A large social science literature demonstrates a link between personal insecurity and religiosity. When individuals are healthy, literate, and gainfully employed, they tend to be less religious. One of the most fundamental threats to an individual is the risk of violence, but this important...

What is the impact of colonialism on public goods provision? This article examines India, once the world's largest colony. While recent studies of the Indian case are divided, they overwhelmingly rely on econometric approaches. This article uses qualitative evidence to provide an important...

This paper explores the relationship between British colonial rule and contemporary conflict in India. We argue that colonialism generated deep-seated grievances among tribal and low-caste communities that have ultimately resulted in armed conflict in rural areas. We identify three mechanisms...

How can social scientists uncover the root causes of contemporary outcomes? Many scholars have assumed that the problem of infinite regress poses a central impediment to this endeavor. However, there have been few attempts to clearly conceptualize infinite regress or empirically explore how it...

Colonial institutions are thought to be an important determinates of post-independence levels of political stability, economic growth, and public goods provision. In particular, many scholars have suggested that British institutional and cultural legacies are more conducive to growth than those...

"In modern times, international borders reflect discontinuous changes in political authority, no matter what the inconveniences are for the individuals that they separate. What explains this fact? Why are the citizens of neighboring regions that happen to lie across an international border often...