India was a major player in the world export market for textiles in the early 18th century, but by the middle of the 19th century it had lost all of its export market and much of its domestic market. Other local industries also suffered some decline, and India underwent secular...

Did colonial policies in India deliver excessive returns to British investors? We answer this question using annual data on Indian securities trading on the London Stock Exchange. We present new series on market capitalization, capital gains, dividend yields, and total returns of railway...

The authors discuss the ambiguities surrounding allusions often made to global energy governance, focusing mainly on the question of energy transit. They discuss how the issue has been sanctioned in various regimes in international law (including the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, the...

It is widely recognized that railways were one of the most important drivers of economic growth in the 19th and 20th century, but it is less recognized that railways had a different impact across countries. In this paper, we first estimate the growth impact of Indian railways, one of the largest...

India has a growing economy that can support high-income levels and in turn sustain higher real estate prices. The high prices of Indian real estate seem to be in harmony with its fast growing economy. However, there are concerns about speculative bubble behavior in the Indian real estate...

There has been a surge in free trade agreements (FTAs), with a total number at the global level touching almost 600 in number. The solid theoretical underpinning is that the FTAs enable faster economic growth and development by creating trade and investment linkages. Compared to the world, the...

We use data from Reserve Bank of India to study the impact of India's Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project on finance-dependent activity. Loan volumes increase by 20-30% in districts along GQ and are stronger in industries more dependent upon external finance. Loan growth begins with...

We study the interaction between transit improvements and land use policies in the context of Bengaluru, one of India's largest cities. The city inaugurated a metro system in 2011. Yet it has low building heights even near metro stations, reflecting low floor-area ratio limits. We construct a...

This monograph compares the methodologies and progress of the different existing models of information and communication technology (ICT) use for broad-based development and economic growth in India. It will examine the role of complementary reforms in government administration and policies. The...