top of page
Aparajita Agarwal, research, Wharton
Aparajita Agarwal, research, Wharton

Research

Publications

The literature on institutional voids has examined how intermediaries such as business groups and business incubators address such voids in emerging economies. However, it remains unclear whether and how digital multi-sided platforms fill these voids, given their unique features. This study focuses on mobile money platforms, which allow users without bank accounts or credit cards to perform financial transactions. We propose that these platforms fill institutional voids in three ways, by (i) enabling data-based certification, (ii) providing unified access to distributed services, and (iii) scaling through network effects to reach previously excluded market participants. We argue that these novel mechanisms have enabled mobile money platforms to expand credit access to end-users from formal financial institutions and thereby act as “steppingstones” to financial inclusion. Our analysis is based on a difference-in-difference design that leverages regulatory changes that allowed non-banks to operate as mobile money operators and data from a representative random sample of 151,771 individuals in 78 countries. We supplement our quantitative analysis with rich, hand-collected qualitative evidence to illustrate the mechanisms underlying our findings

Manuscripts under Review

Microenterprises are crucial to the global economy, yet our understanding of strategic decision making in these firms remains less developed. This research takes an abductive approach to examine how microentrepreneurs respond to external disruptions, the performance implications of these strategies and factors predicting different response choices. Using multi-country data from the World Bank COV-ES surveys and two waves of proprietary field surveys with microentrepreneurs in India, we study these questions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find substantial heterogeneity in the responses of these businesses. Strategic adaptation emerges as a common and effective approach, challenging prevailing narratives that consider microenterprises homogenous and strategically inert. Machine learning analysis shows that prior entrepreneurship experience, financial resources, search breadth, and technology use predict adaptation.

Working papers

Agarwal, A. Digital yet Human? Platform Value Capture and Agent Trade-offs at the Last Mile (Job market paper)

This study examines how local agents—intermediaries that connect organizations, such as digital platforms, to customers in developing contexts—respond in heterogeneous ways to a platform's shift from value creation to value capture based on their economic and relational trade-offs. The study utilizes a proprietary dataset of over 450,000 transactions between agents and customers from a digital platform that provided essential financial services to customers in rural India, and is supplemented by qualitative interviews. The findings reveal that agents’ responses are shaped by their social ties and community relationships, such that post an exogenous change in platform’s fee, agents transact even less with customers with whom they have strong repeated exchange relations and those from their same social group, while their negative response are attenuated in socially diverse communities. The findings reveal heterogeneity in agent responses influenced by social relations, and have implications for the customer segments reached and the platform’s value capture strategy. As the global economy becomes increasingly digital, organizations cannot ignore the role of social ties and community embeddedness. This study contributes to the literature on intermediation in emerging markets, emphasizing the strategic importance of understanding agent trade-offs and the social fabric in formulating platform strategies.

Book chapters

Entrepreneurship and innovation are pivotal for Africa’s economic progress. However, the continent faces a dearth of investment, with the existing venture capital (VC) majorly channeled towards fintech, sidelining other sectors. Despite the growing VC interest, African entrepreneurs grapple with barriers such as high startup costs, restrictive capital requirements, limited access to financing, regulatory issues, and concerns about bribery of government officials and low trust in governance. Institutional hindrances, the prevalence of informal businesses, management quality issues, and concentrated firm ownership further exacerbate the innovation deficit. Conversely, Africa shows promise with expanding VC investments, budding fintech sectors that can bolster financial inclusion, such as mobile-money platforms, and a surge in female entrepreneurship. Moreover, the continent is becoming a center for financial technology innovations and boasts a rising presence of startup accelerators and incubators, which offer pivotal support to early-stage ventures. This chapter offers a comprehensive look at these facets, intertwining entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa, addressing challenges, and highlighting opportunities and policy-related questions for future exploration.

Research in Progress

Competition and collaboration in building STEM innovation pipeline: Randomized Control Trial in Colombia, Latin America (with Vanessa Burbano, Columbia Business School and Natalie Carlson, Wharton)
Field experiment underway

The study focuses on the top of the entrepreneurship funnel. Through a field experiment in Colombia, Latin America with over 5000 subject, we aim to understand how a collaborative versus a competitive approach to providing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training to students affects their computational ability, creativity and long-term participation in entrepreneurship, as well as any gender-related differences in the same.

Entrepreneurship through collective action: Evidence from self-help groups in India (with Leena Kinger-Hans Indian School of Business, Valentina Assenova, Wharton and Jasjit Singh INSEAD)
Data analysis underway

This study explores the interplay between informal social ties, participation in self-help groups, and the likelihood of engaging in necessity-based entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Informal social networks, crucial in forming personal and community bonds, significantly influence individuals’ decisions to join self-help groups. These groups, vital in regions where formal support and banking are scarce, offer mutual support, knowledge sharing, and trust-building. However, a paradox emerges from these social ties. While promoting self-help group involvement, they simultaneously reduce the propensity to undertake necessity-based entrepreneurship. This dual role stems from social ties acting as both facilitators of group formation and as safety nets. They encourage communal participation and problem-solving but also provide a fallback, lessening the urgency for entrepreneurial endeavors for economic survival. Our research in Karnataka and Hyderabad, India, investigates how social ties affect joining self-help groups (study 1) and subsequent entrepreneurial tendencies (study 2)

bottom of page