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Poverty & Inequality

In which countries do children have the best chances to surpass their parents' education?

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Rags to riches? Understanding social mobility in India

To what extent is an individual’s status in society determined by the position of his or her parents? Analysing data from the Indian Human Development Survey, 2011-2012, this column finds that the p...

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Can Rahul Gandhi’s minimum income guarantee proposal work?

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has promised a minimum income guarantee scheme for the poor if the party is voted to power in the upcoming elections. Discussing the proposal and associated concerns, P...

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Introduction to e-Symposium: The idea of a universal basic income in the Indian context

The idea of an unconditional basic income given to all citizens by the State, has caught on in the developed world. Does it make sense for India? To examine the issue, I4I Editor Parikshit Ghosh is h...

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The coexistence of prosperity and poverty in India

Credit Suisse recently reported that the richest 10% Indians own about 75% of the country’s wealth, highlighting the growing problem of inequality. This column presents trends in inequality in Indi...

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Angus Deaton: The real world economist

In a tribute to Angus Deaton, recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, outlines Deaton’s contribution to econ...

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Can microcredit improve food security among the rural poor?

A core objective of microcredit in Bangladesh is to make the rural poor more food secure. To what extent has this been achieved? Analysing household data from Bangladesh, this column finds that parti...

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Are self-help groups helpful?

While a lot of funding goes towards community-driven development projects, rigorous evidence on their socioeconomic impact is limited. This column evaluates the impact of JEEViKA – a rural liveliho...

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Income inequality in India: Trends from the World Top Incomes Database

Given the lack of reliable wage or asset data, tax returns-based World Top Incomes Database is important for measuring income and wealth inequalities. Analysing the India series of the database, this...

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A symposium on Piketty - II: Capitalist dynamics and the plutocrats

In the last part of the series on Piketty, Pranab Bardhan, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, discusses the implications for further study that Piketty’s book has for devel...

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A symposium on Piketty: Introduction

Thomas Piketty’s book on ´Capital in the Twenty First Century’ has made waves. The fact that a 700-odd page tome full of numbers and graphs can become an international bestseller is itself notew...

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A symposium on Piketty - I: Nit-Piketty

In this part of the series on Piketty, Debraj Ray, Professor of Economics, New York University, attempts to clear the confusion caused by the theoretical discussion in Piketty’s book.

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Private investment and income disparity across Indian states

Liberalisation reforms in India in the 1990s offered private investors the freedom to choose their investment location in the country. This column finds that income disparity across low-income states...

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Big and small ideas in development economics: Theory, evidence and practice

Karthik Muralidharan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego speaks with Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, World Bank and former Chief Economic A...

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Financial literacy: When, what and how

The need for financial literacy and its importance for financial inclusion have been widely recognised. Based on various research studies on financial literacy initiatives, this column outlines finan...

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Impact of MNREGA on labour markets

There is an active, ongoing debate on whether MNREGA should be retained in its current form. This column reports on research which suggests that MNREGA increased rural and urban wages and reduced sea...

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Divya Ravindranath

Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore

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Divya Varma

Aajeevika Bureau (Ahmedabad)

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Sandip Sukhtankar

University of Virginia

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Karthik Muralidharan

University of California, San Diego

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Paul Niehaus

University of California, San Diego

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Hemant Kumar Pullabhotla

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

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Ashutosh Thakur

Stanford Graduate School of Business

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Chandan Kumar Jha

Le Moyne College

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Most Popular Poverty & Inequality Posts

Aadhaar, biometrics, and the PDS in Jharkhand

Aadhaar-based biometric authentication was made mandatory for obtaining rations under the Public Distribution System in Ranchi district in Jharkhand in August 2016. In this article, Nazar Khalid demon...

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A universal basic income to step up economic reform

In this article, Nimai Mehta, Academic Director of the Global Economics and Business Program at the American University, highlights the political challenge of introducing the wider set of reforms nee...

  • Perspectives

Financial literacy: When, what and how

The need for financial literacy and its importance for financial inclusion have been widely recognised. Based on various research studies on financial literacy initiatives, this column outlines finan...

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