In the highly competitive field of publishing in economics journals, methods often become fads sometimes to the detriment of framing meaningful research agendas and of research ethics. In recent times, empirical work based on primary data collection has gained traction. Randomized controlled...

Questions of ethics in Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in development economics need greater attention and a wider perspective. RCTs are meant to be governed by the three principles laid out in the Belmont Report, but often violated them, e.g. when local laws are flouted. In other cases, the...

In recent years, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and government procurement especially of paddy and wheat have been discussed widely, but these discussions have often drawn on evidence that is dated and incomplete. Consequently, such discussions have clouded the facts, resulting in a large...

On 28 January 2009, the Government of India constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) through a Gazette notification. The main aim was to "generate and assign UID to residents", where UID refers to "Unique Identity". The brand name "Aadhaar" (meaning "foundation" in some...

On 28 January 2009, the Government of India constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) through a Gazette notification. The main aim was to "generate and assign UID to residents", where UID refers to "Unique Identity". The brand name "Aadhaar" (meaning "foundation" in some...

There has been a major expansion of social security programmes in India during the last fifteen years or so, along with wider recognition of economic and social rights. This paper discusses five programmes of interest: school meals, child care services, employment guarantee, food subsidies and...