October 2017

Yanan Li
410 Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6201
Phone: +1 607-229-0572
Email: YL2294@cornell.edu
Website: yananliecon.weebly.com

RESEARCH FIELDS
Development Economics, Labor Economics, Public Policy

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management 2018 (expected)
Cornell University
Dissertation committee: Ravi Kanbur (chair), Victoria Prowse, Lawrence Kahn

M.A. School of Agricultural Economics & Rural Development 2012

Renmin University of China (Beijing, China)

B.A. Agricultural Economics & Management, School of Management 2010

Minor: Finance
Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China)
Distinguished Thesis and Distinguished Graduate

JOB MARKET PAPER

Land Inequality and the Provision of Public Works—Evidence from Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

This paper uses Indian data to investigate whether landlords use political power to oppose public work schemes. The in-
troduction of public works schemes is known to raise agricultural wages in the private labor market, which will incentivize
big landlords to lobby against this program. I empirically test this mechanism in the context of the world’s largest public
works program—National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India. I measure landlords’ political power by the
concentration of land ownership, specifically Gini coefficient of land ownership, and measure job provision by the shares
of households provided with public jobs. To address the endogeneity issue arising from omitted variables and persistent
unobservables that shape both land distribution and public works provision, I use a historical institution in India as the in-
strumental variable—the land revenue collection system established by British colonial rulers during 1750-1861. Two-stage
Least Square estimates suggest that 1 percent increase of land Gini coefficient would lead to a 3-6 percent decrease in public
jobs provision. This paper is the first study to directly explain the heterogeneity in the implementations of National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme in terms of landlords’ political power. It is the first empirical evidence that shows the
concentration of land ownership is a hurdle to providing public employment to the poor, suggesting power asymmetries
could hinder policies aimed at promoting equity.

WORKING PAPERS
Minimum Wage Competition between Local Governments in China, 2015 (with C. Lin and R. Kanbur), R&R at Journal of
Development Studies
Straw Burning, Air Pollution and Health Outcomes: Evidence from Crop Production Cycle in China, 2017 (with W. Lai, S.
Li and X. Tian), submitted to Journal of Development Economics
Firm Capabilities and the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment over the Business Cycle, 2014 (with S. Poczter)
WORK IN PROGRESS
Economic Outcomes of Chronic Diseases in China
The Added Worker Effect with Household Employment Risk (with V. Prowse)
Does Providing Public Works Increase Workers’ Bargaining Power in Private Sectors? — Evidence from Indian National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (with Y. Liu)
The Impact of Group Heterogeneity on the Performance of Self-help Groups

CONFERENCES/SEMINARS PRESENTATIONS
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Chicago, November 2-4, 2017 (accepted)
Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, July 30-August 1, 2017
Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Boston, July 31-August 2, 2016
Labor Work in Progress Workshop, Cornell University, 2016
China Research Days, Cornell University, 2016
Jobs and Development Conference at World Bank, Washington, D.C. November 2-3, 2016
62nd Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International, Portland, 2015

SOFTWARE SKILLS
Stata, Excel, Matlab, Python (beginner), GIS (beginner)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Intro Macroeconomics, Cornell (Coordinator TA), 2017
Intro Macroeconomics, Cornell (Lead discussion session) , 2016
Microeconomics for Management (MBA course), Cornell, 2015
Intro Microeconomics, Cornell (Lead discussion session), 2014
Spreadsheet Modeling, Cornell, 2013
Economics of Advertising, Cornell, 2013
Price Analysis, Cornell, 2012
International Summer School, Renmin University of China, 2012
International Teaching Assistants Program, Center for Teaching Excellence, Cornell, 2012-2013
Certificate of Participation in the University-wide Teaching Conference, 2016

WORK EXPERIENCE
Consultant, The World Bank, 2017
Helpdesk Consultant, Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research, 2014.09 - 2016.06
Consultant, International Food Policy & Research Institute, 2015

GRANTS AND AWARDS

Richard D. Aplin Teaching Excellence Fund ($5000), 2017
Graduate School Travel Grant, Cornell University ($750), 2015 and 2017
Cornell International Teaching Assistant Program Summer Institute Award ($1000), 2012 and 2013

2
REFERENCES

Prof. Ravi Kanbur (Advisor) Prof. Lawrence Kahn

Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management Department of Economics
Cornell University Cornell University
Phone: 607-255-7966 Phone: 607-255-0510
Email: SK145@cornell.edu Email: LMK12@cornell.edu

Prof. Shanjun Li Prof. Victoria Prowse

Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management Department of Economics
Cornell University Purdue University
Phone: 607-255-1832 Phone: 607-227-3126
Email:SL2448@cornell.edu Email: VPROWSE@purdue.edu