Publications

Publications

The IGC commissions numerous projects in a wide variety of sectors. The different types of publications are: Working papers, Policy briefs and Rapid responses.

The IGC also has several books available for purchase in our bookshop.

WORKING PAPER

Can basic entrepreneurship transform the economic lives of the poor?

The world’s poorest people lack capital and skills and toil for others in occupations that others shun. Using a large-scale and long-term randomised control trial in Bangladesh this paper demonstrates that sizable transfers of assets and skills enable the poorest women to shift out of agricultural labour and into running small businesses. This shift, which persists and strengthens after assistance is withdrawn, leads to a 38% increase in earnings.

Countries: 
Bangladesh
Research programmes: 
Finance, Firm capabilities, Human capital
Researchers: 
Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Narayan Das, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul, Munshi Sulaiman
Download PDF + Reading list 
RAPID RESPONSE

Learning from double-digit growth experiences

Current IMF forecasts predict growth in real GDP on the order of 6-7 percent per year for Liberia. The political leadership of Liberia believes that double-digit growth will be required in order to meet the expectations of the electorate, and consequently, lead to greater political stability. Political stability is the sina qua non for ensuring peace in Liberia, which, along with improving human development outcomes, is the primary goal of the current government. The President of Liberia, H.E.

Countries: 
Liberia
Research programmes: 
Governance, accountability and political economy, Human capital, Macroeconomics
Researchers: 
Eric Werker
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WORKING PAPER

Modern industries, pollution and agricultural productivity: Evidence from Ghana

Mining reduces agricultural productivity by almost 40%

Gold mining and its resulting pollution has reduced agricultural productivity by almost 40% in Ghana.  The displacement of agriculture by gold mining can also be associated with increases in poverty, child malnutrition and respiratory diseases. 

Countries: 
Ghana
Research programmes: 
Climate change, environment and natural resources
Researchers: 
Fernando Aragon, Juan Pablo Rud
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WORKING PAPER

Exploratory research on the impact of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, on deforestation, tribal welfare, and poverty, with implications for implementation strategies

When the United Progressive Alliance came to power in the Indian general elections of May 2004, it published a Common Minimum Programme in which it promised to end the eviction of tribal and other forest-dwelling people from forest lands. In March 2005, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs presented the first draft of the Forest Rights Act that guaranteed the right of tribal and other forest-dwellers to continue to cultivate forest land that they had cultivated in the past.

Countries: 
India - Central
Research programmes: 
Climate change, environment and natural resources
Researchers: 
E. Somanathan, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, François Libois, Jean-Marie Baland
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POLICY BRIEF

Piloting a novel delivery mechanism of a critical public health service in India: arsenic testing of tubewell water in the field for a fee

This project responds to the need of tens of millions of rural households across the Indo-Gangetic Plain to have their tubewell tested for arsenic. Chronic exposure to arsenic by drinking groundwater at over 10 times the level of the current World Health Organization guideline of 10 microgram per liter has been shown to double all-cause deaths in a large cohort study conducted in Bangladesh. Arsenic in tubewell water has also been associated with impaired intellectual and motor function in children.

Countries: 
India - Bihar, India - Central
Research programmes: 
Climate change, environment and natural resources, Human capital, Infrastructure and urbanisation
Researchers: 
Alexander Van Geen
Chander Kumar Singh
+ Reading list 
WORKING PAPER

Saving behaviour in India: Understanding the differences across castes

The past three decades in India have witnessed a sharp reduction in the historically large gaps in the education levels, occupation choices and wages of the backward castes called scheduled castes and tribes (SC/STs) relative to the rest of the population (non-SC/STs). Viktoria Hnatkovska and Amartya Lahiri examine how these changes have impacted the saving behavior of the two groups. They find that while the saving rates of SC/STs exceeded that of non-SC/STs in 1983, this excess saving of SC/STs declined during 1983-2010 period.

Countries: 
India - Central
Research programmes: 
Finance
Researchers: 
Viktoria Hnatkovska, Amartya Lahiri
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POLICY BRIEF

Prestige Matters: Value of Connections Formed in Elite Colleges

Tertiary education has fuelled the economic growth in India in recent times. This has in turn generated excess demand for highly a educated and skilled workforce. Against this backdrop, it is vital to understand whether public institutions should be expanded or private institutions could provide good quality higher education so that public subsidies could be targeted towards merit-cum-need based scholarships.

Countries: 
India - Central
Research programmes: 
Human capital
Researchers: 
Sheetal Sekhri
+ Reading list 

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