We provide new evidence on the effect of minority elected state representatives on economic development and schooling in India. Using data on candidates in all state assembly elections from 1974 to 2017, we exploit two discontinuities in the reservation of constituencies for Scheduled Castes...

We study residential segregation and access to public services across 1.5 million urban and rural neighborhoods in India. Muslim and Scheduled Caste segregation in India is high by global standards, and only slightly lower than Black-White segregation in the U.S. Within cities, public facilities...

How do systemic modes of discrimination-such as a caste system, or racial bias-impact the transmission of intergenerational opportunities in a developing country? What are the mechanisms by which discriminatory norms in labour and marriage markets affect such opportunities? How could we measure...

India has achieved near-universal electrification, yet large inequalities persist in the reliability of the electricity supply. Combining high-resolution satellite-based measures of electricity reliability - defined as the share of nights with detectable illumination - with village-level census...

This paper examines how the financialization of advanced capitalist economies in the 1990s relates to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) as the dominant technological framework in the 21st century. Using insights from political economy and Kaleckian theory, it suggests that AI is not a...

When do people identify with their class? Evidence from social psychology shows that individuals are more likely to identify with a group if they are similar to its members. We study early 20th century Britain and show that regional cultural heterogeneity combined with internal migration...

The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

We study residential segregation and access to public services across 1.5 million urban and rural neighborhoods in India. Muslim and Scheduled Caste segregation in India is high by global standards, and only slightly lower than Black-White segregation in the U.S. Within cities, public facilities...

This paper presents the first reconstruction of income inequality in Italy during the so-called "Golden Age", by building Dynamic Social Tables (DSTs) from 1951 to 1973. The resulting estimates show increasing income inequality between 1951 and 1961 - that is, during the so-called "Economic...

To what extent did class shape political behavior during early democratization and industrialization, and did class voting reflect economic interests or durable political identities? We use newly collected individual-level panel data from open-ballot elections in the nineteenth-century...

We analyze the importance of the educated class for the persistence of mass consumption societies in an economy with a hierarchy of needs.Through the demand for managerial talent (which is needed to operate advanced industrial technologies), the latter generate their own demand for skills. In...

A growth mindset-a belief that intelligence is malleable rather than a fixed trait-is a crucial factor for educational success. I investigate whether a growth mindset also plays a role in students' post-graduation life outcomes, specifically, in the pursuit of higher education in a nationwide...

Taking the case of rural South India, we explore the universality of the Big Five personality traits and their stability over time. We then investigate the effects of two exogenous shocks on trait stability: the demonetisation of November 2016 and the second COVID-19 lockdown. We use an original...

A growth mindset-a belief that intelligence is malleable rather than a fixed trait-is a crucial factor for educational success. I investigate whether a growth mindset also plays a role in students' post-graduation life outcomes, specifically, in the pursuit of higher education in a nationwide...

Abstentionism represents one of the most evident failures of modern democracies. The root causes of the phenomenon are still quite difficult to understand. Why do people abstain? Because of lack of political offer or, rather, because of exclusion and marginalization? This paper addresses a...

This paper investigates preferences for wealth redistribution through a conjoint experiment. Specifically, we explore how support for wealth redistribution depends on the social background of the taxpayer and whether their wealth is perceived as resulting from luck or hard work. Our findings...

This chapter argues that parenting choices are a central force in the joint evolution of culture and economic outcomes. We present a framework in which parents - motivated by both their children’s future success and their own normative beliefs - choose parenting styles and transmit cultural...

Horizontal gender segregation in education negatively impacts both equity and efficiency in the labor market, contributing to disparities in career opportunities and economic outcomes. This paper examines the influence of social origins on gender segregation in Italian tertiary education over...

We analyze the importance of the educated class for the persistence of mass consumption societies in an economy with a hierarchy of needs.Through the demand for managerial talent (which is needed to operate advanced industrial technologies), the latter generate their own demand for skills. In...

This chapter argues that parenting choices are a central force in the joint evolution of culture and economic outcomes. We present a framework in which parents-motivated by both their children’s future success and their own normative beliefs-choose parenting styles and transmit cultural traits...