Several earlier studies have observed that the size structure of Indian manufacturing is characterized by the ‘missing middle’ phenomenon – a relatively low appearance/occurrence of middle-size industrial enterprises among industrial enterprises of different size classes. The authors of...

The post-1991 pro-market reforms in India are expected to reduce price-cost margins in industries, lower inter-firm productivity dispersion, increase export intensity of firms, and cause changes in the size structure and industrial composition. But, barring the increase in export intensity, the...

Political corruption is a concern of many modern democracies. It weakens democratic institutions, restricts public services, and lowers productivity undermining economic development. Yet despite its importance, our understanding of what determines corruption is limited. This paper uses a novel...

This paper examines whether access to information enhances political accountability. Based upon the results of Brazil's recent anti-corruption program that randomly audits municipal expenditures of federally-transferred funds, it estimates the effects of the disclosure of local government...

While cross-country analysis suggests that corruption hinders economic growth, we have little evidence on the mechanisms that link corruption to long-run economic development. We provide micro-evidence on the consequences of corruption for the quality of education. We use data from the auditing...

This paper examines if money matters in education by looking at whether missing resources due to corruption affect student outcomes. We use data from the auditing of Brazil's local governments to construct objective measures of corruption involving educational block grants transferred from the...