Zoning laws that restrict rural land to agricultural production pose an important institutional barrier to industrial development. We study the effects of the Industrial Areas (IA) program in Karnataka, India, which rezoned agricultural land for industrial use, but without the economic...

We evaluate the impact of a place-based infrastructure development scheme directed towards India's most "backward" districts, on the performance of microenterprises. "Backward" districts were selected based on a transparent score-based assignment mechanism. Using a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity...

We examine the role of the informal sector in understanding the implications of policies that penalize firms for not complying with Employment Protection Legislations (EPLs). Specifically, we study a policy reform that penalized firms for hiring workers "off-the-books" and show that it reduces...

Emigration has the potential to shape the political dynamics at the point of origin because it can expose migrants to new political ideas, augment their human capital, and change their expectations of their home environment. We study the effects of indentured migration from India to British...

This paper examines the effect of tradable services growth on non-tradable services across Indian districts. The analysis uses a shift-share "Bartik-type" instrumental variable, which relies on changes in foreign demand shocks for tradable services, weighted by the initial district employment...

This paper examines the effect of tradable services growth on non-tradable services across Indian districts. The analysis uses a shift-share "Bartik-type” instrumental variable, which relies on changes in foreign demand shocks for tradable services, weighted by the initial district employment...

Place-based policies may increase migration into eligible areas and, hence, affect their intended aim of reducing economic disparities. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits an Indian place-based tax exemption policy, we find that there was an increase in migration for...