Rajarshi Bhowal, PhD

Rajarshi Bhowal, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Economics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nazarbayev University

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Nazarbayev University. I received my Ph.D. degree from Rice University in 2022. My research field is Empirical Industrial Organization with a focus on issues related to telecommunications and healthcare markets. My current research works are on topics regarding market design, subsidy schemes, and government sponsored health insurance markets. I am also interested in antitrust and competition economics.

Interests

  • Empirical Industrial Organization
  • Applied Microeconomics
  • Health economics

Education

  • PhD in Economics, 2022

    Rice University

  • MA in Economics, 2015

    Delhi School of Economics

  • B.Sc. in Economics, 2013

    Calcutta University

Research

Rajarshi Bhowal
Oct 27, 2021

Reallocating Bonus Payments Through Competition to Improve Medicare Advantage Plan Quality: A Dynamic Game Approach

The evolution of Medicare Advantage markets in terms of plan quality under a competitive bonus payment system, where plans are rewarded based on their quality performance relative to peers in local markets is examined.
Rajarshi Bhowal, Nurdaulet Menglibayev, and Dibya Mishra
Sep 2, 2024

Spectrum Allocation to Public Operators: A Structural Analysis of Set-Asides versus Subsidies in Indian Telecom Auctions.

Rajarshi Bhowal, and Jeremy Fox
Nov 22, 2024

Private Labels, Famous Brands, and Heterogeneous Households: Can High Ad Spending be Justified and are Households’ Advertising Elasticities Stable Across Products?

Work in Progress

Rajarshi Bhowal
October 2021

Detecting Collusive Behavior in Ascending Price Auctions with Endogenous Entry

We propose a method to detect identities of colluding bidders in ascending price auctions exploiting both participation and bidding behavior.
Rajarshi Bhowal, and Alejandro Melo Ponce
September 2024

Limitations of Algorithmic Network Detection Methods in Uncovering Collusion in Auctions.

Rajarshi Bhowal
March 2025

Measuring Complementarities between Rural Road Construction and Public Health Insurance Utilization in India.

Teaching

ECON 545: Structural Methods in Market Design, Nazarbayev University (Graduate)

Fall 2024, Spring 2025

ECON 433/ ECON 533: Econometrics II Panel Data, Nazarbayev University (Undergraduate/ Graduate)

Fall 2022, 23, 24, 25

Programming for Economics, Nazarbayev University (Undergraduate/ Graduate)

Spring 2026 (upcoming)

Introduction to Big Data Analytics, Nazarbayev University

Spring 2026 (upcoming)

ECON 318: Applied Econometrics, Nazarbayev University (Undergraduate)

Spring 2023, 24, 25

ECON 441: Empirical Methods in Industrial Organization, Rice University

TA: Spring 2021, Fall 2021
Instructor: Maura Coughlin

ECON 497: Advanced Topics in Micro-econometrics, Rice University

TA: Spring 2018
Instructor: Xun Tang

ECON 300: Game Theory, Rice University

TA: Spring 2020, Fall 2019, 2020
Instructor: Michele Biavati

Online Statistics Camp for PhD students, Rice University

TA: Summer 2019

Contact