24 April, 2019(Un)ease of doing business: How congested courts hinder firm productivity
The strength of contract enforcement determines how firms source inputs and organise production, and hence influences productivity. Using microdata on Indian manufacturing, this article quantifies the...
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Johannes Boehm Ezra Oberfield 
01 March, 2019
- Articles
Using mobiles to improve governance
Measuring how well major public programmes are implemented remains a core governance challenge. With the increasing mobile-phone penetration in the country, Muralidharan, Niehaus, Sukhtankar, and Weav...
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Karthik Muralidharan Paul Niehaus Sandip Sukhtankar Jeffrey Weaver
- 26 June, 2019
- Perspectives
Ujjwala 2.0: What should be done next?
Stopping the use of wood and other solid fuels for cooking and other household uses is crucial to mitigating air pollution and its staggeringly high health impacts in India. In 2016, the government an...
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Ambuj Sagar Alok Tripathi
- 22 July, 2019
- Articles
What's the plan for MNREGA?
The new government’s plans to scale back MNREGA have elicited a mixed response. In this article, Abhijit Banerjee contends that both supporters and critics, and indeed the entire nation, deserve to ...
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Abhijit Banerjee
- 02 December, 2014
- Articles
Impact of Elite Capture on the Provision of Public Services
This project studies the effectiveness of major Government programmes in JEEViKA (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project) villages versus others to see whether the presence of self-help groups leads to impro...
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Lata Gangadharan Tarun Jain Pushkar Maitra Joseph Vecci
- 01 December, 2014
- IGC Research on India
The Bihar story: Resurrection of the state
In the not so distant past, the Indian state of Bihar was a byword for corruption, lawlessness, poverty, and absence of governance. Over the last decade or so, the state has demonstrated a remarkable ...
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Jitan Manjhi
- 26 November, 2014
- Perspectives
Politics and MNREGA: A limited Link in Andhra Pradesh
The Ministry of Rural Development claims that MNREGA needs to be changed in order to reduce politics and corruption in the scheme. One of the studies cited by the Ministry is an analysis of the exten...
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Christopher B. Barrett Yanyan Liu Sudha Narayanan Megan Sheahan
- 19 November, 2014
- Articles
Slow and steady: Lessons from MNREGA
As the new government in India is considering changes to MNREGA, it is timely to reflect on its implementation trajectory so far. In this note, Adhikari and Sabhikhi discuss five aspects of programme...
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Anindita Adhikari Inayat Sabhikhi
- 10 November, 2014
- Notes
A conversation on Bihar
I4I Guest Editor Karthik Muralidharan (Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego) speaks with Anjani Kumar Singh (Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar) during the IGC Grow...
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Karthik Muralidharan Anjani Singh
- 03 November, 2014
- Perspectives
Impact of direct benefit transfer on leakage in cooking fuel subsidy
In many developing countries, pervasive corruption and evasion often undermine the provision of public programmes. This project focusses on India where a large universal programme provides US$ 8 billi...
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Prabhat Barnwal
- 31 October, 2014
- IGC Research on India
Connecting the Red Corridor: Infrastructure Provision in Conflict Zones
This project introduces a unique, integrated dataset on Maoist activity, three flagship programmes for rural infrastructure development (PMGSY, RGGVY, and USOF), and a dedicated programme targeted at ...
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Oliver Eynde Jacob Shapiro
- 31 October, 2014
- IGC Research on India
Saving people's livelihoods
The new government is seeking to alter the essence of MNREGA based on the premise that it is not useful in its current form. In this article, Sudha Narayanan criticises the move and argues that despi...
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Sudha Narayanan
- 28 October, 2014
- Perspectives
To decentralise or not to decentralise? The dilemma of MNREGA in Andhra Pradesh
Employment generated under MNREGA has been on the decline in recent years across India. This column analyses whether political dynamics influence the implementation of MNREGA by contrasting the imple...
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Diego Maiorano
- 14 October, 2014
- Articles
Can social media and internet help reduce corruption?
The extensive use of social media was a key factor in the success of the anti-corruption movement in India in 2011. This column uses cross-country data to explore the role of social media and interne...
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Chandan Kumar Jha
- 07 October, 2014
- Articles
Estimating kerosene leakages from the Public Distribution System
Kerosene – the primary fuel used by the poor in India for cooking and lighting – is made available at subsidised rates by the government through the Public Distribution System. This column seeks ...
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Prankur Gupta
- 24 September, 2014
- Articles
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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
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
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