Noor Sethi

Work in Progress

"Hit or Miss: Targeting the Poor (Better)"

• 15–20% improvement in poverty targeting accuracy by replacing OLS-based proxy means testing with non-parametric ML

• k-Nearest Neighbors achieves best performance; welfare gains are largest under budget constraints and inequality-averse utility

• Error minimization and welfare maximization require different targeting thresholds with direct implications for policymakers

"Hit or Miss(ing) Assets: Optimal Targeting Thresholds Under Strategic Behavior"

• Develops a framework for optimal government threshold-setting when households strategically conceal assets to qualify for transfers

• Optimal threshold when income is unobserved (Rs. 13,200) corresponds to 65% coverage vs. 30% when perfectly observed

• Higher thresholds reduce misreporting incentives through smaller transfers, lower marginal utility, and harder-to-hide assets

Working Papers

"Born at the Right Time?" (with Ann Harrison and Laura Kray) [link] [news]

Under review

• Documents 33% reduction in gender wage gap among MBAs over 20 years; finds gaps now emerge immediately at career entry

• Identifies low-cost childcare availability and work flexibility as primary remaining determinants of persistent disparities

• Based on 30 years of survey data from a large public university business school

Research Contributions

The following research emerged from projects on which I served as a research assistant.

"Graduating the Ultra Poor in Ethiopia" (Dean Karlan & Nathanael Goldberg) [link]

• Found 18% consumption gains and 68% higher asset values one year after program exit; estimated benefits outweigh costs 2.6-to-1

• Part of a six-country RCT testing whether comprehensive "big push" interventions enable sustainable escape from extreme poverty

• My contribution: programmed survey in SurveyCTO

"Evaluation of Combined Financial Incentives and Deposit Contract Intervention for Smoking Cessation" (Dean Karlan et al.) [link]

• Financial incentives and deposit contracts produced positive but imprecisely estimated effects on smoking cessation among Medicaid enrollees

• Findings inform the design of commitment contract programs for low-to-moderate income populations

• My contribution: collected data in the field (clinics across Connecticut), designed data pipeline and monitored incoming data for inconsistencies

"Twenty Year Economic Impacts of Deworming" (Edward Miguel et al.) [link]

• Found 14% consumption gains and 13% earnings gains from childhood deworming

• Findings inform cost-effectiveness analyses for global health program prioritization

• My contribution: collected survey data in the field (Busia, Kenya), cleaned and analyzed data in R

"More COPS, More Fatalities?" (Rebecca Goldstein)

• Applied regression discontinuity design to show additional police hiring increases officer-involved fatalities

• Findings contributed to national policy debate on federal police funding

• My contribution: cleaned and analyzed data in Stata

Field Experience

In other words: the people, places, and chance adventures that bend and sway our minds, shape what we study and how we write about it, but rarely make it past the acknowledgements page.

Busia, Kenya | Innovations for Poverty Action

Dharamshala, India | Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development

Córdoba, Argentina | Ciudadanos 365

Public Health Capstone
Graduate Student Instructor, Spring 2026 | UC Berkeley

Environmental Economics
Graduate Student Instructor, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 & Fall 2022, Spring 2023 | UC Berkeley

Statistics and Econometrics
Graduate Student Instructor, Spring 2025 | UC Berkeley

Teaching Assistant, Fall 2017 & Fall 2019 | Bard College

Microeconomics
Lecturer, Spring 2023 | Parami University

Teaching Assistant, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, & Fall 2014 | Smith College