Some politicians argue for the splitting and combining of states to increase government productivity, but there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the optimal size of a state. Using data from Indian states, I test a model of the optimal size of the state. I find that size and preference...

Introduction: Foreign aid and development politics in India -- Part I. Learning development, 1947-1955: Debating development and discovering India -- Inventing development aid -- Part II. The heyday of the economic cold war, 1955-1966: The geopolitics of economic expertise -- The aid project and...