Socio-Economic and Politics Projects
Getting Rich Too Fast? Voters’ Reactions to Politicians’ Wealth Accumulation
Simon Chauchard (Assistant Professor from Leiden University ) , Marko Klašnja ( Assistant Professor from Georgetown University ) , and S.P. Harish ( Assistant Professor from College of William & Mary )
The experiment randomly manipulated a number of relevant characteristics of fictional but realistic candidates, including their wealth accumulation in office. Interviewers then asked a socially, politically and ethnically diverse sample of citizens in Madhepura district (N=1020) to evaluate these politician…
Location: Bihar
Read More
Social Learning, Gender, and Willingness to Pay for Solar Lanterns
Johannes Urpelainen (Professor from University of Gothenburg ) , Yonas Alem (Professor from University of Gothenburg ) , and Eugenie Dugoua (Assistant Professor from Columbia University )
In this field experiment, researchers tried to find out the impact of Social Learning on the willingness to pay for a solar lantern on families in rural areas of India among both the genders. Under the supervision of Johannes Urpelainen, Yonas Alem a…
Location: Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh
Read More
Crowdsourcing data on the reliability of electricity service: Evidence from a telephone survey in Uttar Pradesh, India
Ryan Kennedy (Professor from University of Houston ) , Aseem Mahajan ( from Harvard University ) , and Johannes Urpelainen (Professor from Johns Hopkins SAIS )
Measuring energy access in developing countries involves much more than simply recording whether or not households are connected to the grid. Both international organizations and scholars now recognize the importance of a reliable electricity supply for achieving positive development outcomes.…
Location: Uttar Pradesh
Read More
Ethnic Discrimination among residents of slum areas in India
Tariq Thachil, (Associate Professor of Political Science from Vanderbilt University ) , and Adam Auerbach, (Assistant Professor in the School of International Service from American University. )
MORSEL collected data electronically from 2200 households in the slum areas of Jaipur, Rajasthan Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh. Under the supervision of Tariq Thachil, Associate Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and Adam Auerbach, Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University. MORSEL randomized…
Location: Jaipur, Rajasthan and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Read More
Understanding Patterns and Impacts of Electricity Quality and Access in Northern India
Marc Jeuland ( from Duke University. ) , Michael Keppler ( from Duke University. ) , Thomas Lutken ( from Duke University. ) , and Sumin Wang ( from Duke University. )
Indians have suffered from rolling outages and blackouts even as millions of citizens have gained access to electricity in recent years, which has led to concerns about electricity quality and its impacts. Under the guidance of the research team, Morsel…
Location: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Read More
Rethinking clientelism: Politics of service delivery in rural India
Aditya Dasgupta ( Assistant Professor from University of California, Merced )
Why in developing countries do some communities receive better access than others to government anti-poverty programmes that are ostensibly rule-based? For decades, the dominant framework for understanding this puzzle has been the literature on ‘clientelism’, which suggests that politicians manipulate…
Location: Rajasthan
Read More
Voting behavior experiment in Uttar Pradesh
Gautam Nair (Assistant Professor from Yale University )
Although in theory elections are supposed to prevent criminal or venal candidates from winning or retaining office, in practice voters frequently elect and reelect such candidates. The electoral performance of candidates who face serious allegations likely reflects factors other than…
Location: Uttar Pradesh
Read More
The Economic Causes Of Crop Residue Burning In The Rice-Wheat System Of The Indo-Gangetic Plain
Ridhima Gupta (Evaluation Specialist from Oxford Policy Management ) , and E. Somanathan (Professor from Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute )
This project was to examine the impact of means of farming on pollution. As Punjab, a North Indian state, where the main occupation is agriculture, the farmers are using high-tech equipment compared to other parts of India. This survey-based study…
Location: Uttar Pradesh and Punjab
Read More
Caste Reservation in Panchayats and Distribution of Public Benefits
Thad Dunning ( from University of California, Berkeley ) , and Jennifer Bussell ( from University of California, Berkeley )
In this project, MORSEL is collected panchayat reservation history data and procedure of allocation of reserved seats in all states of India. MORSEL is surveying State Election Commissioners and Panchayat Directorate officials of the states and collected secondary data. In the second part of…
Read More
Does Gender Representation Affect Police Legitimacy? Evidence from India
Nirvikar Jassal (Assistant Professor from University of California ) , and Dr. Sharon Barnhardt ( from FLAME University )
Does the presence of women officers afford the police greater institutional legitimacy in the developing world? Most studies about police legitimacy have been restricted to the global north, and few have used experimental techniques. However, the researchers restricted their survey…
Location: Maharashtra
Read More
Understanding Political Economy Analysis of Electricity Sector Reforms In Uttar Pradesh
Shruti Sharma (Professor from E Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies ) , Tom Morenhout ( Senior Associate from E Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies ) , Vibhuti Garg (Associate and Senior Energy Specialist from IISD ) , and Johannes Urpelainen (Professor from E Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies )
This study investigates both the tariff reform and the UDAY scheme. Among households, surveys were conducted with 1,917 households, split equally between urban and rural areas. Among agricultural landholders, surveys were conducted with 413 farmers, 284 of whom use diesel…
Location: Uttar Pradesh
Read More
Threads of Labor: A Year in the Lives of Karnataka’s Garment Workers
. (" from Fashion Revolution. ) , and . (" from Global Worker Dialogue )
MORSEL conducted a distinctive study in 6 Taluks of Karnataka funded by Microfinance Opportunities and Fashion Revolution. A panel survey, the project aims to study the financial and working conditions of the Garment Factory workers. Garment workers were provided with a diary to record…
Location: karnataka
Read More