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Tag Search: “democracy”

She wins: Electing women in ethnically divided societies

The Indian Constitution reserves a minimum of 33% of village council head positions for women, and Bihar is among the nine states that have opted for 50% reservation. This note investigates how gender...

  • Notes from the Field

Lineage norms and women’s political participation

While reservation for local political representation of women has made major headway, this has not addressed the structural problems that prevent the full incorporation of women into politics. Based ...

  • Articles

2021 West Bengal Assembly election: Did the Covid-19 surge matter?

In the recent Assembly elections in the state of West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress bucked an anti-incumbency headwind to secure victory. Using electoral data from 2016, 2019, and 2021, Ghata...

  • Perspectives

Leaders and citizens: Women’s political participation in India

Women’s political participation has emerged as a key element of the discourse around the upcoming state elections in India. In this post, Nalini Gulati and Ella Spencer explore the evidence on various...

  • Perspectives

When criminality begets crime: The role of elected politicians

The criminalisation of politics has become a massive threat to society. While the impact of criminally accused leaders on economic outcomes has been studied in the literature, little is known about th...

  • Perspectives

A world of no lockdowns: The case of South Korea and Sweden

While most of the world was under lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, two countries, Sweden and South Korea, decided to keep their economies open. In this post, Bhatia et al. use a metric o...

  • Perspectives

Drought relief by state governments: Evidence from South India

In developing countries, extreme climate events can have disastrous consequences for vulnerable populations. This article analyses state government’s responses to droughts in South India during 2008-2...

  • Articles

Regionalist party representation and tribal insecurity

Observers have long been ambivalent about regionalism as a principle underlying the organisation of politics. Analysing data from India, this article shows that when regionalist parties win elections,...

  • Articles

Ethnic identities, public spending, and political regimes

Do democracies discriminate less against minorities as compared to non-democracies? How does the dominance of an ethnic group affect discrimination under various political regimes? Presenting a theore...

  • Articles

Does the right to vote affect political behaviour? Historical evidence from India

Democracies are known to have better economic development outcomes over the longer run. However, it is not clear whether giving citizens the right to vote is sufficient for ensuring an effective degre...

  • Articles

Covid-19: Is it time to decentralise power?

Raghuram Rajan speaks to Econ Film’s CoronaNomics show, on the merits of de-centralised governance in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, how local authorities can be empowered, and the risk of ...

  • Videos

Do politicians receive special treatment in courts?

Do Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) facing pending criminal cases receive favourable treatment in the Indian legal system? This article uncovers opposite effects of winning office, depending o...

  • Articles