Sagnik Bagchi

@lnmiit.ac.in

Assistant Professor of Economics
The LNM Institute of Information Technology

Sagnik Bagchi


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https://researchid.co/sagnikb

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy, 2018`
Master of Philosophy, 2013
Master of Science [Economics], 2011
Bachelor of Science [Economics Hons., Mathematics and Statistics General], 2011

RESEARCH INTERESTS

International Trade, Applied Econometrics
8

Scopus Publications

72

Scholar Citations

5

Scholar h-index

3

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • Social trust and formal institutions: How do they shape public debt?
    Sagnik Bagchi, Sayantan Bandhu Majumder
    Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 2025
    This research investigates the impact of varying levels of social trust across economies on the development of effective formal institutions that serve to determine public debt. Analysing a sample of 95 economies from 2000 to 2020, our econometric results indicate that social trust is a pivotal determinant of public debt. The effect operates indirectly through the quality of various categories of legal system and property rights indicator. In particular, the results reveal that the relationship between social trust and economic‐judicial institutions are complementary to each other. In addition, we also find that countries with higher social trust tend to reduce their primary deficit in the face of higher debt, thereby reducing the likelihood of uncontrollable debt scenarios.
  • Can India’s Export of Services Build Economic Partnerships in South Asia?
    Sagnik Bagchi
    Geo Economics in South Asian Environment, 2025
  • Institutions Determine Debt–Growth Relationship: Evidence from Fourth Wave of Debt in EMDEs
    Sagnik Bagchi, Sayantan Bandhu Majumder, Somdutta Banerjee
    International Economic Journal, 2023
    The last decade witnessed global debt levels to reach record high. In Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) like never before, the (public and private) debt–GDP ratio has been dismally high. An upward spree of the debt–GDP ratio coupled with a looming economic crisis led to concerns about institutional qualities (IQ). We explore how different dimensions of IQ (namely, political, legal and governance) impact the debt–growth relationship in the EMDEs amidst the current fourth wave of debt (2010–2019). We examine whether the relation is monotonic or it varies around a particular threshold value of IQ. By applying a dynamic panel threshold regression model, we obtain two regime-dependent marginal effects of regressors (upper and lower regimes) that are distinguished by a threshold value of IQ. Our results reveal that for each of our considered IQ, there exists a statistically significant threshold value. For public debt, across all dimensions of IQ debt hurts growth in the lower regime, while in the upper regime the association is favourable. While private debt is growth enhancing in the lower regime of all IQs (excepting corruption), while it is inimical in the upper regime.
  • Industry-level determinants of India’s vertical and horizontal IIT
    Sagnik Bagchi, Surajit Bhattacharyya
    Indian Economic Review, 2021
    This paper mitigates the gap in the Indian context about the non-consideration of vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade (IIT) distinctly in testing empirical hypotheses about industry-level determinants of IIT. Our study indicates that failure to segregate vertical and horizontal IIT from the total IIT possibly leads to potential bias in econometric results. Drawing on annual multilateral trade data encompassing two and half decades of the liberalization period, we find India’s IIT outpaced the growth of inter-industry trade over the years and its contribution mainly came from six manufacturing industry groups whose export baskets had been loaded with low vertically differentiated goods. However, horizontal and high vertical IIT have gained some momentum since the end of the last decade. Given the fractional nature of our dependent variable, we initially estimate a (random effects) Tobit model followed by the Exponential Regression of Fractional Response model. The robust econometric findings show that product differentiation has a positive impact only on total IIT. Whereas vertical and horizontal IIT are promoted in industries with concentrated and competitive market structures, respectively. The prevalence of concentrated market structure indicates that (large) Indian firms sustain import competition by specializing in low vertically differentiated goods, as they efficiently adjust to resource reallocation.
  • Are export earnings from India’s bilateral intra-industry trade with the US and China robust enough?
    Sagnik Bagchi, Surajit Bhattacharyya
    International Journal of Development Issues, 2021
    Purpose This paper aims to explore whether India’s export basket in the bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT) with two of its top trading partners characterize robust export earnings or not. This is pertinent for two reasons. First, India has a persistent problem of current account deficit for over decades now. Second, whether India’s export diversification strategy by participating in global value chains to improve export share in the world market led to the problem of the fallacy of composition. Design/methodology/approach This study considers bilateral trade data between India-USA and India-China at the HS-6 digit level over the period 1990–2018. The magnitude of total IIT is computed using the Grubel and Lloyd (1971) index. This paper then uses the unit value dispersion criterion to disentangle the magnitude of total IIT into horizontal and vertical IIT. Through a stepwise econometric exercise, this paper explores the attributes of exported goods in the IIT basket in terms of the directions of ToT, export share and export-price elasticity. Findings Across the two country pairs, the major contributors to the upsurge in IIT are five manufacturing industry groups of chemical, plastics and rubber, textiles, base metals and machinery and mechanical appliances. Across the industry groups, the dominant form of IIT has been low vertical IIT. Most of the industry groups do not characterize robust export earnings as the commodity groups have an elastic demand and an increasing trend of Terms of Trade (ToT). The exceptions are the industry groups of chemicals and textiles in India-China and India-USA, respectively. Research limitations/implications The concern of slim export earnings in most industry groups offers scepticism in maintaining the sustainability of the current account. The problem of the fallacy of composition also cannot be ruled out given the dominance of low vertical IIT. This study argues that these industry groups need to engage in labour market reforms and require access to easy credit to achieve competitiveness in the world market. Originality/value The analysis performed in this paper attempts to integrate the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis in the context of IIT. Empirical evidence to such an issue is not profound.
  • Country-Specific Determinants of Intra-Industry Trade in India
    Sagnik Bagchi, Surajit Bhattacharyya
    Foreign Trade Review, 2019
    A distinctive feature of India’s trade liberalization has been a significant rise in the magnitude of intra-industry trade (IIT). India’s total IIT is substantially large with high and upper-middle-income group countries and dominated by low vertical IIT. Particularly during the second phase of economic reforms, magnitude of India’s vertical IIT with high-income group of countries had increased; while there had been a marginal decline in horizontal IIT. This article identifies some of the determinants of India’s total IIT as well as vertical and horizontal IIT with her major trading partners from 1990 to 2014. The convergence in the level of economic development between India and her trading partner(s) positively influences total IIT and its two broad forms. Similarity in relative factor endowments and regional trade agreement through South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is found to promote horizontal IIT. Having a large market size, the distortionary impact of tariff has not been able to dampen the magnitude of India’s IIT. Relative depreciation of trading partner’s real exchange rate enhances India’s imports and inhibits the growth of total and vertical IIT. Geographical distance adversely affects all forms of IIT. JEL Codes: C23, F14
  • Anti-dumping initiations in Indian manufacturing industries
    Sagnik Bagchi, Surajit Bhattacharyya, K. Narayanan
    South Asia Economic Journal, 2015
    Anti-dumping as a new protectionist trade policy has evolved as the popular strategy choice for the trading nations. Since the Uruguay Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) (1994), India has been a prominent user of it. This article attempts to explore the possible factors that might have triggered off 90 percent cases of anti-dumping by five major Indian manufacturing industries over the period 1997–2011. We construct a balanced panel combining data on anti-dumping initiations from the ‘Global Antidumping Database’ with trade data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S)-India and United Nations Comtrade database at the Indian Trade Classification (ITC) based on Harmonized System (HS) two-digit level. Having count data, the empirical model is estimated initially through a random- effects Poisson regression model followed by a negative binomial model. The number of anti-dumping initiations in India is dependent on the value of imports, the presence of a dominant industry lobby and the retaliatory behaviour by the affected domestic firms, among some others. In fact, we find that in determining the number of anti-dumping initiations the conventional economic and foreign affairs policies take a backseat!
  • Does Anti-dumping Enforcement Generate Threat?
    Sagnik Bagchi, Surajit Bhattacharyya, K. Narayanan
    Foreign Trade Review, 2014
    The last two decades have witnessed that countries across the world are guided by the rules and regulations of multilateral trading institutions (for example, World Trade Organization [WTO], International Monetary Fund [IMF]) in order to promote free and fair trade through gradual reduction in trade barriers. The world economy has noticed significant reduction in tariffs, yet we find a rise in non-tariff barriers (NTBs). However, we still find dumping and few other trade strategies of the exporting countries as a major hindrance to free and fair trade. Such behaviour has led to ‘contingent protection’ as a tool of new-protectionism. Among the contingent protection measures, anti-dumping (AD) has evolved as the most popular choice of strategy for the trading nations. The AD policy invokes a threat to the exporter and thereby can change its strategic behaviour. We describe the phenomenon of dumping through a price-leadership model and thereby compute the optimal level of AD duty that can offset dumping. Using a sequential game, we conclude that the credible threat of an AD duty restricts dumping and thereby leads to a win-win situation for both the foreign and domestic firms.

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Social trust and formal institutions: How do they shape public debt?
    S Bagchi, SB Majumder
    Economics of Transition and Institutional Change 33 (3), 519-552 , 2025
    2025
  • Can India’s Export of Services Build Economic Partnerships in South Asia?
    S Bagchi
    Geo-economics in South Asian Environment, 201-226 , 2025
    2025
  • How to Apply the Concepts of Probability Theory in Business Problems
    S Bagchi
    SAGE Publications Ltd , 2025
    2025
  • How to Use Probability Distributions in Predicting Business Outcomes
    S Bagchi
    SAGE Publications Ltd , 2025
    2025
  • Institutions Determine Debt–Growth Relationship: Evidence from Fourth Wave of Debt in EMDEs
    S Bagchi, S Bandhu Majumder, S Banerjee
    International Economic Journal 37 (2), 245-269 , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 2
  • Introduction to Econometrics
    S Bagchi
    Sage Research Methods: Business , 2023
    2023
  • Are export earnings from India’s bilateral intra-industry trade with the US and China robust enough?
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    International Journal of Development Issues 20 (3), 374-392 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 4
  • India's Anti-Dumping Activities: What's at Stake
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    http://mainstreamweekly.net/article11045.html , 2021
    2021
  • Industry-level determinants of India’s vertical and horizontal IIT
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    Indian Economic Review 56 (1), 113-145 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 10
  • Merchandise Trade flows and Economic Growth: Post-WTO Era in India
    BS Majumder, S Bagchi
    Artha Vijnana 63 (1), 88-103 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 1
  • Country-Specific Determinants of Intra-Industry Trade in India
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    Foreign Trade Review 54 (3), 129-158 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 25
  • Is Intra - industry Trade Gainful ? Evidence from Manufacturing Industries of India
    S Bagchi
    Globalisation of Technology, 229-251 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 7
  • Anti-dumping initiations in Indian manufacturing industries
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya, K Narayanan
    South Asia Economic Journal 16 (2), 278-294 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 9
  • Does Anti-dumping Enforcement Generate Threat?
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya, K Narayanan
    Foreign Trade Review 49 (1), 31-44 , 2014
    2014
    Citations: 14
  • Dumping: An Analytical Exercise
    S Bagchi
    The Indian Journal of Economics 104 (374), 385-400 , 2014
    2014

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Country-Specific Determinants of Intra-Industry Trade in India
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    Foreign Trade Review 54 (3), 129-158 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 25
  • Does Anti-dumping Enforcement Generate Threat?
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya, K Narayanan
    Foreign Trade Review 49 (1), 31-44 , 2014
    2014
    Citations: 14
  • Industry-level determinants of India’s vertical and horizontal IIT
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    Indian Economic Review 56 (1), 113-145 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 10
  • Anti-dumping initiations in Indian manufacturing industries
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya, K Narayanan
    South Asia Economic Journal 16 (2), 278-294 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 9
  • Is Intra - industry Trade Gainful ? Evidence from Manufacturing Industries of India
    S Bagchi
    Globalisation of Technology, 229-251 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 7
  • Are export earnings from India’s bilateral intra-industry trade with the US and China robust enough?
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    International Journal of Development Issues 20 (3), 374-392 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 4
  • Institutions Determine Debt–Growth Relationship: Evidence from Fourth Wave of Debt in EMDEs
    S Bagchi, S Bandhu Majumder, S Banerjee
    International Economic Journal 37 (2), 245-269 , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 2
  • Merchandise Trade flows and Economic Growth: Post-WTO Era in India
    BS Majumder, S Bagchi
    Artha Vijnana 63 (1), 88-103 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 1
  • Social trust and formal institutions: How do they shape public debt?
    S Bagchi, SB Majumder
    Economics of Transition and Institutional Change 33 (3), 519-552 , 2025
    2025
  • Can India’s Export of Services Build Economic Partnerships in South Asia?
    S Bagchi
    Geo-economics in South Asian Environment, 201-226 , 2025
    2025
  • How to Apply the Concepts of Probability Theory in Business Problems
    S Bagchi
    SAGE Publications Ltd , 2025
    2025
  • How to Use Probability Distributions in Predicting Business Outcomes
    S Bagchi
    SAGE Publications Ltd , 2025
    2025
  • Introduction to Econometrics
    S Bagchi
    Sage Research Methods: Business , 2023
    2023
  • India's Anti-Dumping Activities: What's at Stake
    S Bagchi, S Bhattacharyya
    http://mainstreamweekly.net/article11045.html , 2021
    2021
  • Dumping: An Analytical Exercise
    S Bagchi
    The Indian Journal of Economics 104 (374), 385-400 , 2014
    2014