Anirudh Tagat, PhD

This study aims to investigate intra-household bargaining outcomes elicited in an artefactual field experiment design where participants completed a purchase task of real commodities. Married couples separately expressed their initial preferences over commodities. The bargaining process in the experiment was exogenously introduced by sharing information about partners’ preferences in the treatment group. We hypothesized that the spouse with weaker bargaining position at the household level… Show more

This study aims to investigate intra-household bargaining outcomes elicited in an artefactual field experiment design where participants completed a purchase task of real commodities. Married couples separately expressed their initial preferences over commodities. The bargaining process in the experiment was exogenously introduced by sharing information about partners’ preferences in the treatment group. We hypothesized that the spouse with weaker bargaining position at the household level would consider the information of their partner’s preferences while making own consumption decisions more compared to their partner. Therefore, they may deviate from their own preferences when purchasing commodities. More than 230 married couples from two villages in the Tamil Nadu state of India participated in the experiment. It was observed that information about partners’ spending preferences resulted in reduced final allocations for female participants. However, the deviation was not significantly different from the original intention to spend. Therefore, information about partners’ preferences may not be an effective medium to elicit bargaining power in the context of jointly-consumed household commodities. Subgroup analyses were performed to identify any heterogeneous treatment effects. Show less

The darker shades of creativity have recently attracted great interest because negative and malevolent creativity are found in multiple domains. It is easier to conceive of creative acts that meet negative goals as uncreative, primarily because of their immoral and unethical nature. However, a complete understanding of the creativity construct may be obtained by assessing it within a valenced framework, wherein each component of creativity is positive or negative. In this qualitative account of… Show more

The darker shades of creativity have recently attracted great interest because negative and malevolent creativity are found in multiple domains. It is easier to conceive of creative acts that meet negative goals as uncreative, primarily because of their immoral and unethical nature. However, a complete understanding of the creativity construct may be obtained by assessing it within a valenced framework, wherein each component of creativity is positive or negative. In this qualitative account of malevolent creativity, we review manifestations of such creativities in the contexts of art, science, and technology. That is, original and subjectively useful actions taken by actors in each of these domains, which meet negative goals, with the deliberate intent to harm another individual or society at large. First, a brief review of literature in the areas of dark, negative, and malevolent creativity is presented. Second, qualitative accounts of malevolent creativity in art (forgery), science (academic dishonesty), and technology (cybercrime) are analyzed through D. H. Cropley‘s (2010) framework integrating valence and Rhodes‘ (1961) four Ps model of creativity. Each domain is first examined independently; subsequently, attempts are made to identify commonalities underlying malevolent creative behaviours across domains. Suggestions for future research in this emerging subfield of creativity are provided Show less

This paper uses village level data on individual voters to ask what are the factors which determine the probability of whether an individual votes? Is this probability greater for national compared to local elections? And is there evidence that people are more likely to vote today than they were in the past? Allied to these questions is another set of questions relating to the choice of candidates. What are the factors that make for women’s autonomy in voting, meaning that they cast their vote… Show more

This paper uses village level data on individual voters to ask what are the factors which determine the probability of whether an individual votes? Is this probability greater for national compared to local elections? And is there evidence that people are more likely to vote today than they were in the past? Allied to these questions is another set of questions relating to the choice of candidates. What are the factors that make for women’s autonomy in voting, meaning that they cast their vote without reference to their spousal instructions? What are the factors which contribute to people voting for candidates who are of their own caste? And, lastly, what are the factors which contribute to people voting for candidates who have a reputation for honesty and fairness? Show less

Presented at Neothesis 2011, at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai as part of a national level seminar on Socio-economics issues with a theme of marginalization. Based on reports suggesting the upcoming project to make Bhutan an Education destination for students in South-east Asia, using a cost-benefit analysis.

A working paper compiled for the International Conference for Microfinance (ICOMFI) 2010, held at University of Pondicherry, India regarding the various innovative ways of promoting financial literacy, efficient loan allocations and wider outreach in the microfinance industry in India. Main finding was that innovative practices using social media and wireless telecommunication is the key for Microfinance to flourish in terms of marketing itself as a product.