CAGE Working Papers December 2025 and January 2026

787 Caste in StoneLink opens in a new window

Authors: Karla Hoff and Priyanka Pandey

Theme: Designing and Building Institutions

Summary: This paper applies the economics of identity to caste in India, outlining the system’s historical roots and examining how caste identities shape behavior and aggregate outcomes. Drawing on experimental and empirical evidence, it shows that caste operates through coordination failures, stereotype threat, limited solidarity, marriage markets, empathy, and backlash to affirmative action, constraining access to public services. Policy interventions that reduce social distance—such as fostering collaboration across castes—lower teacher absenteeism and discrimination, highlighting identity-based tools beyond standard economic policy.

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786 Postpartum Depression and the Motherhood PenaltyLink opens in a new window

Authors: Sonia Bhalotra, N. Meltem Daysal, Louis Fréget, Jonas Cuzulan Hirani, Priyama Majumdar, Mircea Trandafir, Miriam Wüst, Tom Zohar

Theme: Gender, Health and Wellbeing

Summary: This paper examines how postpartum mental health shocks affect women’s labor market outcomes using Danish administrative data linked to validated postpartum depression screenings. Event-study estimates show no pre-birth differences but large and persistent post-birth employment gaps for affected mothers. Health-care utilization confirms these gaps stem from acute mental health shocks rather than prior trends. The penalties are concentrated among less educated women and those in less family-friendly jobs, identifying postpartum depression as an important and unequal driver of the motherhood penalty.

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785 The Long Run Economic Effects of Medical Innovation and the Role of OpportunitiesLink opens in a new window

Authors: Sonia Bhalotra, Damian Clarke, Atheendar Venkataramani

Theme: Gender, Health and Wellbeing

Summary: This paper studies the long-run impacts of early childhood pneumonia by exploiting the introduction of antibiotics in 1937. Using U.S. census data, it finds substantial gains in education, employment, earnings, and disability outcomes. The benefits exhibit strong heterogeneity by race and gender: Black men experience smaller schooling gains but larger labor market gains than white men. Outcomes are markedly weaker for individuals born in more discriminatory Jim Crow states, underscoring how systemic barriers constrained returns to early-life health improvements.

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784 Environmental Permits, Regulatory Burden, and Firm OutcomesLink opens in a new window

Authors: Namrata Kala, Muhammad Haseeb, and James Fenske

Theme: Responsive Public Policy

Summary: This paper examines how regulatory burden in environmental permitting affects firm behavior using novel data on all permit applications across five Indian states. Exploiting a natural experiment, difference-in-differences estimates show that deregulation increases firm entry, particularly among smaller firms that are often missed in standard datasets. Using full permit texts, the study constructs new measures of regulatory stringency and shows that reduced regulation leads to fewer and less stringent permit conditions, highlighting how regulatory design shapes market entry and firm dynamics.

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