Socio-Economic and Politics Projects

Do Rural Migrants Divide Ethnically in the City? Evidence from an Ethnographic Experiment in India

Tariq Thachil (Associate Professor from Vanderbilt University ) , and

Despite rapid urbanization across the Global South, identity politics within rural-urban migrant communities remains understudied. Past scholarship is divided over whether village-based ethnic divisions will erode or deepen within diverse poor migrant populations. The researcher assessed these divergent predictions through…

Location: North Indian states of India

Parochial Politics: Ethnic Preferences and Politician Corruption

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (Professor of Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) , and Rohini Pande (Professor of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School )

This survey examined the relationship between ethnic polarization among voters and politician quality as measured by their competence and/or degree of corruption. The survey elicited information on constituency-level development, changes in the wealth of politicians after they came to office,…

Location: Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Rural Transport Infrastructure, Poverty and Employment

Santosh Kumar (Associate Professor of Economics from Sam Houston State University ) , Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (Professor of Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) , and Rohini Pande (Professor of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School )

This survey was based on the Participatory Rural Appraisal Exercise (PRAE) and carried out in 269 villages and in 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh. MORSEL also collected secondary data needed for the analysis. The PMGSY scheme was launched by the Government of…

Location: Uttar Pradesh

Caste Politics and Redistribution

Avidit Acharya (Assistant Professor from Stanford University ) , John Roemer (Professor from Yale Univerisity ) , and Rohini Somanathan (Professor from Delhi School of Economics )

This survey-based study was focused on isolating the effect of voter’s preference for parties that represent their caste on the equal distribution of government services among three classes: the rich, the middle class and the poor. For this purpose researchers…

Location: Uttar Pradesh

Voter Campaign (Uttar Pradesh)

Jennifer Green (PhD candidate, Department of Political Science from Yale University ) , Donald Green (Professor of Political Science from Yale University ) , Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (Professor of Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) , and Rohini Pande (Professor of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School )

This randomized control trail was carried out in coordination with the Jamal Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in Lucknow. MORSEL designed the campaigns, trained the facilitators (for both the NGOs) and puppet teams.…

Location: Uttar Pradesh

Political Mobilization in Rural India – Follow-Up Survey 2010

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (Professor of Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) , Rohini Pande (Professor of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School ) , and Jeffery MacManus (PhD candidate of Economics from Harvard Kennedy School )

This survey was the follow-up to voter education campaigns conducted in 2007 (randomized trial) in the same region. However, the survey did not target subjects who participated in those campaigns, and no questions pertaining to those campaigns were asked. The…

Location: Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh

Unpacking Ethnic Preferences: Theory and Micro-Level Evidence From North India

Simon Chauchard (Assistant Professor of Political Science from Leiden University )

Much of the recent scholarship about ethnicity in comparative politics has focused on why ethnicity becomes a salient cleavage. Yet opinions still diverge as to how ethnicity matters. Researchers test three hypotheses relevant to this question. Building on recent arguments,…

Location: Gonda and Faizabad districts of Uttar Pradesh, India

Whose side are you on? Identifying the Distributive Preference of local Politicians in India

Mark Schneider (Political Scientist from Columbia University ) , and Neelanjan Sircar (Assistant Professor from Ashoka University )

The literature on decentralized public programs suggests that errors in the targeting of anti-poverty programs are rooted in the capture of these programs by local elites or local politicians. Consistent with the literature on moral economy in political science and…

Location: Rajasthan

How Quotas Shape Political Violence: Field Evidence from Jharkhand

Michael Gilligan (Professor of Politics from New York University ) , and Benjamin Pasquale ( Researcher from New York University )

This survey-based project covered 105 Gram Panchayats in Jharkhand. The Survey was done under the patronage of Benjamin Pasquale and Michael Gilligan. MORSEL interviewed 16 natives in each Gram Panchayat. The sample criteria designed by Researchers was based on reports and news articles of Naxalite…

Location: Jharkhand

Incorporating public transfers into the measurement of poverty

Rohini Somanathan (Professor of Economics from Delhi School of economics ) , and Anders Kjelsrud (Professor of Economics from Oslo University )

Poverty measurement in India has been extremely controversial. The recent expert group of the Planning Commission, among other things, proposed incorporating variations in the costs of health and education expenditures of households in arriving at new state-level poverty lines. This…

Location: Bihar

Understanding the importance of Khap Panchayat: survey at Haryana, India

Ashna Arora (Research Director from Crime and Education Labs )

Ashna Arora , wanted to collect data about the spread and functioning of Khap Panchayats in Haryana – a state where khaps are functioning actively. Khap Panchayat is the union of 84 villages, they are traditional and caste-based socio-political groups…

Location: Harayana

Culture, Capital and the Political Economy Gender Gap: Evidence from Meghalaya’s Matrilineal Tribes

Rachel Brulé (Professor from Boston University ) , and Nikhar Gaikwad (Assistant Professor from Columbia University )

Scholars from Marx to Weber have debated whether the gender gap in political engagement and political economy preferences stems from material or cultural determinants. Researchers argue, by contrast, that cultural norms themselves structure access to economic resources; it is through…

Location: Meghayala