Does rural electrification cause economic development?
The last unelectrified Indian village is now connected to the grid. Given the large investments required for these infrastructure projects, value-for-money is an important consideration. Examining the impact of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme, which expanded electricity access in 40...
-
Fiona Burlig
Louis Preonas
22 May, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2024
The silent reshaping of India’s credit landscape
India’s credit landscape has been undergoing major changes in recent years. In this post, Sengupta and Vardhan discuss five key trends – consumerisation of bank credit, decline in bank deposits, growth of credit from the bond market, NBFCs re-emerging as important credit institutions, and relati...
-
Harsh Vardhan
Rajeswari Sengupta
20 May, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Money & Finance
Year: 2024
Policy Roundup: Voting, wealth redistribution, state of health
This post presents our monthly curation of recent developments in the Indian policy landscape – highlighting I4I content pertaining to issues ranging from electronic voting machines, vote-buying, and political dynasties, to the rise of metabolic diseases in the country. We also take a look at the ...
-
Nalini Gulati
17 May, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Miscellany
Year: 2024
Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink? Information and enabling access to clean water
Over 50 million people in India are exposed to arsenic-contaminated water, leading to adverse health outcomes – especially for children. Yet, the demand for private, safe drinking water remains low in the affected areas. Based on an experiment in Assam, this article demonstrates how combining wate...
-
Deboshmita Brahma
Prarthna Agarwal Goel
Rashmi Barua
15 May, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Human Development
Year: 2023
Can shared social identity minimise corporate frictions?
A separation between owners and managers of firms gives rise to various problems known as ‘agency conflicts’. This article explores whether having a shared social identity between managers and board members can help reduce frictions and improve firm performance. Analysing data from Indian firms,...
-
Jitendra Aswani
13 May, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Productivity & Innovation
Year: 2024
Forced male sterilisation and violence against women: Evidence from ‘Emergency India’
During 1975-1977, the Government of India introduced a programme involving forced sterilisation of men, in order to achieve population control as a poverty alleviation measure. Leveraging the varying degree of coercion employed under the programme across districts in the country, this article finds ...
-
Aditi Singh
Sarah Vincent
08 May, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Social Identity
Year: 2024
How teachers’ beliefs can shape motivation and student learning
While teacher effort is crucial for student learning, evidence suggests that this is not what teachers themselves believe. This article presents findings from a randomised experiment involving a psycho-social intervention targeted at teachers. It shows that teachers exposed to the intervention exhib...
-
Jalnidh Kaur
06 May, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Human Development
Year: 2024
Creating good jobs for young Indians: Insights from recent research
Young Indians – who are often more educated and have greater aspiration than their previous generations –are seeking ‘good jobs’. Yet, such jobs are not available to the majority. To mark International Workers’ Day, I4I Deputy Managing Editor Nikita Mujumdar summarises some recent research...
-
Nikita Mujumdar
03 May, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Productivity & Innovation
Year: 2024
Going green while being in the red
In the third post of a three-part blog series, I4I Editor-in-Chief Parikshit Ghosh advocates for a holistic approach that harmonises India’s environmental policy, social safety nets, and macroeconomic management. Given the difficulty of predicting where and when climate-related needs will arise, h...
-
Parikshit Ghosh
01 May, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Environment
Year: 2024
India’s opportunity for sustainable growth
In the second post of a three-part blog series, Tim Dobermann and Nikita Sharma contend that it is important for India to choose a growth trajectory that prioritises raising living standards while minimising environmental decline. They discuss how innovations in at least two areas – energy and con...
-
Nikita Sharma
Tim Dobermann
30 April, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Environment
Year: 2024
The why and how of environmental protection: Examining the evidence
In the first post of a three-part blog series, I4I Editorial advisor Nalini Gulati summarises a selection of studies on the adverse impact of environmental degradation on human health as well as economic outcomes, followed by ideas from research on how effective policy design and implementation can ...
-
Nalini Gulati
29 April, 2024
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Environment
Year: 2024
Soil characteristics, women’s workforce participation and intra-household consumption distribution
When women’s participation in agriculture increases relative to men, does the intra-household distribution of consumption become more gender-equitable? Is there a positive impact on children’s access to consumption resources within households? This article analyses 2011 Consumption Survey Data a...
-
Bipasha Maity
Sutirtha Bandyopadhyay
26 April, 2024
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Social Identity
Year: 2024