India

How has development economics evolved over the past sixty years? How can we incorporate political, historical, and cultural contexts when addressing economic problems?

The caste system in India discriminates against lower-ranked castes, reducing their access to finance and dampening their entrepreneurial potential. This social norm imposes significant macroeconomic costs, ultimately impeding economic development.

Flexible work arrangements can both attract women to the labour force and provide a gateway to outside-the-home jobs. In India, where gender norms keep women out of the labour force, home-based jobs may represent the most immediate path to increase women’s labour force participation.

While vouchers may provide students with more choice, private schools may respond by changing tuition fees, affecting those without vouchers. Examining India’s school voucher programme sheds light on how governments can improve school voucher programmes for primary education.

The Green Revolution dramatically altered the agricultural and dietary landscape in India. While calorie availability increased, reduced dietary diversity had adverse long-term health impacts, meaning the overall impact is only now being understood.

Correcting inaccurate beliefs about peers can strengthen social networks, encourage people to talk about their financial and mental health concerns, and improve socioeconomic outcomes in settings where individuals lack support from formal institutions

Evidence from India shows that women’s microcredit groups stimulate women’s political participation by building their networks

A key dilemma in Indian education is that while children are enrolled in school, they are not actually learning. Based on an experiment in Odisha, this article explores possible solutions to the learning deficit in secondary schooling. It finds that tailored remedial programmes improve learning and correct teachers’ beliefs regarding learning levels. However, gains from increasing teacher autonomy in lesson plans are not significant.

The economic benefits of expanding electricity access likely do not outweigh the costs in small rural villages, but likely do in larger communities.