In this project, we will exploit the novel integrated urban property database for Lahore to examine the two valuation methods in terms of distributional fairness, revenue potential and buoyancy. We will simulate the distributional impact of shifting from the ARV system to a CV system that uses district collector (DC) rates as proxies for market values. The DC rates are based on property value surveys conducted by revenue officials and the land value declarations made by buyers at the time of purchase in the Government’s online e-stamping system.

The project aims to test whether and how political centralization affects long-run economic development, using a policy-based natural experiment in colonial Punjab. When creating new “canal colony” villages in the late 1800s, the number of headmen (lambardar/numberdar) was set according to thresholds based on village area, allowing for quasi-random variation via the regression discontinuity technique.

The broad goal of the research is to improve farmers' incentives and, therefore, productivity while stabilizing prices of agricultural produce for consumers. we are digging deeper into understanding how the farmer-middlemen wedge can be reduced by addressing information asymmetries and output market linkages.

This research project aims to generate unique insights on improving tax compliance by collaborating with the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA).This research will serve as a prelude to a full-scale evaluation to understand how the tax and economic outcomes of competing firms are affected by tax leakages. We aim to experimentally vary the compliance of taxpayers’ geographic neighbours and competitors in the case of restaurants in Punjab, Pakistan, a major source of sales tax revenue for the province, and look for evidence of strategic complementarity of tax compliance decisions. In parallel, we will also do the groundwork for another study that examines the optimal allocation of taxpayers to enforcement teams.

The project will involve archival research in the Revenue Records. Our goal is to collect data on how different canal colony schemes have been implemented during the British period, and further to understand social, political, and economic dynamics based on the historical data.