The thesis delves into questions of measurement of poverty and inequality and evaluates a hypothesis behind a policy that impacts democratic rights of millions of individuals in India. The first two papers are based on the Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP). They describe the...

Although formal education is often considered an indicator of political leaders' quality, the evidence on the effectiveness of educated leaders is mixed. Besides, minimum education qualifications are increasingly being used as requirements for contesting elections, making it critical to...

We describe the design and implemention of a paradata based method to reduce interviewer induced measurement error in a household survey in India. Our method identifies enumerators exhibiting deviant field practices, and provides them feedback to correct potentially faulty behavior. A novel...

Common Service Centres (CSCs) have proliferated across the country under the Digital India Initiative. They are meant to provide easy access to several administrative services through private operators. We investigate if digitisation and privatization of these services improves citizen’s...

We examine how village-level social group dominance affects the educational and occupational mobility of minority and other social groups in rural India across multiple generations. We distinguish between upper caste and own-group dominance and examine the mechanisms underpinning inequality in...

We examine how village level social group dominance affects the educational and occupational mobility of minority and other social groups in rural India across multiple generations. Theoretically, we distinguish between upper caste and own group dominance and examine the mechanisms underpinning...

We describe the design and implemention of a paradata based method to reduce interviewer induced measurement error in a household survey in India. Our method identifies enumerators exhibiting deviant field practices, and provides them feedback to correct potentially faulty behavior. A novel...