The study of the evolution of cultural systems has undergone a series of permutations in the course of the past century. Studies of cultural evolution began in earnest with the work of two of the most important anthopological figures in the 19th century: Lewis Henry Morgan (1877) and Edward B....

Consumer ethnocentrism plays a key role in the markets of developed countries when governments take protectionist measures due to economic crises and downturns. Consumer ethnocentrism appears to be stronger in relation to the choice and purchase of food and beverages. The purpose of the current...

This study investigates the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral highway project on the urban and rural growth of Indian manufacturing. The Golden Quadrilateral project upgraded the quality and width of 5,846 km of roads in India. The study uses a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to...

Whether in the domains of scholarship or practice, important advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of how culture, politics, and development interact. Today’s leading theorists of culture and development represent a fourth distinctive perspective vis-à-vis their...

This paper uses primary data from rural north India to show that participation in a community-level female empowerment program significantly increases access to employment, physical mobility, and political participation. The program provides support groups, literacy camps, adult education...

In societies with widespread gender discrimination, development programs that encourage female participation in local governance can potentially redress gender imbalances in economic, political, and social outcomes. Using a randomized field experiment encompassing 500 Afghan villages, this study...

This paper uses a unique natural experiment in Chinese villages to investigate whether access to telecommunications-- in particular, landline phones -- increases the likelihood of outmigration. By using regional and time variations in the installation of landline phones, the...

Most migration surveys do not ask about the legal status of migrants due to concerns about the sensitivity of this question. List randomization is a technique that has been used in a number of other social science applications to elicit sensitive information. This paper trials this technique by...