Is it better to be governed by an elected leader or appointed bureaucrat?
The division of governance functions and responsibilities between politicians and bureaucrats varies, both across and within political regimes. Based on an experiment in Karnataka, this article examin...
- Abhishek Arora Siddharth George Nivedita Mantha Vijayendra Rao M.R. Sharan
- 25 September, 2024
- Articles
Why political competition matters when inequality is high
In a high-inequality setting, local politicians with secure positions may favour the rich by diverting resources towards them, at the cost of the poor. To test this hypothesis, this article analyses d...
- Anders Kjelsrud Kalle Moene Lore Vandewalle
- 13 September, 2024
- Articles
The ‘Odisha model’ for disaster resilience
From its management of the devastating Super Cyclone in 1999 to the more recent challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state of Odisha has been a testament to the power of adaptive governance....
- Souryabrata Mohapatra
- 16 August, 2024
- Perspectives
Fiscal transfers and natural calamities: Does political alignment matter?
Fiscal transfers from the central government serve as an important mechanism for state governments to mitigate adverse impacts of extreme climate events. This article demonstrates that higher allocati...
- K. S. Kavi Kumar Anubhab Pattanayak
- 14 November, 2024
- Articles
Is it better to be governed by an elected leader or appointed bureaucrat?
The division of governance functions and responsibilities between politicians and bureaucrats varies, both across and within political regimes. Based on an experiment in Karnataka, this article examin...
- Abhishek Arora Siddharth George Nivedita Mantha Vijayendra Rao M.R. Sharan
- 25 September, 2024
- Articles
Why political competition matters when inequality is high
In a high-inequality setting, local politicians with secure positions may favour the rich by diverting resources towards them, at the cost of the poor. To test this hypothesis, this article analyses d...
- Anders Kjelsrud Kalle Moene Lore Vandewalle
- 13 September, 2024
- Articles
Expected or unexpected? Strategic communication around audits to maximise deterrence
Even with evidence on how audits can be designed to be more effective in deterring corruption by bureaucrats, in practice, budget constraints restrict governments from being able to conduct audits wit...
- Wendy Wong
- 11 September, 2024
- Articles
The ‘Odisha model’ for disaster resilience
From its management of the devastating Super Cyclone in 1999 to the more recent challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state of Odisha has been a testament to the power of adaptive governance....
- Souryabrata Mohapatra
- 16 August, 2024
- Perspectives
From numbers to impact: Learning from effective data management in Rajasthan
Access to good data is critical for evidence-based decision-making in policy. In this note, Santhosh and Kapur discuss insights from a study of Rajasthan’s experience with collecting, sharing and us...
- Avani Kapur Sidharth Santhosh
- 31 May, 2024
- Notes from the Field
What does Mission Antyodaya data say about rural deprivation?
Public provisioning of basic facilities such as health and education, remains crucial for marginalised populations. In the context of the decentralised structure of governance and fund allocation in I...
- Puja Guha Neeraj Hatekar Amalendu Jyotishi
- 27 May, 2024
- Perspectives
Reshaping social protection in India
As India has undergone a transformation in recent decades in terms of trends such as poverty reduction, food security and urbanisation, there is a need to also revamp the traditional social protection...
- Ejaz Ghani
- 12 April, 2024
- Perspectives
What explains policy change? Understanding the historical political economy of India
Drawing on insights from his new book, ‘History of Economic Policy in India’, Rahul De frames policy change as precipitating through three circumstances: crisis, coalitions, and contingency. He us...
- Rahul De
- 05 January, 2024
- Perspectives
Political determinants of newspaper markets in India
Newspapers are an important source of political information for Indian voters. This article looks at how political factors influence the newspaper market. Using the announcement of delimitation in the...
- Julia Cagé Guilhem Cassan Francesca R. Jensenius
- 23 November, 2023
- Articles
The growing wave of decentralisation: Comparative evidence from developing countries
Over the last few decades, decentralisation has been rapidly spreading in developing countries across the world, with around 35 countries announcing new or deepening decentralisation reforms in recent...
- Jean-Paul Faguet Lakshmi Iyer Sarmistha Pal
- 16 November, 2023
- Videos
The growing wave of decentralisation: Comparative evidence from developing countries
Over the last few decades, decentralisation has been rapidly spreading in developing countries across the world, with around 35 countries announcing new or deepening decentralisation reforms in recent...
- Jean-Paul Faguet Lakshmi Iyer Sarmistha Pal
- 16 November, 2023
- Podcasts
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Governance Posts
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
Caste dominance in rural India: Cause and effect
Rural India remains a caste-based society. This column explores why caste continues to play such an important role and what the effects are. It argues that trade and agricultural productivity suffer, ...
- Siwan Anderson
- 16 August, 2012
- Articles
The digital dream: Upskilling India for the future
While the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace at which technology is becoming commonplace in our lives, it has also exposed a stark digital divide, leaving a large proportion of India’s popul...
- Venugopal Mothkoor Fatima Mumtaz
- 23 March, 2021
- Perspectives