19 December, 2018Like father, like son? The economic impacts of political dynasties in India
Political dynasties remain ubiquitous in democratic countries even though many societies democratised to end hereditary rule. This article studies how dynastic politics affects economic development in...
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Siddharth George 
19 December, 2018
- Articles
(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
How leader identity impacts group coordination
In principle, leaders can facilitate group coordination towards a common goal but in diverse societies, their effectiveness may depend upon their social identity, and how citizens react to leader iden...
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Irma Clots-Figueras Sonia Bhalotra Lakshmi Iyer Joseph Vecci
- 22 October, 2018
- Articles
Governance and public service delivery in India
The International Growth Centre recently produced a synthesis paper (Afridi 2017) bringing together insights from its research on governance and public service delivery in India, over the past seven y...
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Farzana Afridi Nalini Gulati
- 07 August, 2017
- Perspectives
Midday meals scheme: Are corruption claims exaggerated?
Soon after Aadhaar was made compulsory for availing midday meals in schools, the government claimed that the move had helped expose several instances of schools siphoning off funds under the scheme by...
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Monika Yadav
- 31 July, 2017
- Articles
Why 'free' speech is not always 'costless'
A recent CBI raid at the premises of the owners of NDTV has sparked off yet another round of debates about freedom of the media, the spectre of authoritarianism, and freedom of expression in India. In...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 19 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Juvenile delinquency and income disparity across Indian states?
The gravity and frequency of juvenile crime incidents in recent years point towards the urgent need for rigorous analysis of the issue. Based on data from Indian states, this column shows that juvenil...
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Nabamita Dutta Dipparna Jana Saibal Kar
- 05 June, 2017
- Articles
The development disconnect: MNREGA in Bihar's Jamui district
In this note, Amrita Dhiman describes her team’s visit to Jamui district in Bihar – the district that is supposed to have generated the highest number of person-days under MNREGA in its division i...
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Amrita Dhiman
- 02 June, 2017
- Notes
Aadhaar: It's not black and white
Amidst the emerging privacy concerns surrounding the success of Aadhaar and its integration in our day-to-day lives, Outline India conducted a survey in Delhi to understand people's reception of Aadh...
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Anindita Adhikari
- 31 May, 2017
- Perspectives
The state of the economy and mass perception
In this article, Ashwini Kulkarni of NGO Pragati Abhiyan contends that the media should tap into the knowledge of practitioners that are familiar with the ground realities of social sector schemes –...
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Ashwini Kulkarni
- 19 May, 2017
- Perspectives
A proposal for public funding of elections and political parties in India
The Finance Minister of India recently introduced measures aimed at cleaning up political party funding in the country. In this article, Gowda and Santhosh highlight the limitations of these measures,...
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M.V. Rajeev Gowda Varun Santhosh
- 21 April, 2017
- Perspectives
Consumption spikes and election delays
There is ample anecdotal evidence on political parties bribing voters with cash or consumption goods prior to elections, in India and other developing countries. However, there is an expected lack of ...
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Shabana Mitra Anirban Mitra Arnab Mukherji
- 20 April, 2017
- Articles
Free speech and the rule of law
In this article, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, argues that the fight over freedom of expression in India is a shadow fight; the real fight is about preser...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 07 April, 2017
- Perspectives
Tax, lies, and red tape
Weak institutional environments in poor countries may lead to lower tax compliance by firms. This may be especially true for family firms, whose owners have higher stakes in the firm and longer horizo...
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Megha Patnaik
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
Bidding for roads
This project aims to understand how to make it harder for local politicians to capture small-scale infrastructure projects. In the context of the bidding process for contracts under India’s flagship...
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Oliver Eynde Jacob Shapiro
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
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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
Rural development programmes: Implementation challenges and solutions
With a majority of the population living in rural areas in India, rural development is key to the development of the country. Based on his experience of working closely with the district administratio...
- Pushkar Pahwa
- 17 March, 2017
- Perspectives
Charting a course for the Indian economy
Karthik Muralidharan (Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego) speaks with Arvind Subramanian (Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India) on a broad set of issues rang...
- Karthik Muralidharan Arvind Subramanian
- 05 August, 2015
- Videos