Three Essays in Development Economics

This doctoral thesis consists of three independent chapters in Development Economics. The first chapter titled ’The seen and the unseen: Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Prenatal Sex Selection’ studies the unintended consequence of a safe motherhood program on sex-selective abortions of female fetuses in India. It finds that contrary to the popular belief, the program increased the likelihood of female births, thereby reducing sex-selective abortions. The second chapter titled ‘Going Viral in a Pandemic: Black Lives Matter, Social Media and COVID-19’ studies the causal link between COVID-19 pandemic on Black Lives Matter protests in the United States of America. It finds that the pandemic significantly increased the protest activity, mostly by engaging new protesters through social media. The last chapter titled ’Imperial Fault Lines: Colonial Legacy and Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa’ investigates the impact of colonization on fertility outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It finds that colonial identity measured mostly as the policies implemented by the colonizers has a significant impact on current fertility outcomes in SSA.