.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
.svg)
.svg)
Samuel Asher
Sam is an assistant professor in the Department of International Economics at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Prior to this he was an economist at the Development Research Group (DECRG) at the World Bank. He is also an associate of the Center for International Development (Harvard University) and an affiliate at the Centre for Policy Research (New Delhi). He received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and was then a postdoctoral research fellow in the Economics Department and Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
His research focuses on economic development, with a particular interest in political economy and the constraints faced by firms. He is also starting new work on patterns of urbanisation, including the spatial distribution of economic activity in Indian cities. Most of his work is on India, where he has been working since 2005, although he is in the early phases of work on the determinants of infrastructure costs in East Africa.
.svg)
The long-run effects of agricultural productivity gains: Evidence from irrigation canals in India
Evidence from canals in India shows that labour mobility is a key channel to agricultural growth. This article shows that villages with access to canal water have persistently higher agricultural yields and higher population density for decades after canals are built. While the non-farm share of the economy is no different in canal and non-canal villages, nearby towns grew more quickly after canals were built. Structural transformation has taken place primarily through the migration of people to towns.
Rapid Response Project on Indian Firm Data
In March 2015, IGC organised a Workshop on Industry Data, held in Delhi. The workshop provided an opportunity for academics, policy makers and government agencies to discuss difficulties they face with using or collecting datasets on Indian firms, and define the steps for a way forward to improve the quality of the data available in these areas.
Digging for dirt: Rent-seeking among elected politicians in India’s mineral belt
The Indian mining industry is no stranger to corruption scandals and every year dozens of environmental activists are murdered for exposing illegal mining activities. This article discusses the impact of mining on political behaviour and finds that mineral rent booms increase the likelihood of criminally charged politicians entering office (adverse selection) and result in increased assets of politicians already in office (moral hazard).
Do ruling coalition-affiliated MLAs bring more development to their constituencies?
Despite the dismantling of the License Raj in the 1990s, interaction with government officials remains an important impediment to doing business in India. This column analyses the role of politics in determining which regions succeed and fail, and finds that MLAs from ruling parties make it easier for firms to do business in their constituencies. They do so not by providing public goods, but by helping firms clear bureaucratic hurdles that would otherwise hinder their operations.
The SHRUG: A new high-resolution data platform for research on India
The Socioeconomic High-resolution Rural-Urban Geographic Dataset on India (SHRUG) is a new data source that describes socioeconomic development in India. In this post, Asher, Lunt, and Novosad describe its construction and particular advantages over existing datasets for research on economic development.