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Social Identity

The distributional consequences of political reservations

This article identifies and attempts to fill in the gaps in understanding the effects of reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Panchayats. Using data from a state-wide census, multiple administra...

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Caste-based differences in self-help groups: Evidence from a rural livelihood programme

The National Rural Livelihood Mission aims to increase income and improve wellbeing for rural households. Using survey data from nine states in India, this article analyses the existence of caste-base...

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India’s Women’s Reservation Act: A big win for governance and beyond

Amidst debates about the recently passed women's reservation act and whether it will reduce gender disparities on the ground, Wattal and Gopalan summarise evidence from a number of randomised evaluati...

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The persistent gender gap in political participation in India

Women as citizens show up and speak up less in political spaces than men across the globe, particularly in lower- and middle-income countries. This article studies the persistent gender gap in politic...

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Sex ratios and religion in India and South Asia

In South Asia, low child sex ratios are increasingly an isolated Indian phenomenon. Within India, child sex ratios are ‘normal’ among Christians and Muslims but much lower among Hindus, Sikhs, and...

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Ancestral ecological endowments and contemporary sex ratios

About six million women are ‘missing’ each year from the world, of which 2 million are from India alone. This article finds that there are proportionately more missing women in regions with poorer...

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The anomaly of women’s work and education in India

There has been a decline in the female labour force participation rate and size of the female labour force in India in recent years. This article looks at this trend in conjunction with female educati...

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Does a fear of violence affect female labour supply in India?

Working-age women in developing-country labour markets might be particularly sensitive to media reports on sudden incidents of violence against women, which can deter them from going out to work. Usin...

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Wheels of power: Long-term effects of the Bihar Cycle Programme

The Bihar government introduced a programme in 2006 to give cash to grade 9 girls to buy bicycles to go to school. Based on a survey undertaken in 2016, this article shows that beneficiaries were more...

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Learning to cooperate in a culture of honour

In many parts of the world, we observe persistent dysfunction in learning to cooperate around common interests. Cultural differences – ideas of what constitutes an insult and what an appropriate res...

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Using mobile phones to measure discrimination

One aspect of human well-being that has often been overlooked in survey research on low- and middle-income countries is the extent to which prejudice and discrimination diminish social welfare. This a...

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The macroeconomic benefits of gender diversity

The persistent gap between female and male labour force participation comes at a significant economic cost. This article argues that because women and men complement each other in the production proce...

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Do urban politicians discriminate against internal migrants? Evidence from a nationwide field experiment in India

In recent decades, the global south has witnessed an explosive increase in the number of people relocating from rural to urban areas. Yet many migrants struggle to integrate into destination cities, f...

  • IGC Research on India

Taking other religions seriously: A comparative survey of Hindus in India

While the study of religion in political science has re-emerged as a growing field of inquiry in the past few decades, most research still focuses on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. What religion is...

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Are women politicians good for economic growth?

There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this influences economic performance. This article investiga...

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Nikita Mujumdar

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Anamika Priyadarshini

Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3)

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Madhu Joshi

Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3)

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Shubha Bhattacharya

Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3)

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Arnab Mukherji

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

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Asian Development Bank & Indian Institute of Manag

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University of California, Los Angeles

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Most Popular Social Identity Posts

A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India

Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...

  • Articles

Sex ratios and religion in India and South Asia

In South Asia, low child sex ratios are increasingly an isolated Indian phenomenon. Within India, child sex ratios are ‘normal’ among Christians and Muslims but much lower among Hindus, Sikhs, and...

  • Articles

Measuring caste inequality across Indian states

Although recent research on inequality shows that upper castes have the highest levels of material well-being, there is a wide variation in caste inequality across India. Measuring three forms of cast...

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