Deep Mukherjee

Research

I started to learn the art of applied economic research in 2001 when I was working on a field-project addressing drinking water quality issues for partial fulfilment of my BA degree. In that project course, I got exposure to research methods like questionnaire preparation, conducting small scale household surveys, and academic writing. My experience with independent research design and project management began in 2003, when I got a summer internship opportunity in a private bank which was interested in learning about perception of customers of public sector banks on private banks. I conducted a small public opinion survey among bank customers. Some of my teachers at JU and ISI inspired me to publish a short paper based on the findings and with their generous help I was able to get my first publication in 2006!

For my PhD, I decided to work on the interactions between agriculture and climate change and focused on US dairy sector. In first two essays, I studied the impact of heat stress on productive efficiency of dairy farmers and impact of adaptation of cooling technology on cow productivity and farm profitability. The third essay dealt with Optimal location and economic viability analysis for centralized biodigester system based on manure originating at small-scale dairy farms.

After obtaining my PhD and short-term post-doctoral research experience in the US, I decided to change my research focus. I got an opportunity to be involved with a randomized controlled trial experiment on the effectiveness of agricultural extension services in Karnataka. I was in charge of study site selection, baseline survey, and monitoring the extension program in the first year. Learnings from that project made me interested in studying the issues of low productivity of Indian farmers. Since I became a faculty, my research focuses on issues related to agriculture, energy, and the environment of India.