About
I am Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Delhi. I joined IIT Delhi in 2012, after working as Associate Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
My work is primarily empirical and policy-oriented. A recurring theme in my research is how institutions, social structures, and public policies shape opportunities, welfare, and economic mobility.
Education
- Ph.D. Economics, University of British Columbia, 2011
- M.Phil. Economics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, 2004
- M.S. Quantitative Economics, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, 2000
- B.Sc. (Hons) Economics, University of Calcutta, 1998
Research
My research lies in applied econometrics, labour economics, and empirical development economics. Recent and ongoing work also connects economics with data science, including machine learning, natural language processing, spatial data analysis, and remote sensing.
Inequality and mobility
Caste, occupational mobility, social stratification, skill mismatch, and long-run changes in economic opportunity.
Education and social structure
School quality, village dominance, local social composition, and learning gaps in rural India.
Labour markets
Female labour force participation, young graduates, job creation and destruction, and labour market transitions.
Public policy and welfare
Social pensions, targeting, maternal and child health, road safety, and public service delivery.
Economics and data science
Satellite imagery, machine learning, NLP, monetary policy communication, and large-scale empirical data systems.
Current directions
Learning outcomes, technical education, TVET, platform work, AI and skill formation, and computational economics.
Selected Publications
- Bailwal, N., & Paul, S. B. (2025). Does population composition of a village influence public school quality? Evidence from rural India. Oxford Development Studies, 53(3), 205–221. DOI
- Kumar, P., Paul, S. B., & Tiwari, G. (2025). Segment length optimization for crash frequency modelling: Evaluating power spectral segment length in safety performance assessment. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 219. DOI
- Bailwal, N., & Paul, S. B. (2024). Village dominance and learning gaps in rural India. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 219, 52–73. DOI
- Banerjee, S., Daoud, A., Dubhashi, D., Johansson, F., Jordán, F., Paul, S. B., & Sharma, M. (2023). Using satellite images and deep learning to measure health and living standards in India. Social Indicators Research, 167, 475–505. DOI
- Asri, V., Michaelowa, K., Panda, S., & Paul, S. B. (2022). The pursuit of simplicity: Can simplifying eligibility criteria improve social pension targeting? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 200, 820–846. DOI
- Gupta, A., James, K., Paul, S., & Paul, S. B. (2022). Maternal education, health care system and child health: Evidence from India. Social Science & Medicine, 296, 114740. DOI
- Paul, S. B., & Tayal, D. (2022). Labour market for young urban female graduates in India. South Asia Research, 42(2), 1–19. DOI
- Paul, S. B., & Roy, I. (2022). Knowledge spillovers and productivity growth: Role of absorptive capacity in the Indian manufacturing sector. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade. DOI
- Hazarika, G., & Paul, S. B. (2020). India’s calorie consumption puzzle: Insights from the stochastic cost frontier analysis of calorie purchases. Empirical Economics. DOI
- Hnatkovska, V., Lahiri, A., & Paul, S. B. (2013). Breaking the caste barrier: Intergenerational mobility in India. Journal of Human Resources, 48(2), 435–473. DOI
- Hnatkovska, V., Lahiri, A., & Paul, S. B. (2012). Castes and labor mobility. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(2), 274–307. DOI
For a complete list of publications, please see the CV.
Teaching
My teaching interests include econometrics, mathematical economics, macroeconomics, development economics, time-series econometrics, and computational methods for economics.
- Algorithms, Data Structures and Programming in Economics
- Time Series Econometrics and Forecasting
- Macroeconomics
- Macroeconomics I
- Econometric Methods
- Mathematical Economics
- Advanced Economics Lab
Student Supervision
I have supervised and co-supervised Ph.D. and M.Sc. students in economics and related interdisciplinary areas. The following lists completed and recent supervision.
Ph.D. students
| Student | Thesis / Dissertation Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Suranjana Kundu | Essays on Monetary Policy of India | 2026 |
| Parveen Kumar | Advancing crash frequency modelling; and hazardous roadway segment identification using spatial frequency domain analysis | 2026 |
| Komal Sareen | Three empirical essays in gender and health economics | 2024 |
| Kopal Mathur | Talent allocation in the Indian economy | 2024 |
| Taniya Sah | Essays on agricultural markets in Uttarakhand | 2024 |
| Prakriti Joshi | Essays on tax administration and tax evasion in developing countries | 2022 |
| Diti Goswami | Essays on the Indian labour market | 2022 |
| Rituparna Kaushik | Essays on innovation economics | 2022 |
| Neaketa Chawla | Essays on pricing and competitive strategies of two-sided platforms | 2022 |
| Neha Bailwal | Essays on caste discrimination in school education in rural India | 2022 |
| Ekta Pandey | Essays in health economics | 2021 |
| Asmita Verma | Essays in health economics | 2021 |
| Deeksha Tayal | Women in urban labour market of India | 2021 |
| R. Ahalya | Essays on middle class in India | 2021 |
| Sitakanta Panda | Essays on empirical political economics | 2017 |
Some students were jointly supervised with faculty colleagues from IIT Delhi and collaborating institutions.
M.Sc. project supervision
| Student | Project Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Nicky Yadav | Assessing the Cyclicality of Fiscal Policy in India | 2026 |
| Udbhav Verma | Empirical Analysis of the Fama-French 5-Factor Model | 2026 |
| Muskan | Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Indian Stock Market | 2026 |
| Spriha Mondal | Modelling Corruption in an Endogenous Growth Framework | 2026 |
| Sayan Mandal | Women’s Empowerment, Gender Equality, Self-independence and Women’s Education: A Study Based on the Literary Works of Rabindranath Tagore | 2025 |
| Vibhu Kant | Energy Consumption, Income and Emissions | 2025 |
| Poulami Sarkar | Elasticity Estimation of Addictive Intoxicants and Policy Recommendations for Consumption Control | 2025 |
| Anaviggha Pradhan | Analysis of Stock Price Volatility Using GARCH Models in NIFTY50 Stock Index | 2025 |
| Amit Das | Remittances and Human Capital Investment | 2023 |
| Ayanik Anwesh Patra | Political Economy of Public Health Expenditure | 2023 |
| Sankha Mitra | Does Political Reservation in India Lead to Educational Welfare? | 2022 |
Contact
Sourabh B. Paul
Associate Professor of Economics
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
Email: sbpaul@hss.iitd.ac.in
CV: Download PDF