Public institutions in the developing world are often characterized by institutional capture or decay. Yet, India's Election Commission has become one of its most powerful regulatory bodies. The Election Commission has overseen the completion of 16 national and 350 state elections since 1952. It...

The sociolegal compliance literature, which suggests that compliance is motivated by fear, duty, or social license pressure, relies on assumptions that are often specific to the developed world. Are developing world conditions, including low state capacity, not conducive to regulatory...

It has become commonplace to attribute the BJP’s victory in the 2014 Indian general elections to Narendra Modi. In this article we unravel the Modi effect and argue that Modi’s success is tied to his ability to attract ‘vote mobilizers’—individuals who campaign...

We study the joint effect of self-confidence and social identity on labor market inequality in an experimental Indian labor market where employers and workers come from different castes. Employers evaluate resumes in order to predict future productivity of workers who perform a real effort task....

Providing technical advice at scale poses operational challenges, particularly with respect to managing a sufficiently large staff. Technology may help, but risks reducing efficacy given reduced customization and human interaction. We tested a video added onto standard human-provided extension...