03 March, 2017Religion and abortion: The role of politician identity
Debates surrounding abortion invoke both religion and politics. This column examines whether the religious identity of legislators influences abortion rates in the districts in which they are elected,...
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Sonia Bhalotra Irma Clots-Figueras Lakshmi Iyer 
09 April, 2018
- Articles
What happens when investments targeting women’s microbusinesses go to men?
Several studies find that male-operated – but not female-operated – microenterprises benefit from access to grants or loans. Applying the lens of household-level rather than individual-level inves...
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Arielle Bernhardt Erica Field Rohini Pande Natalia Rigol
- 02 May, 2018
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Are Indian girls more educated than their mothers?
While intergenerational educational mobility of father-son pairs in India has been documented to some extent, there is negligible analysis on how daughters compare to their mothers in terms of educati...
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Ashish Singh
- 05 September, 2018
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Do wives care more about household welfare than husbands?
Social science literature shows that women promote household welfare more than men. This column examines if consumption choices of husbands and wives change, depending on whether they have to work to...
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Utteeyo Dasgupta Subha Mani
- 24 February, 2014
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Rape: The shame of a nation
The proliferating number of rape incidents in India is chilling. This column discusses the various perspectives on the causes of rape, and the economic, social and legal factors that play a role in t...
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Chandan Kumar Jha Sudipta Sarangi
- 21 February, 2014
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Why so few women in politics in India?
Women are severely under-represented in political positions across the world. This column analyses constituency-level election data from Indian states to explore why this is so. It finds that while w...
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Mudit Kapoor Shamika Ravi
- 02 January, 2014
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How backward are 'Other Backward Classes' in India?
Since reservations were provided in government bodies for lower castes in the early 90s, ‘Other Backward Classes’ have been an important force in Indian politics at all levels. Has there been a c...
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Ashwini Deshpande Rajesh Ramachandran
- 04 December, 2013
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What explains the stagnation of female labour force participation in urban India?
Over the past two decades, urban India has experienced expansion in women’s education, fertility decline and growth in white-collared jobs. Then why is it that female labour force participation has ...
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Stephan Klasen Janneke Pieters
- 27 September, 2013
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Entrepreneurship or survival? Caste and gender of small business in India
Can entrepreneurship be a vehicle for social mobility in India? This column analyses data from micro, small and medium enterprises, and finds clear and persistent caste and gender disparities in virtu...
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Ashwini Deshpande Smriti Sharma
- 23 September, 2013
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Caste and entrepreneurship in India
It is now widely accepted that the lower castes have risen in Indian politics. Has there been a corresponding change in their entrepreneurial activity? This column seeks to answer this question by ana...
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Lakshmi Iyer Tarun Khanna Ashutosh Varshney
- 26 August, 2013
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Combating gender imbalance through legislation
The rapid decline in the sex ratio in India over the past few decades is an artefact of the historically strong preference for sons over daughters. To address the problem, the Indian government passe...
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Anil Deolalikar Arindam Nandi
- 16 August, 2013
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The power of women's political voice
With more women in power, can India’s women expect to see a fall in violent crime committed against them? This column looks at the effect of a law to mandate minimum numbers for women in public off...
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Lakshmi Iyer Anandi Mani
- 17 June, 2013
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Does caste influence access to agricultural loans in rural India?
Increasing access to agricultural credit in rural India is a major policy priority. This column examines whether farmers’ access to formal agricultural loans depends on their caste. It is found tha...
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Sunil Mitra Kumar
- 03 June, 2013
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Casteism and corruption: beyond political correctness
Sociologist Ashis Nandy’s recent remark that most corrupt people belong to lower castes drew a lot of flak. In this column, Pranab Bardhan shares his views on what he considers to be the two substan...
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Pranab Bardhan
- 12 April, 2013
- Perspectives
Saving Behaviour in India: Understanding the differences across castes
The past three decades in India have witnessed a sharp reduction in the historically large gaps in the education levels, occupation choices and wages of the backward castes relative to the rest of the...
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Viktoria Hnatkovska Amartya Lahiri
- 01 March, 2013
- IGC Research on India
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Social Identity Posts
Unity in cricket: Integrated leagues and caste divisions
A growing body of evidence supports the idea that intergroup contact can reduce discrimination. However, different types of contact – collaborative or adversarial – may have different effects. Bas...
- Matt Lowe
- 23 May, 2018
- Articles
What happens when investments targeting women’s microbusinesses go to men?
Several studies find that male-operated – but not female-operated – microenterprises benefit from access to grants or loans. Applying the lens of household-level rather than individual-level inves...
- Arielle Bernhardt Erica Field Rohini Pande Natalia Rigol
- 02 May, 2018
- Articles
Impact of the two-child limit for local politicians
Some Indian states debar individuals with more than two children from contesting local elections. This column finds that while the law has significantly reduced fertility among the general population...
- S. Anukriti Abhishek Chakravarty
- 02 March, 2015
- Articles