Sunday, October 13
Thu
Aug
03

Impact of Colonial Institutions on Economic Growth and Development in India: Evidence from Night lights data

Speakers:

Priyaranjan JhaUniversity of California Irvine

 
03
August,
2023
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM (IST)

Abstract:-

We study the implications of two historical institutions, direct British rule, and the heterogeneous land tenure institutions implemented by the British, on the disparity in present-day development using district-level data from India. Using nightlights per capita as a proxy for district-level per capita income, we find that modern districts that were historically under direct British rule had significantly less nightlights per capita in 1993 relative to modern districts that were historically under indirect British rule. The large gap persists even after including correlates of development such as educational attainment, health, and physical and financial infrastructure. Looking at the growth pattern from 1993 to 2013, directly ruled districts had a lower annual growth rate compared to indirectly ruled districts. Much of the development gap between areas under the indirect rule and direct rule can be accounted for by the adverse effect of landlord-based revenue collection systems in the directly ruled areas.
(joint with Karan Talathi)

To register for this event please visit the following URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIuc-GrrTwqG9efvdexFoZsDkfQzUPLWm5w →

Date & Time

03-08-2023
10:00 AM
to 11:30 AM (IST)

Location

Anywhere

Event Type

IEG Seminar

Event Category

Past event

Speaker(s)

Priyaranjan Jha

University of California Irvine

Moderator(s)

Oindrila De

Assistant Professor