Abhay Gupta > Research Interests & Work in Progress
My research fields of interest are :
- Productivity Analysis and Technological Change
- Indian Economy
- Services Innovation & Measurement
- Science & Technology Policy
- Customized Development Strategies
- Cost-Benefit Analysis of Infrastructure and R&D Investments
I am also interested in finding applications of advance computational concepts to economics. I am also working on many other concepts and projects. Please see details of some intiatives
Working Papers
Following are some of the papers I am currently working on:
- Skills Distribution, Migration and Wage Differences in Pure Service-Exchange Economy
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Services Exchange, Skills Migration Paper - Abstract:
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This paper considers an economy with skilled agents exchanging their services. Using Cobb-Douglas preferences, the paper shows that there exists an optimal (average welfare maximizing) skills' distribution. This optimal distribution is independent of productivity and is welfare equalizing.
If the skill-distribution is not optimal, then some agents are better-off than others. In such a scenario, migration in some sectors is average-welfare improving while inviting skilled-agents in others reduces average welfare.
"Productivity increase of worse-off sector" without changing the overall skills' composition of economy increases the wage gap.
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- Optimal Allocation of Physical and Skills Capital in Services Production
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Production vs Training Allocation Paper - Abstract:
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”Software/ Skills” capital differs from usual physical capital (or hardware) in the sense that it is non-rival and can be replicated at a cost (e.g. patent fee or training costs). A basic model of production is developed which involves production sector and training or replication sector (which produces skills). Using a 2 period production model, the paper finds that in sectors where the objective is output maximization (e.g. government services or health care) - There exists an optimal ratio of investment in physical capital and investment in skills-capital depending on the state of technology and already existing stocks.
In a capital-rich economy, a higher proportion of skills is allocated to production sector and a higher proportion of investment is allocated to training sector compared to capital-scarce economy. During high-investment periods, a higher share of investment goes to physical capital while a lower share of skills goes into production sector (compared to low-investment period). Initial stock of skills, does not have any affect on these allocation-ratios.
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- Inequality: An explanation using State-Utility and Information Asymmetry
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Inequality State Utility Explanation - Abstract:
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There is a difference between concepts of flow and state utility. Each of these state variables has
a technology evolution path. Government plays a role in the economy by investing to change the
technical state of the economy. These concepts can be used to provide simple explanation of
various complex economic issues.
A model with information gap or heterogeneous agents can explain the inequalities. In a country
two regions may experience different results of a development policy, if the benefits of it are
unequally publicized or if there are informational frictions. Immigrants may have different
preferences (as compared to citizens) and hence may be at disadvantage in an economy
(technology). Government can increase the information access to reduce these inequalities.
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- Comparing and contrasting growth of India with China
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India China Comparison Paper - Abstract:
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The aim of this paper is to find the differences in growth patterns between these two countries which followed two very different models and economic policies. Chinese economy has grown at much faster rate than Indian, but India seems to be catching up. The average estimated productivity growth rate of China (5.9%) is more than double of Indian productivity growth rate average (2.4%). The difference between same-deflator average growth rates of India and China reduces significantly (by as much as 70%) for manufacturing sector. Growth rate estimates point towards reforms in India jump-starting the TFP growth rather than the factor accumulation growth. After mid 90s, Indian TFP growth rate has started to increase while Chinese rate has remained constant. While increased growth of spending is accompanied by increase the growth rate of productivity in China, in India the correlation is negative. For India, service sector growth trend is more strongly correlated with government spending and infrastructure.
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These are also available from my author page at IDEAS and SSRN
Also see my Publications and Completed Papers and detailed CV
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