Adolescent Empowerment and Early Marriage in Rural Bangladesh (fieldwork in progress)
What are the barriers to socioeconomic advancement of women in low-income countries? What are the best approaches to female empowerment? The answers to these broad questions are not simple, and thus require wide-ranging solutions. This project studies long-run outcomes on health, education, age of marriage, and other components of an adolescent empowerment campaign in rural Bangladesh.
with Rachel Glennerster and Reshmaan Hussam
Collaborating Organization: Save the Children – Bangladesh
Funding Organizations: The National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NIH), International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), and the Nike Foundation
Throwing the Baby 
Out with the Drinking Water: Unintended Consequences of Arsenic Mitigation Efforts in Bangladesh
The 1994 discovery of arsenic in Bangladeshi ground water prompted a hastened international effort to switch close to 70 million people to arsenic-free water sources. While widely considered a success, the switch exposed those that utilized different water sources to a wide array of bacterial disease. This study highlights the importance of complete information when issuing public health recommendations impacting large groups of the population.
with Rachel Glennerster and Reshmaan Hussam
Collaborating Organization: Save the Children Bangladesh
Funding Organizations: Nike Foundation, Center for International Development at Harvard University, Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University
Marriage and Dowry
The influence of marriage on child health, education investments, fertility and gender equality outcomes cannot be understated. With this in mind, is the legal framework surrounding this institution conducive to these goals? These projects seek answers to these questions in the context of Bangladeshi marriage markets.
Early Marriage, Age of Menarche and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh
with Attila Ambrus
Muslim Family Law, Prenuptial Agreements and the Emergence of Dowry in Bangladesh
with Attila Ambrus and Maximo Torero
Funding Organizations: The National Science Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, the South Asian Initiative (SAI) at Harvard University, and the Islamic Legal Program at Harvard University.
