Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S Religious Riots and Electoral Politics in India ABSTRACT Religious Riots and Electoral Politics in India *The effect of ethnic violence on electoral results provides useful insights into voter behaviour in democratic societies. Religious riots have claimed more than 14,000 lives in India since 1950. We study the effect of Hindu-Muslim riots on election results in India. We combine data on riots, which have been geo-coded, with electoral data on state legislature elections and control variables on demographics and public goods provision to construct a unique panel data set for 16 large states in India over a 21 year period from 1981-2001. We suggest a new instrument that draws upon the random variation in the day of the week that important Hindu festivals fall on in each year, as set by a lunar calendar. The probability of a riot increases if a Hindu festival falls on a Friday, the holy day for Muslims. This allows us to isolate the causal effect of riots on electoral results. We also correct for under-reporting of riots and how they affect electoral outcomes in nearby districts. We find that riots occurring in the year preceding an election increases the vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party by 5 to 7 percentage points in the election.JEL Classification: Z12, D72, D74

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We conduct a public goods game in three small towns in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Due to historical military conquest, until 1947 these towns were on (barely) opposite sides of a colonial border separating British India from the Princely States. Our research design offers a treatment comparison between the towns of (British) Kekri and (Princely) Sarwar, and a control comparison between (Princely) Sarwar and (Princely) Shahpura. We find no significant difference in contributions to home town groups, but a significant difference in contributions to mixed town groups. Participants in (British) Kekri are more cooperative (i.e., contribute more) in mixed town groups compared to those in (Princely) Sarwar. We find the differences are driven by individuals with family ties to the towns, and we find no differences in the control comparison. Our results highlight the enduring effects of colonial rule on social norms of cooperation .

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) Consumer Pyramid Household surveys have emerged as an important source of regular labour market data for India. Given the differences in methods in data collection between the CMIE and official employment sources, it becomes exceedingly important to establish some comparability between the government and the CMIE datasets. With the release of the official Periodic Labour Force Surveys for 2017–18, we now have an overlap between the official datasets and CMIE datasets. In this paper, we examine the extent of comparability of labour force estimates from these two datasets. We find that employment estimates for men are broadly comparable. However, for women, there is a consistent divergence, with CMIE estimates of women’s workforce participation lower than that of NSS-PLFS. We find that irrespective of the reference period used in the PLFS estimation of employment statuses, there is no convergence with the CMIE employment estimate for women’s employment. Moreover, the mismatch in CMIE-PLFS estimates occurs across all types of women’s employment and irrespective of what reference period of employment (in official data) is used.

The rapid urbanisation of the previous century increased the number of slum communities, which had a variety of negative effects and is today considered a severe problem for developing countries. This research highlights the difficulties of slum development that must be overcome to increase the potential and capacities of slum dwellers. By giving people the opportunity to participate in a "Learn to Earn Program," the slum will stop being a drain on the economy and instead become a driver. Slums are becoming an inescapable fact of life in many nations, especially in emerging nations. Although there are many slum upgrading strategies and techniques to alleviate urban poverty in emerging nations, the issue is only projected to become worse. In fact, the number of slum inhabitants has increased. Other governmental strategies that attempted to remove slums failed to consider the resources and opportunities that slums present. This is a reference to the requirement to modify the methods used in the development processes. Slums have negative effects on the environment and natural resources in addition to the issues they bring to humans. From this perspective, sustainable development is the primary means of achieving a genuine boom in the developing world, which confirms the necessity of improving slums holistically. As a result, this article embraces the idea of investing in the community's good features while also creating a comprehensive framework based on the three sustainability pillars of the economy, society, and environment.