About
I am a PhD candidate in Public Policy (Economics track) at Harvard University.
Research interests: development economics, human capital, and socioeconomic mobility.
I am a graduate student affiliate at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, and the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard. Before my graduate studies, I worked as a research assistant at CID, Boston University, and NBER.
You can reach me at nikhil_kumar1@g.harvard.edu
Working Papers
Beyond Basics: Whole School Reform and Early Adolescent Development
Abstract
This study investigates whether a government-led, whole-school reform in public lower secondary schools can simultaneously reduce dropout and improve both academic and socioemotional outcomes. We employ a prospective difference-in-differences design, using machine learning on nationwide administrative data to match 200 reform schools in Morocco to 100 comparable schools. The analysis uses primary assessment data for 20,036 students and administrative enrollment records for 637,587 observations. After one year, the reform reduced end-of-year dropout by 1.6 percentage points, a 31.4 percent decline, increased learning by 0.52 standard deviations, a 3.3-fold acceleration, and improved a pre-specified index of socioemotional skills by 0.22 standard deviations. These findings demonstrate that government-led interventions can deliver multidimensional benefits during the critical lower secondary school years and highlight the potential of whole-school reform to support adolescent development.
Tax Education in Equilibrium: Evidence from a Taxpayer Education Program in Ghana
Abstract
A property tax experiment in Ghana randomly provides tax education to property owners and officials. The intervention raises tax knowledge and generates spillovers to untreated households through conversations with more knowledgeable neighbors but has no ultimate impact on tax payments. Educated taxpayers and officials become more engaged in their interactions, but do not shift toward collaborative relationships. Taxpayers revise downward their beliefs about enforcement capacity and become more aware of legal ways to reduce their tax burden. These results highlight that tax knowledge spreads through social networks, and that its effects on tax outcomes are mediated by its ability to shape citizen-state interactions.
Developing Socioemotional Skills in Early Adolescence: Evidence from Morocco’s Public Lower Secondary Schools
Draft available soon. Conditionally accepted via pre-results review at the Journal of Development Economics.
Selected Works in Progress
Insourcing Offshore: Changing Multinational Firm Boundaries, Host Country Firms and Labor Markets
Data analysis in progress.
The Role of Informal Intermediaries in Urban Job Search and Rural-Urban Migration
Fieldwork in progress.
Public Investments in Primary Education and the Rise of Private Schools: Evidence from India
Data analysis in progress.
Learning with Peers: Experimental Evidence from a Scaled-up Peer Tutoring Intervention in Rural India
Draft available upon request · Pre-registration
Abstract
We study a light-touch peer tutoring intervention at scale, facilitated by teachers and embedded within rural public primary schools in the poorest Indian state of Bihar in partnership with the district education administration and an NGO. Teachers in treatment schools were encouraged to form and maintain groups of size 5-6 with a high-performing student as the tutor and conduct peer tutoring sessions at least thrice a week in one period of the regular school day. We find that the program increased math performance by 0.15-0.16 standard deviations for both learners and tutors driven by gains in learning across a range of math competencies. Learners in treatment schools report finding studies easier and feeling less anxious when studying with friends. We do not find effects for tutors or learners on a range of socioemotional skills. We also find a tightening of student peer groups such that both tutors and learners are reported by a smaller number of peers as part of study groups, while learners also report studying with fewer peers. These results demonstrate that same-grade peer tutoring can be implemented by teachers at scale within public primary school classrooms effectively.
AI and Crime
Research in progress.
Supported by Harvard University Center for International Development GEM Incubation Fund 2025: Catalyzing AI for Inclusive Change.
Teaching
The Economics of Infrastructure in Developing Countries (Syllabus)
Instructor, Sophomore Tutorial
Econometric Methods II
Teaching Fellow for Michael Gechter, PhD First Year Core
Student evaluations: Spring 2025
Advanced Quantitative Methods: Causal Inference
Teaching Fellow for Michael Gechter, MPA/ID First Year Core
Student evaluations: Spring 2025
Data Sources
Research data notes and public data links are maintained in Data Sources.