Prachi Shukla

Working Papers

• Heterogeneous Receipt of Social Assistance Programs Among Families with Low Income in the U.S.: The Role of State Policy Design
  With Lisa Gennetian, Marcos Rangel, Dana Thomson, Luis Basurto, Haocheng Yong
  Abstract ↓
  Social assistance programs in the U.S. have made progress toward reducing child poverty, yet millions of households with children do not receive benefits as intended. We posit that households with children face heterogeneous costs—financial, cognitive, time, and information-based—in benefit eligibility, enrollment, and receipt which originate in features of state policy design and that household costs vary by ethnicity. We document substantial variation in social assistance benefit receipt rates across states that cannot be fully attributed to rates of poverty along the same geographic dimensions, with the most striking results for cash assistance receipt among Latino child households. Using microdata from the Current Population Survey, we show how features of state policies, constructed as indices informed by theories of cost minimization and administrative burden, predict rates of cash assistance among households with children after conditioning on their poverty status and demographics, in larger magnitudes among Latino families. Similar effects are not found among non-Latino families, nor for other in-kind programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Findings are robust to alternative measures of benefit receipt using Transfer Income Models (i.e., TRIM3) simulations and when generating estimates with data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
• De Jure Policy Design and De Facto Implementation of Cash Assistance Programs: Evidence of Differential Receipt among Latino Families
  With Lisa Gennetian, Marcos Rangel, Dana Thomson, Christina Padilla, Luis Basurto
  Abstract ↓
  Economic evaluations of the receipt of social assistance programs typically focus on the effect of de jure program design (policy intent). With novel survey data from practitioners across 11 U.S. states, this study offers a first combined look at de jure and de facto implementation features of basic cash assistance programs. We pay particular attention to the differential influence those have among Latino families with children, the largest group residing in poverty but yet receiving social assistance at lower rates than peers. We find that both de jure policies and de facto implementation practices that minimize operational costs—as posited by economic theories of resource allocation—reduce cash assistance receipt rates across all households with children. De jure policies that increase administrative burden also reduce cash assistance receipt but less precisely than policies that minimize operational costs; collectively de facto practices have a larger impact on cash assistance receipt rates than de jure policies. Reductions on cash assistance receipt in response to de jure policies and de facto practices that minimize operational costs are largest among Latino households with children; de facto practices that increase administrative burden on the other hand have the largest effects among non-Latino households. Findings are robust to controls for family, household, and state-level characteristics.

Works in Progress

• Alcohol Access and Household Welfare: Evidence from India's Highway Liquor Ban
  Single-authored
  Abstract ↓
  How do households respond to large regulatory shocks that alter access to temptation goods? This paper studies India's 2017 highway liquor ban, which prohibited liquor outlets within a fixed distance of national and state highways. I construct treatment intensity using spatial data and combine it with monthly household expenditure data and health outcomes. I find that more exposed households reduce liquor purchases and alcohol expenditure share after the ban, with no corresponding change in total expenditure or total income. I also find significant declines in spending on other temptation goods, including tobacco and snack foods. Despite these reductions in alcohol spending and a significant increase in female labour force participation, reported intimate partner violence increases, particularly among poorer and rural households.
• Primary School Expansion and Girls' Life Trajectories: Long-Run Evidence from India
  Single-authored
  Abstract ↓
  I study the long-run impacts of India's District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)—the world's largest school expansion initiative, launched in the 1990s. Using a district-by-cohort difference-in-differences design, I estimate both direct and indirect effects on educational attainment, marriage, fertility, and social connections. I find substantial and persistent gains in schooling among girls, as well as delayed marriage, lower fertility, and stronger natal family linkages.
• Impact of Inheritance Laws on Marriage Markets and Education Investment in India
  Single-authored
  Abstract ↓
  I study the effects of amendments to the Hindu Succession Act that granted women equal inheritance rights to ancestral property. Using a difference-in-differences approach that exploits staggered state-level reforms and legal exclusions for minorities, I find that families respond through compensatory investments: girls with brothers receive more schooling and lower dowries, while boys without sisters gain both in education and marriage market premiums.

Published Work

• The Crisis Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Workers' Struggles During the Pandemic and Beyond
  Shukla, P. & Srivastava, P. (2021) · Economic & Political Weekly

Teaching Experience

• PUBPOL 402 / ECON 308 — Empirical Methods for Social Progress TA · Prof Lisa Gennetian · Spring 2026
• PUBPOL 810 — Microeconomics and Public Policy-Making TA · Dr Matthew Johnson · Fall 2025
• Math Camp — Economics & Mathematics for Incoming MPP Students TA · Fall 2025
• PUBPOL 303 — Microeconomic Policy Tools Head TA · Prof Lisa Gennetian · Spring 2024