There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes or because of its interaction with historical events. Looking at terrain ruggedness, we are able to estimate the importance of these two channels. Because rugged terrain hinders...

Although the Indian economy has been growing at a stellar rate of about 6 percent per annum since the mid-1980s, this achievement has been clouded by growing inequality and divergence in development outcomes among India's different regions. This study, thus, identifies a regional development...