The Sources of Researcher Variation in Economics
(with Nick Huntington-Klien, Claus Pörtner and The Many Economists Collaborative on Researcher Variation)
Forthcoming. Journal of Economic Literature | NBER | SSRN 

• A many-analyst experiment shows how researchers’ choices generate substantial variation in empirical estimates, even when teams answer the same question using the same data.

Spousal Communication & Information Sharing: Evidence from Migrants and their Spouses
Journal of Development Economics, 2023, 165 | PDF  | Journal 

• Spouses staying behind underreport their income when it is observable to migrants. These reporting patterns are consistent with a theory of strategic misreporting to influence migrant remittances.

How Do Taxpayers Respond to Public Disclosure and Social Recognition Programs? Evidence from Pakistan
(with Joel Slemrod and Mazhar Waseem)
The Review of Economics & Statistics, 2022, 104 (1) | NBER | PDF | Journal  
media: vox -eu,  live mint, vox-dev, bloomberg opinion 

• The public disclosure of tax information increases the tax paid by individuals exposed to the program.  The increase is even larger for the social recognition program.

Working Papers

Shoulder to Shoulder: Religious Leadership and Intergroup Exposure in Pakistani Mosques
(with Zain Chaudhry and Karrar Hussain) | Aug 2026 

• Can religious leadership shape responses to intergroup exposure? In a field experiment across 23 Sunni mosques in Pakistan, we cross-randomize exposure to Shia worshippers and a unity message from the imam. Combining exposure with leadership increased demand for a Shia plumber and improved perceptions of Shias, while leadership also prevented the backlash against Shia religious books observed among some participants exposed to Shia worshippers alone.

Policy Research

Understanding Federal Sales Tax Expenditures in Pakistan
(with Sher Afghan Asad, and Manaal Mohsin Khwaja)
IGC Report, September 2023 | PDF

• Analysis of federal sales tax expenditures in Pakistan, exploring historical trends in statutory changes and offering insights about their rationalization. 

Improving Progressivity and Efficiency: A Review of the Personal Income Tax and other Taxes on Labor in Kazakhstan
(with Wei Shei)
IMF Country Report, Republic of Kazakhstan - Selected Issues, December 2019 | PDF  

• A review of taxes on labor in Kazakhstan, which, despite the current relatively-low level of collections, have the potential to become an important source of non-oil fiscal revenue. 

Work In Progress