Phone-based assessment data: Triangulating schools’ learning outcomes
Recent research has shown that schools often report overestimated learning outcomes, as they fear adverse consequences if they report poor performance. In this post, Gupta et al. describe a pilot stud...
Rahul Ahluwalia
Vaani Chopra
Saloni Gupta
Niharika Gupta
Azeem Panjwani
Kumar Satyam
Prakhar Singh
11 January, 2023
- Articles
The promise of technology for women’s employment
The growth of digital labour platforms holds tremendous potential to improve employment outcomes for India’s young, urban population. In this post, Farzana Afridi discusses the challenges in leverag...
Farzana Afridi
19 January, 2023
- Perspectives
How human and ecosystem health are intertwined: Evidence from vulture population collapse in India
Livestock farmers in India have historically relied on vultures to dispose of dead animals. However, the collapse of vulture populations in India due to accidental poisoning has prevented the scavengi...
Eyal Frank
Anant Sudarshan
18 January, 2023
- Articles
Tracking learning outcomes: ASER’s work through the pandemic
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns, schools quickly pivoted to online learning. However, there was limited information about whether children had access to learning m...
Rukmini Banerji
Wilima Wadhwa
31 October, 2022
- Videos
The future of work from home
With the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, work from home became the norm in 2020. However, even though mobility restrictions have been lifted, many workplaces all over the world continue to follow a m...
Nicholas Bloom
Nirvikar Singh
29 July, 2022
- Podcasts
Learnings from emissions trade in India
India, and many developing nations in other parts of the world take solace in the U-shaped Kuznets curve: a belief in this inverse relationship between income and environmental quality results in not ...
Michael Greenstone
Anant Sudarshan
20 September, 2022
- Videos
Latest
Creative destruction and catch-up growth in India
In this post, Peters and Zilibotti compare the size of firms in India and the US, and find that the 90% of firms in India have four employees or less, and attribute it to the absence of creative destr...
Michael Peters
Fabrizio Zilibotti
27 January, 2023
- Articles
Irrigation and the spatial pattern of local economic development in India
Irrigation projects across India are intended to boost agricultural productivity and rural development. In this post, Blakeslee et al. study the long-run effects of access to irrigation on the composi...
David Blakeslee
Aaditya Dar
Ram Fishman
Samreen Malik
Heitor Pellegrina
Karan Singh Bagavathinathan
25 January, 2023
- Articles
Is open defecation still prevalent in rural north India?
In an attempt to understand open defecation in four focus states in the aftermath of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Vyas and Gupta evaluate the findings of the NFHS-5. They note that the NFHS is likely to...
Aashish Gupta
Sangita Vyas
20 January, 2023
- Articles
The promise of technology for women’s employment
The growth of digital labour platforms holds tremendous potential to improve employment outcomes for India’s young, urban population. In this post, Farzana Afridi discusses the challenges in leverag...
Farzana Afridi
19 January, 2023
- Perspectives
How human and ecosystem health are intertwined: Evidence from vulture population collapse in India
Livestock farmers in India have historically relied on vultures to dispose of dead animals. However, the collapse of vulture populations in India due to accidental poisoning has prevented the scavengi...
Eyal Frank
Anant Sudarshan
18 January, 2023
- Articles
Most Popular
Land in India: Market price vs. fundamental value
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015, is focused on protecting the few home buyers who can afford to buy homes but does not address the issue of high land prices, which is a very se...
Gurbachan Singh
29 February, 2016
- Articles
Unique Health Identification and Aadhaar: A case for mandatory linkage
As part of the Digital India initiative, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issues a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number to each patient, which documents their entire journey in th...
Mudit Kapoor
23 December, 2016
- Perspectives
Land records and titles in India
Land ownership is broadly determined by access to a land title, which protects the rights of the title-holder, and impacts livelihoods, and industrial, economic, and social growth. However, land title...
Prachee Mishra
Roopal Suhag
20 November, 2017
- Perspectives
Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: District-level estimates from Census 2011
The 2011 Indian Census data show a higher growth rate of Muslim population compared to the Hindu population. This article provides an in-depth picture of Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials at the di...
Saswata Ghosh
27 March, 2019
- Articles
A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India
Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...
Guilhem Cassan
Daniel Keniston
Tatjana Kleineberg
18 November, 2022
- Articles
Symposium
Introduction to e-Symposium: The architecture of affirmative action
The Supreme Court of India recently upheld an amendment that excluded Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backwards Classes from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, restricting it on...
Parikshit Ghosh
12 December, 2022
Introduction to e-Symposium: Estimation of poverty in India
Estimates of poverty in India put forth in two papers published earlier this year – by Bhalla, Bhasin and Virmani; and Roy and van der Weide – have sparked the “Great Indian Poverty Debate 2.0...
Maitreesh Ghatak
10 October, 2022
Introduction to e-Symposium: The good jobs challenge in India
One of the primary concerns for India is the question of jobs – specifically good quality jobs. Why has India lagged in creating opportunities for its working age population, and how different secto...
Kunal Sen
Nirvikar Singh
12 September, 2022
Explainers
The impact of robotisation on the world economy: A forward-looking review
Robots have long existed in human imagination and only recently in the real world. The baggage of past imagination often intrudes into our understanding of how real robots will affect our economic liv...
Siddhartha Mitra
25 July, 2018
GST Explainer: Introduction
Seventeen years after its framework was formed, India’s biggest tax reform – the goods and services tax – was rolled out on 1 July 2017. Some consider the ‘one nation, one tax’ system to be ...
Ashok Kotwal
30 June, 2018
Explainer: Conceptual foundations of cryptocurrencies
In recent times, cryptocurrencies have become a subject of intense deliberations among policymakers, market participants, investors, and other stakeholders. Whether cryptocurrencies will revolutionis...
Radhika Pandey
Bhavyaa Sharma
31 May, 2018
Browse By Topic
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Agriculture Show this topicHide this topic
Irrigation and the spatial pattern of local economic development in India
Irrigation projects across India are intended to boost agricultural productivity and rural development. In this post, Blakeslee et al. study the long-run effects of access to irrigation on the composi...
David Blakeslee
Aaditya Dar
Ram Fishman
Samreen Malik
Heitor Pellegrina
Karan Singh Bagavathinathan
25 January, 2023
- Articles
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Macroeconomics Show this topicHide this topic
What contributed to the slowdown of the Indian economy during 2019-20
This article analyses the sources and correlates of the economic slowdown in the Indian economy during 2019-20. It establishes that the slowdown was largely confined to one year, and to the manufactur...
Poonam Gupta
28 October, 2022
- Articles
Little evidence for 'too much finance'
Rachel Cho
Rodolphe Desbordes
Markus Eberhardt
30 May, 2022
- Articles
An illusory Phillips curve: Is now the right time for a rate hike?
Parantap Basu
19 May, 2022
- Perspectives
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Human Development Show this topicHide this topic
Is open defecation still prevalent in rural north India?
In an attempt to understand open defecation in four focus states in the aftermath of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Vyas and Gupta evaluate the findings of the NFHS-5. They note that the NFHS is likely to...
Aashish Gupta
Sangita Vyas
20 January, 2023
- Articles
Phone-based assessment data: Triangulating schools’ learning outcomes
Rahul Ahluwalia
Vaani Chopra
Saloni Gupta
Niharika Gupta
Azeem Panjwani
Kumar Satyam
Prakhar Singh
11 January, 2023
- Articles
Credit cooperatives: Promoting worker well-being during crises?
Devika Oberoi
06 January, 2023
- Perspectives
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Social Identity Show this topicHide this topic
Motherhood, childcare and wages in India
Despite studies emphasising the role of parenthood as central to gender wage inequality in wealthy countries, these wage dynamics in developing countries are poorly understood. This article looks at t...
Leila Gautham
05 December, 2022
- Articles
A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India
Guilhem Cassan
Daniel Keniston
Tatjana Kleineberg
18 November, 2022
- Articles
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Governance Show this topicHide this topic
Does being local matter? Administrative decentralisation and human development
In this post, Chaudhary and Iyer discuss the administrative decentralisation reforms brought about by the Panchayati Raj Act, and measure the effect of decentralisation on the provision of public serv...
Latika Chaudhary
Lakshmi Iyer
13 January, 2023
- Articles
Analysing e-governance service delivery outcomes: Insights from eTaal
Fatima Mumtaz
Anand Trivedi
04 January, 2023
- Perspectives
Improving admissions to technical colleges in India
Orhan Aygün
Bertan Turhan
M. Bumin Yenmez
16 December, 2022
- Perspectives
Challenges of executing EWS reservation efficiently
Orhan Aygün
Bertan Turhan
M. Bumin Yenmez
14 December, 2022
- Perspectives
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Poverty & Inequality Show this topicHide this topic
Statistical priorities for the ‘Great Indian Poverty Debate 2.0’
In the final post of a six-part series on the estimation of poverty in India, Himanshu summarises attempts by researchers to estimate poverty using three varied approaches, given the lack of official ...
Himanshu .
15 October, 2022
- Perspectives
Filling a gaping hole in the World Bank’s global poverty measures
Martin Ravallion
14 October, 2022
- Perspectives
Extreme poverty in India is yet to be eliminated: A comment on BBV
Sutirtha Sinha Roy
Roy Van der Weide
13 October, 2022
- Perspectives
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Environment Show this topicHide this topic
How human and ecosystem health are intertwined: Evidence from vulture population collapse in India
Livestock farmers in India have historically relied on vultures to dispose of dead animals. However, the collapse of vulture populations in India due to accidental poisoning has prevented the scavengi...
Eyal Frank
Anant Sudarshan
18 January, 2023
- Articles
How could Indian law tackle climate governance?
Navroz K. Dubash
Anirudh Sridhar
04 November, 2022
- Perspectives
Trade-offs in carbon trading: Can a carbon market yield benefits for India?
Aman Srivastava
Ashwini K. Swain
18 October, 2022
- Perspectives
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Money & Finance Show this topicHide this topic
The disruptive market power of foreign portfolio investors in the face of tax threat
Foreign portfolio investors in emerging markets are known to exit host capital markets promptly if any policy changes impose additional costs. Based on an analysis of daily trading data during a perio...
Hisham Farag
Andrew Marshall
Biwesh Neupane
Suman Neupane
Chandra Thapa
02 November, 2022
- Articles
The low productivity trap of collateralised lending for MSMEs
Harsh Vardhan
07 October, 2022
- Perspectives
How NBFCs are reinventing MSME finance
Rohit Chandra
Nishanth Muthusamy
15 September, 2022
- Perspectives
Accumulation of household debt in India: Repercussions for economic recovery
Isha Gupta
18 July, 2022
- Perspectives
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Productivity & Innovation Show this topicHide this topic
Creative destruction and catch-up growth in India
In this post, Peters and Zilibotti compare the size of firms in India and the US, and find that the 90% of firms in India have four employees or less, and attribute it to the absence of creative destr...
Michael Peters
Fabrizio Zilibotti
27 January, 2023
- Articles
Mirroring realities: Digital technology through the eyes of women microentrepreneurs
Aneysha Roy
29 November, 2022
- Notes from the Field
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Urbanisation Show this topicHide this topic
The role of cities in ensuring good jobs
In light of India's rapid urbanisation, Rana Hasan looks at various factors which set large cities apart from smaller cities and rural areas: more job opportunities, higher wages, large manufacturing ...
Rana Hasan
14 September, 2022
- Perspectives
Are cities holding India back from reaching its ambitious net zero targets?
Sam Downes
Jagan Shah
10 August, 2022
- Perspectives
Urban India's housing supply response to migration-induced demand
Arnab Datta
Sahil Gandhi
Richard Green
24 June, 2022
- Articles
Making city planning democratic: Reflections from ‘Main Bhi Dilli’ campaign
Shalaka Chauhan
29 October, 2021
- Notes from the Field
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Trade Show this topicHide this topic
The impact of services trade on non-tradable services in India
A share of India's service sector growth can be attributed to tradable services, which can also have positive productivity impacts on manufacturing. This article looks at the effect of services trade ...
Besart Avdiu
Ritam Chaurey
Gaurav Nayyar
Karan Singh Bagavathinathan
25 November, 2022
- Articles
Opportunities, risks and realities of India’s participation in global value chains
Karishma Banga
17 September, 2022
- Perspectives
How tradable services can aid the jobs challenge in India
Rupa Chanda
16 September, 2022
- Perspectives
Has the export-oriented manufacturing model reached its sell-by date for India?
Devashish Mitra
12 September, 2022
- Perspectives
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Miscellany Show this topicHide this topic
I4I@10: Annual lecture and panel discussion
We invite you to join us on 22 December, 2022, as we bring to you Ideas for India’s annual lecture and panel discussion to celebrate 10 years of I4I! Featuring an in-person meeting for the first tim...
I4I Team
15 December, 2022
- Editors Corner