists, 2013, Perth.

 

The impact of parental emigration on the education of children left behind: Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran Sarma), Migration: Global Development, New Frontiers 2013, London.

 

The effects of longer school year on education and earnings: a regression discontinuity design, The 2012 Asia Meeting of the Econometric Society, New Delhi.

 

The effects of trade liberalization on production networks (with Michael M.C. Yap), Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre Conference: Trade, Investment and Production Networks in Asia 2012, Kuala Lumpur.

 

Children as determinants of international migration, a gender perspective: Evidence from Sri Lanka (with Vengadeshvaran J. Sarma), Singapore Economic Review Conference 2011, Singapore.

 

Trade openness and growth volatility, Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre Conference: Globalisation Trends and Cycles: The Asian Experience 2011, Kuala Lumpur; Econometric Society Australasian Meeting 2011, Adelaide.

 

The impact of remittances on human capital development of children in Indonesian households (with Shandre M. Thangavelu), Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre Conference: Globalisation Trends and Cycles: The Asian Experience 2011, Kuala Lumpur.

 

The effects of trade liberalization on informality: Evidence from Indonesia, GEP Workshop on Trade Policies and Industrialisation 2010, Kuala Lumpur.

 

The growth of small firms and internal finance: Evidence from a natural experiment, Global Conference on SME and Entrepreneurship 2010, Kuala Lumpur.

 

Road to prosperity: The effect of transportation infrastructure on inter-village trade, Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre Conference: Trade Costs, Infrastructure and Trade Development in Asia 2010, Kuala Lumpur; Australian Conference of Economists 2010, Sydney.

 

Trade liberalization and the economy: Stock market evidence from Singapore (with Shandre M. Thangavelu), Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre Conference: Globalisation, Development and Growth in Asia 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore Economic Review Conference 2009, Singapore.

 

The effect of remittances on households’ consumption- and saving patterns: Evidence from Indonesia (with Shandre M. Thangavelu), Claremont-Bologna-SCAPE International Policy Forum 2007, Singapore.

 

Do banks respond to capital requirements? Evidence from Indonesia (with Yohanes E. Riyanto), Singapore Economic Review Conference 2007, Singapore.

 

The effect of strategic sale of banks: Evidence from Indonesia (with Yohanes E. Riyanto), Australasian Meeting of the Econometric Society 2007, Brisbane.

 

Cross-border M&A inflows and the quality of institutions: Developing- vs. developed countries (with Jung Hur and Yohanes E. Riyanto), Australian Conference of Economists 2005, Melbourne.