A weakening dependence on rain-fed agriculture has been a hallmark of the economictransformation of countries throughout history. Rural citizens in developing countries to-day, however, remain highly exposed to fluctuations in the weather. This exposure affectsthe incomes these citizens earn and...

Almost one third of the population in developing countries is under age 15. Hence improvingthe effectiveness of policy interventions that target adolescents might be especiallyimportant. We analyze the intention to participate in training programs of adolescent girlsin Uganda, a country with...

Industrial delicensing which began in 1985 in India marked a discrete break from apast of centrally planned industrial development. Similar liberalization episodes are takingplace across the globe. We develop a simple Schumpeterian growth model to understand how…rms respond to the entry threat...

State led credit and savings programs have been implemented in nu-merous low income countries, but their success in reaching the poorremains widely debated. We report on research which exploits the pol-icy features of the Indian social banking program to provide evidenceon this issue. State-led...

This paper investigates whether the industrial relations climate inIndian states has affected the pattern of manufacturing growthin the period 1958-92. We show that states which ammendedthe Industrial Disputes Act in a pro-worker direction experiencedlowered output, employment, investment and...

[...]This paper begins by discussing poverty trends on a global scale -- where the poor are located in the world and how their numbers have been changing over time. It then discusses the relationship of economic growth and income distribution to poverty reduction. Finally, it suggests an...

Mass media can play a key role in enabling citizens to monitor the actions of incumbents and to use this information in their voting decisions. Thiscan lead to government which is more accountable and responsive to itscitizens’ needs. In spite of the intuitive plausibility of the proposition,...