About

Aprajit Mahajan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. His research has been in the fields of econometric theory, development, and applied econometrics. His past studies have looked at child nutrition, financing bednet provision, and firm management in developing countries. His research interests include development economics, econometrics, technology adoption, health, agriculture, management, measurement error, and dynamic choice. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, obtained in 2004, an M.Sc. in Economics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics, earned in 1996, and a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, completed in 1995.

Research topics

• Demographic economics
• Economics
• Mechanical engineering
• Development economics
• Medicine
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Labour economics
• Operations management
• Management
• Business

Selected publications

• Identification of Time-Inconsistent Models: The Case of Insecticide-Treated Nets

  The Review of Economic Studies · 2026-02-26 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Time-inconsistency may play a central role in explaining inter-temporal behaviour, particularly among poor households. However, little is known about the distribution of time-inconsistent agents, and time-preference parameters are typically not identified in standard dynamic choice models. We formulate a dynamic discrete choice model in an unobservedly heterogeneous population of possibly time-inconsistent agents. We provide conditions under which all population type probabilities and preferences for both time-consistent and sophisticated agents are point-identified and sharp set-identification results for naïve and partially sophisticated agents. Estimating the model using data from a health intervention providing insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in rural Odisha, India, we find that about two-thirds of our sample comprises time-inconsistent agents and that both sophisticated and naïve agents are considerably present-biased. Counterfactuals show that the under-investment in ITNs attributable to present-bias leads to substantial costs that are about four times the price of an ITN.

  PublisherDOI

• Paying Smallholder Farmers to Increase Carbon Sequestration by Changing Agricultural Practices: Evidence from Odisha

  AEA Randomized Controlled Trials · 2025-12-01

  dataset
  PublisherDOI

• Contract Terms, Employment Shocks, and Default in Credit Cards

  The Review of Economic Studies · 2025-09-24

  article

  Abstract Regulatory concerns over a tension between expanding financial access and limiting default have led to significant restrictions on contract terms in a number of countries, despite limited evidence on their effectiveness. We use a large nation-wide RCT to examine new borrower responses to changes in interest rates and minimum payments for a credit card that accounted for 15% of all first-time formal loans in Mexico. Default rates were 19% over the 26 month experiment and a 30 pp decrease in interest rates decreased default by 2.5 pp with no effects on the newest borrowers. Doubling minimum payments increased default by 0.8 pp during the experiment but reduced it by 1 pp afterwards, possibly by reducing debt. Matching the experimental sample to their formal employment histories we find that the effect of job separation—more common among new borrowers—on default is seven times larger than the effect of the 30 pp interest rate change. We provide a simple framework for interpreting the experimental results, and rationalize the smaller contract term effects by their limited effects on cash flow rather than by differences in per-peso impacts.

  PublisherDOI

• Improving worker conditions in Brick kilns: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh

  AEA Randomized Controlled Trials · 2025-09-29

  dataset
  PublisherDOI

• Do Equal Opportunities for Women in Law Enforcement Affect Performance?

  AEA Randomized Controlled Trials · 2025-07-23

  datasetSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Do Equal Opportunities for Women in Law Enforcement Affect Performance?

  AEA Randomized Controlled Trials · 2025-07-23

  datasetSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Paying Smallholder Farmers to Increase Carbon Sequestration by Changing Agricultural Practices: Evidence from Odisha

  AEA Randomized Controlled Trials · 2025-12-01

  dataset
  PublisherDOI

• Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh

  Science · 2025-05-08 · 8 citations

  article

  We present results from a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that introduced operational practices to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in 276 “zigzag” brick kilns. Of all intervention kilns, 65% adopted the improved practices. Treatment assignment reduced energy use by 10.5% ( P -value <0.001) and decreased CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions by 171 and 0.45 metric tons, respectively, per kiln per year. Valuing the CO 2 reductions using a social cost of carbon of 185 USD per metric ton, we find that the social benefits outweigh costs by a factor of 65 to 1. The intervention, which required no new capital investment, also decreased fuel costs and increased brick quality. Our results demonstrate the potential for privately profitable, as well as publicly beneficial, improvements to address environmental problems in informal industries.

  PublisherDOI

• Intertemporal Choice Bracketing and the Measurement of Time Preferences

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Productivity Gains and Work Conditions in Coercive Labor Markets: Experimental Evidence from the Bangladesh Brick Sector

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-08-01 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access

  Productivity growth is central to theories of economic development and can improve worker welfare through higher wages or better conditions.While this may hold in competitive labor markets, it is unclear if productivity gains benefit workers in coercive labor markets, where force or threats shape employment.We examine this issue in the Bangladesh brick sector using a randomized trial that introduced a more efficient production method.Despite large productivity improvements, we find no reduction in (high) rates of labor trafficking or child labor.These findings suggest that productivity growth alone may be insufficient to improve work conditions in coercive settings.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Alessandro Tarozzi

  European University Institute

  30 shared

• Nicholas Bloom

  Stanford University

  26 shared

• David McKenzie

  18 shared

• Joanne Yoong

  15 shared

• Brian G. Blackburn

  15 shared

• Xavier Giné

  11 shared

• Grant Miller

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  11 shared

• Enrique Seira

  Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México

  11 shared