PhD Candidate
University of Wisconsin-Madison

I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science and Agricultural and Applied Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am also a Student Affiliate at the Elections Research Center and the Center for South Asia.

My research interest lies at the intersection of political economy and development economics, focusing on South Asia. For my dissertation, I examine how institutional rules shape political entry in local governments, with particular focus on minorities and historically disenfranchised groups. Outside my dissertation, I am working on various projects on misinformation, voting systems, and the political effects of extreme climate in India.

My research projects have been funded by the Social Science Research Council's Mercury Project Award, Rapoport Family Foundation, Elections Research Center, Trice Graduate Research Award Fund, and the Political Science Graduate Award Fund.

Prior to starting my PhD, I worked as a research assistant at Indian School of Business and Delhi School of Economics' Center for Development Economics. I hold a M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.Sc. in Financial Mathematics from King’s College London, and a B.Sc. in Statistics from the University of Delhi.

You can access my CV here.

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CONTACT

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison WI 53706

pamar[at]wisc[dot]edu

WORK IN PROGRESS

Attempts to Engineer Political Entry: Do Electoral Rules Hurt Marginalised Groups? Evidence from India

Do Ethnic Group Quotas Improve Women’s Representation? Evidence from India’s Village Elections

Countering Misinformation Early: A Grassroots Media Literacy Intervention for Rural Populations in India with Sumitra Badrinathan, Simon Chauchard, and Florian Sichart
pre-analysis plan

Heat on Democracy: Does Polling Day Temperature affect Elections? with Shweta Bhogale and Ting Liu

Mere Proxies or Genuine Leaders? Female Candidates in Village Council Elections in India with Apurva Bamezai and Rithika Kumar

Do Direct Elections Improve Accountability in Village Assemblies? Evidence from a Policy Experiment in India with Rikhil Bhavnani and Amit Jadhav

Sharing Falsehoods in an Information-poor Environment: An Experiment with Indian Teenagers with Sumitra Badrinathan, Simon Chauchard, and Florian Sichart
pre-analysis plan

University Of Wisconsin-Madison

Game Thoery for Graduate Students
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Prof. Andrew Kydd

Research Design for Undergraduates
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Prof. Jonathan Renshon

Understanding Political Numbers
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Dr. Evan Morier

ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods, University of Michigan

Introduction to Python
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Dr. Omer F. Yalcin

Mathematics for Social Scientists III
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Prof. Tim McDaniel

Indian School of Business

Managerial Economics
Teaching Assistant. Instructor: Prof. Sisir Debnath