We explore the extent to which present day economic development at the sub-national level, captured by GDP per capita, urbanization, and night-time light density, is correlated to regional economic development in the year 1850. Drawing on historical city data, we construct a measure of urban...

On November 8, 2016, the Indian government abruptly demonetized 86\% of its currency in circulation in an attempt to reduce black money, corruption, and counterfeiting. Yet, 99\% of the currency was eventually returned to banks. We use both, regional and household data to examine the medium-term...

The conventional wisdom in the literature on capital controls and growth argues that capital controls increase the ability of a government to tax capitalists which proves detrimental for growth. To address this issue, we construct an OLG model to study the effect of capital controls on human...

This paper explores the consequences of rising returns to human capital investment on the personal savings rate. Over the past two decades, the return to college education has increased relative to high school education leading economists to argue the presence of skill biased technological...

The empirical literature finds mixed evidence on the existence of positive productivity externalities in the host country generated by foreign multinational companies. We propose a mechanism that emphasizes the role of local financial markets in enabling foreign direct investment (FDI) to...

This note provides a brief overview of India's demonetization off currency notes in November 2016. Written shortly after the announcement, the note uses the quantity theory of money as a basic framework to analyze the effects on GDP under various scenarios. Further, using anecdotal evidence, it...