28 April, 2022Do value-added taxes benefit firms? Evidence from the adoption of state-specific value-added taxes
Value-added tax (VAT) systems have grown popular in the last 30 years, especially among developing countries looking for ways to raise tax revenue efficiently. Using 2000-2012 data on product, state-s...
-
David Agrawal Laura Zimmermann 
25 May, 2022
- Articles
Does going cashless make you tax-rich? Evidence from India’s demonetisation
During 2014-2017, the share of adults using electronic payments in the developing world increased by over a third, and policymakers have expressed optimism regarding the role of this trend in promotin...
-
Lucie Gadenne Tushar Nandi Ross Warwick
- 28 March, 2022
- Articles
Fixing incentives for power plants to reduce outages
Consumers in India face frequent power outages despite relatively high-quality infrastructure and ample supply of power plants. This article identifies a novel explanation for India’s blackouts: whe...
-
Fiona Burlig Akshaya Jha Louis Preonas
- 08 April, 2022
- Articles
Surrogacy bill: Implications and way forward
Contributing to the ongoing debate on India’s surrogacy bill, Dutta and Sarkar discuss the potential implications of the bill on the country’s billion-dollar surrogacy industry. They contend that ...
-
Souvik Dutta Subhasree Sarkar
- 06 November, 2016
- Perspectives
Improving School Governance at Scale: A Randomised Evaluation of the Madhya Pradesh School Quality Assessment Programme
Weak governance is a critical constraint in delivering quality education in developing countries. This project conducts a randomised evaluation of one of the most ambitious recent attempts by a develo...
-
Karthik Muralidharan Abhijeet Singh
- 31 October, 2016
- IGC Research on India
Can the female sarpanch deliver? Evidence from Maharashtra
One-third of all seats in village councils are reserved for women. The government has proposed an increase in quota to 50%, and in the period of reservation from five to 10 years. Based on a survey co...
-
Mithila Biniwale Stephan Klasen Jan Priebe Dhanmanjiri Sathe
- 23 October, 2016
- Articles
Banning commercial surrogacy in India
In an attempt to protect the welfare of surrogate mothers, the Indian government has proposed to introduce legislation that will ban commercial surrogacy in the country. In this article, Ajit Karnik, ...
-
Ajit Karnik
- 05 October, 2016
- Perspectives
The Political Effects of Programmatic Development Policy: Can Bihar Break the Clientelist Trap?
This project aims to understand the conditions of supporting the continuation and expansion of programmatic governance in Bihar state. Bihar’s "clientelism trap" (incentives to return to clientelist...
-
Jonathan Phillips
- 30 September, 2016
- IGC Research on India
Modi and his challenges: Leading India on its march to prosperity
Despite Narendra Modi’s successful leadership as Chief Minister of Gujarat, some question his ability to achieve the same progress at the national level as India’s Prime Minister. In this article,...
-
Rajiv Kumar
- 21 September, 2016
- Perspectives
Building connections: Political corruption and road construction in India
Rural infrastructure programmes of the government create new opportunities for growth but also for corruption. This column studies India’s flagship rural road construction programme and finds eviden...
-
Oliver Eynde Jonathan Lehne Jacob Shapiro
- 13 September, 2016
- Articles
Surrogacy bill: Boon or ban(e)?
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 proposes a complete ban on commercial surrogacy and restrictions on altruistic surrogacy. In this article, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics, London School...
-
Maitreesh Ghatak
- 07 September, 2016
- Perspectives
Data openness and the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill
According to the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, the acquisition or use of any geospatial information will require permission from a government authority. In this note, Ghosh and Malhotr...
-
Samayita Ghosh Khusdeep Malhotra
- 05 September, 2016
- Notes from the Field
I4I Panel Discussion: Two years of Modi government
In a panel discussion organised to mark the 4th anniversary of Ideas for India, Parikshit Ghosh (Member of the I4I Editorial Board & Associate Professor, Delhi School of Economics) moderates a discus...
-
Pranab Bardhan Parikshit Ghosh Pratap Bhanu Mehta Mihir Sharma
- 29 August, 2016
- Videos
How participatory is work planning under MNREGA?
In 2014, the Ministry of Rural Development introduced the ‘Intensive Participatory Planning Exercise’ (IPPE) framework in 2,500 most backward blocks of the country, with the objective of making th...
-
Akshay Ahuja
- 26 August, 2016
- Notes from the Field
Justice delayed is development denied: The effect of slow courts on economic outcomes in India
India's formal judicial system is infamously slow, even for a developing country. What is less well established is whether this matters to economic outcomes. This column uses state-level variation in ...
-
Amrit Amirapu
- 22 August, 2016
- Articles
Twitter feed
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
Rethinking cadre allocation procedures in civil services
The allocation procedure of All-India Services’ officers to states is an important aspect of personnel administration in the public sector. This article shows that a change in allocation policy in 2...
- Ashutosh Thakur
- 18 March, 2019
- Articles