Selected Papers
- Using Large-Language Models for Qualitative Analysis Can Introduce Serious Bias (with Julian Ashwin and Aditya Chhabra), November 2023
- The Added Value of Local Democracy: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India.” (with Abhishek Arora, Siddharth George, and MR Sharan) World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, August 2023
- Money vs Kudos: The Impact of Incentivizing Local Politicians in Rural India (with Ghazala Mansur, Slesh Shreshta and Nethra Paliniswamy, Journal of Public Economics,Volume 224, August 2023, 104922
- A Method to Scale Up Interpretive Qualitative Analysis with An Application to Aspirations among Refugees and Hosts in Bangladesh (with Julian Ashwin, Monica Biradavolu, Aditya Chhabra, Afsana Khan, Arshia Haque and Nandini Krishnan)
- Fractal Inequality in Rural India: Caste, Class and Jati in Bihar, Oxford Open Economics, 2022 (with Sharen Joshi and Nishtha Kochhar)
- Can Economics Become More Reflexive? Exploring the Potential of Mixed-Methods, January 2022
- Evidence-Based Development Requires a Diversity of Tools, with a Bottom-Up Process of Embedded Dialogue, World Development, December 2021
- Process Policy and Outcome Policy: Rethinking How to Address Poverty and Inequality, Daedalus, Summer 2019
- Safety Nets and Natural Disaster Mitigation: Evidence from Hurricane Phailin in Odisha (with Paul Christian, Eeeshani Kandpal, and Nethra Palaniswamy), March 2018
- Flies Without Borders: Lessons from Chennai on Improving India’s Public Health Services (with Monica Das Gupta, R. Dasgupta, P. Kungananthan, TV Somanathan, and KN Tewari), September 2017
- Deliberative Inequality: A Text-As-Data Study of India’s Village Assemblies (with Ramya Parthasarathy and Nethra Palaniswamy), American Political Science Review (forthcoming)
- Unheard Voices: The Challenge of Inducing Women’s Civic Speech (with Ramya Parthasarathy and Nethra Palaniswamy), World Development (forthcoming)
- Are Caste Categories Misleading? The Relationship between Gender and Jati in Three Indian States (with Shareen Joshi and Nishtha Kochhar), Chapter 16 in Towards Gender Equity in Development(S. Anderson, L. Beaman, and JP Platteau – editors), Oxford University Press (in press)
- On the Frontlines of Scaling-Up: A Qualitative Analysis of Implementation Challenges in Rural India (with Shruti Majumdar and Paromita Sanyal), April 2017
- Relief from Usury: Impact of a Community-Based Microcredit Program in Rural India (with V. Hoffmann, V. Surendra, and U. Datta), April 2017
- Who should be at the top of bottom-up development: A case-study of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in Rajasthan, India, (with Shareen Joshi), March 2017, Journal of Development Studie
- Deliberative Democracy in India (With Ramya Parthasarathy), March 2017, Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy
- Oral Democracy and Women’s Oratory Competency in Indian Village Assemblies: A Qualitative Analysis (with Paromita Sanyal and Umang Prabhakar), October 2015
- Recasting Culture to Undo Gender: A Sociological Analysis of Jeevika in Rural Bihar, India (with Shruti Majumdar and Paromita Sanyal), September 2015
- The Anatomy of Failure: Integrating Ethnography with a Randomized Control Trial to Evaluate an Attempt to Deepen Democracy in Rural India, (with Kripa Ananthpur and Kabir Malik), March 2014, World Development, 2017
- The Regulation of Land Markets: Evidence from Tenancy Reform In India (with Tim Besley, Jessica Leight and Rohini Pande), Journal of Development Economics 2105
- “Can Participation be Induced? Evidence from Developing Countries,” (with Ghazala Mansuri), Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy,” 2013
- “Conducting Ethical Economic Research: Complications from the Field,” (with Harold Alderman and Jishnu Das), Oxford Handbook on Professional Economic Ethics, George Demartino and Dierdre McCloskey, editors, Oxford University Press, 2013
- “Just Rewards: Local Politics and Public Resource Allocation in India,” (with Tim Besley and Rohini Pande), World Bank Economic Review, Vol 26, #2, Pp: 191-216, 2012
Gram Sabha in Tamil Nadu
© V. Rao
23. “Who has Voice in a Deliberative Democracy? Evidence from Transcripts of Village Parliaments in India,” (with Radu Ban and Saumitra Jha), Journal of Development Economics,Vol. 99 #10, Pp: 428-438, November 201
24. “Sex Work” (With Manisha Shah) in Kaushik Basu and Annemie Maertens (edited), Oxford Companion to Economics in India, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, Delhi (2011)
25. “Why and How Does History Matter for Development,” (with Michael Woolcock and Simon Szreter) Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 47, #1, January 2011, Pp: 70-96
26. Michael Bamberger, Vijayendra Rao and Michael Woolcock, “Using Mixed Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation: Experiences from International Development,” Handbook of Mixed Methods Research (C. Teddlie and A. Tashakkori, editors), Sage Publishers (forthcoming), 2010
27. “Book Review of Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies by William Axinn and Lisa Pearce,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, February 2010
28. “Revisiting between-group inequality measurement: An application to the dynamics of caste inequality in two Indian villages,” (with Peter Lanjouw), World Development
29. “Dignity Through Discourse: Poverty and the Culture of Deliberation in Indian Village Democracies,” (with Paromita Sanyal), Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 629, May 2010, pp:146-172
30.“The Political Economy of Village Sanitation: Capture or Poor Information,” (with Radu Ban and Monica Das Gupta), Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 47 #4, 2010 Pp: 685-700
31.”Tokenism vs. Agency? The Impact of Women’s Reservations on Village Democracies in South India,” (with Radu Ban) Economic Development and Cultural Change, February 2009
32. “Symbolic Public Goods and The Coordination of Collective Action: A Comparison of Local Development in India and Indonesia,” Chapter 10 in Pranab Bardhan and Isha Ray (editors) Contested Commons: Conversations Between Economists and Anthropologists, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2008
33. “VKRV Rao: The Great Motivator,” Chapter 25 in A Passionate Humanitarian: VKRV Rao, SL Rao, N Jayaram, VM Rao, MV Nadkarni, RS Deshpande (editors), Academic Foundation Press, New Delhi, 2008
30. “Disciplinary Monopolies in Development Research,” (with Michael Woolcock), Global Governance, December 2007
31. “The Political Construction of Caste in South India,” (with Radu Ban) mimeo, World Bank, October 2007
32. “PN Mari Bhat: An Intellectual Tribute,” (with Monica Das Gupta, Samuel H. Preston, Vijayendra Rao, and TV Sekhar),” Economic and Political Weekly, September 8 2007, Pp: 3611-3615
33.“Governance and the “Karnataka Model of Development’” (with Gopal K. Kadekodi and Ravi Kanbur), Economic and Political Weekly, February 24, 2007
34Book Review, Twenty-First Century India, by Tim Dyson, Robert Cassen and Leela Visaria, Oxford University Press, 2004, Population Development Review, June 2006.
35.“The Political Economy of Gram Panchayats in South India,” (with Tim Besley and Rohini Pande), Economic and Political Weekly , February 24, 2006
36.“Governance in the Gullies: Democratic Responsiveness and Community Leadership in Delhi’s Slums,” (with Saumitra Jha and Michael Woolcock), World Development, 2006
37. “Dowries” in Kaushik Basu (edited) Oxford Companion to Economics in India, Oxford University Press, Delhi (2006 and 2011)
38. “Participatory Democracy in Action: Survey Evidence From Rural India,” (joint with Tim Besley and Rohini Pande), Journal of the European Economic Association, April/May 2005, Vol. 3, No. 2-3, Pages 648-657
39. “On “Inequality Traps” and Development Policy,” Development Outreach, September 2005
40.”The Social Impact of Social Funds in Jamaica: A “Participatory Econometric” Analysis of Targeting, Collective Action, and Participation in Community-Driven Development,” (lead author with Ana Maria Ibanez) Journal of Development Studies, vol. 41, No. 5, Pp: 788-838, July 2005
41. “The Determinants of Gender Equity in India: Examining Dyson and Moore’s Thesis with New Data” (joint with Lupin Rahman), Population and Development Review, 30(2), Pp: 239-268, June 2004
42.“The Politics of Public Good Provision: Evidence from Indian Local Governments,” (with Tim Besley, Rohini Pande and Lupin Rahman), Journal of the European Economic Association , Vol. 2-23, 2004
43.“Culture and Public Action: Relationality, Equality of Agency and Development,” (with Michael Walton), Chapter 1 in Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, (Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton, editors) Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004
44. “Conclusion,” (With Michael Walton), Chapter 16 in Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, (Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton, editors) Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004
45.“Community Based (and Driven) Development: A Critical Review,” (with Ghazala Mansuri), The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 19, no. 1 (2004), pp. 1-39
46.“Wedding Celebrations as Conspicuous Consumption: Signaling Social Status in Rural India,” (with Francis Bloch and Sonalde Desai), Journal of Human Resources, Volume XXXIX, Number 3, Summer 2004
47.”Sex Workers and The Cost of Safe Sex: The Compensating Differential for Condom Use in Calcutta,” (Lead Author, with Indrani Gupta, Michael Lokshin and Smarajit Jana),” Journal of Development Economics, 71, Pp: 585-603, August 2003.
48.“Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Program Evaluation,” (with Michael Woolcock), in Francois Bourgingnon and Luiz Pereira Da Silva (edited) Tool Kit for Evaluating the Poverty and Distributional Impact of Economic Policies, World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003
49. “Experiments in Participatory Econometrics: Improving the Connection Between Economic Analysis and the Real World“, Economic and Political Weekly May 18th, 2002, 22(20), 1887-91
50. “Terror as a Bargaining Instrument: A Case Study of Dowry Violence in Rural India,” (with Francis Bloch), American Economic Review, Vol 92, #4, September 2002, Pp: 1029-1043
51. “Statistical Discrimination and Social Assimilation,” (with Francis Bloch), Economics Bulletin, Vol. 10, #2 , 2001
52.“Celebrations as Social Investments: Festival Expenditures, Unit Price Variation and Social Status in Rural India,” Journal of Development Studies , October 2001
53.”Poverty and Public Celebrations in Rural India,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,” Vol. 573, Pp: 85-104, 2001
54. “The Marriage Squeeze Interpretation of Dowry Inflation – Response,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 2000
55. “Price Heterogeneity and Real Inequality: A Case-Study of Poverty and Prices in Rural South India” Review of Income and Wealth, Series 46 #2, Pp: 201-212, June 2000
56.”The Demand for Dowries and Bride Characteristics in Marriage: Empirical Estimates for Rural South-Central India,” (with Anil Deolalikar, Univ. of Washington), in Gender, Population, and Development, M.Krishnaraj, R.Sudarshan, A.Sharif (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1998
57.”Can Economics Mediate the Link Between Anthropology and Demography?” Population and Development Review, Vol. 23 #4, Pp:833-38, December 1997
58. “Wife Beating in Rural South India: A Qualitative and Econometric Analysis,” Social Science and Medicine , Vol. 44, # 8, Pp. 1169-1180, April 1997. For this paper please see this extended version: “Wife-Abuse, Its Causes and Its Impact on Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural Karnataka: A “Participatory Econometric” Analysis, in Gender, Population, and Development, M.Krishnaraj, R.Sudarshan, A.Sharif (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1998
59. “The Marriage Squeeze and the Rise in Informal Marriage in Brazil,” (with Margaret E. Greene) Social Biology, Vol. 42 #1/2, Spring 1995 (Also published in an earlier version in Portugese as “A Compressao do Mercado Matrimonial e o Aumento das Unioes Consensuais no Brasil,” Revista Brasileira De Estudos De Populâço , V.9 N.2, Jul/Dec. 1992)
60. “The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural India“, Journal of Political Economy Vol. 101, #4 (August 1993).
61.”Dowry Inflation in Rural India: A Statistical Investigation,” Population Studies Vol. 47 (July 1993).
62.”Diet, Mortality and Life Expectancy: A Cross-National Analysis,” Journal of Population Economics, Volume 1, #3, 1988, Pp. 225-233