The Political Economy of Business-State Deals in Indian States

India has historically performed badly in the World Bank’s Doing Business Indicators and a key objective of the current Indian government is about improving de jure rules around investment decisions so as to facilitate economic growth. Using a novel methodology, I show that de facto deals rather than de jure rules characterise the business-state relationship in Indian states and more deal making is prevalent in states with weak capacity.

The role of family history in shaping attitudes toward outgroups

We examine how membership in a historical outgroup a↵ ects attitudes toward other outgroups later in time. We provide evidence from Greece, a country that serves as an entry port to Europe for a large number of refugees, and whose native population largely consists of descendants of ethnic Greeks that were forcibly relocated from Turkey in the early 20th century. Combining historical and survey data with an experimental manipulation we show that the history of forced relocation in an individual’s family weakly increases sympathy for Syrian refugees undergoing a similar experience today.
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