Reducing Africa's dependence on Asian rice imports requires tailoring local rice products to food markets that are segmented by cultural heritage of ancient rice domestication and colonial heritage of more recent import substitution policies. Using experimental auctions, we examine quality...

ABSTRACT. We construct novel data on female population shares by age, district, and religion in South Asia from 1881 to 1931. Sex ratios skew male in Northern India and are more balanced in Southern and Eastern India, including Burma. Male-biased sex ratios emerge most visibly after age 10, and...

In this blog, I examine the depiction of British involvement in agrarian policies in Lagaan. I argue that to generate greater revenue and extend their control over newer territories, the British codified laws, created military alliances, and set up courts. Priority was given to laws relating to...

This Article links the climate crisis with the ongoing colonization of the U.S. territories. It explores how the U.S. territories’ political status—rooted in U.S. colonialism—limits their ability to develop meaningful adaptation efforts to combat the climate crisis in their islands. It...

Conventional wisdom proposes deep historical roots for authoritarianism in Africa: either colonial “decentralized despotism” or enduring structural features. We present a new theoretical perspective. Africans sought autonomous local communities, which constrained precolonial rulers....

In many developing countries, the institutional framework governing economic life has its roots in the colonial period, when the interests of European settlers clashed with those of the native population or imported slaves. We examine the economic implications of this conflict in a framework...

The economic policy of the Indian Government has drastically changed from the established political institutions following the independence movement. While historically dominated by a consensus around state-sponsored industrial development and moderate economic planning under Nehruvian...