Is it time for SHG2? Revisiting the SHG Model
We feature a collborative post by Parul Agarwal, Amulya Champatiray & Misha Sharma on the results from their recently concluded research study, ‘Self Help Group Bank Linkage: Through the...
View ArticleSoil Economics – The “Science” in the economics
We feature a colaborative post by our Thanjavur based RA's, Suraj Nair and Sohini Chaparala. The Earth is covered with soil: soil on farmlands, soil on the sea floor, soil on our shoes as we walk...
View ArticleThe 3ie Conference, Manila 2014 - ‘Making Impact Evaluation Matter’
The IFMR LEAD research team participated in the ‘Making Impact Evaluation Matter’ conference on September 4, 2014 held at Manila, Philippines. The event was hosted by 3ie, in partnership with Asian...
View ArticleAlmost there, but not there yet: Rural India’s Education Crisis
Sometime in the beginning of 2014, Pratham Education Foundation published its Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). The report indicated a drastic improvement in the enrollment of children in...
View ArticleWhy do we use GPS? Application of Data
For the past one year, GPS recordings have been important data points for all the phases of recent studies at IFMR-LEAD. This is because the relevance and application of GPS data has evolved...
View ArticleYale Economic Growth Center's Tamil Nadu Socioeconomic Mobility Survey Part...
We feature a collaborative post by Tanay Balantrapu, Research Manager at IFMR LEAD, and Dahyeon Jeong, PhD candidate at the Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz There is an increasing emphasis on...
View ArticleWomen’s Empowerment: The Importance of Micro Level Indicators
We feature a collaborative post by our RA's, Arpita Khanna and Monisha Mason. Women’s empowerment is usually measured by several macro level indicators such as fertility rates, literacy rates,...
View ArticleCan Qualitative Research be Rigorous? Part 3: Sample size
Since the last post, I’ve had the opportunity to witness a couple of dialogues on the quantitative vs. qualitative debate; some were more encouraging than others. The first was during a panel session...
View ArticleBridging the Last Mile : Evaluation of Mobile Phone- Based Agricultural...
In 2011, we launched a large-scale field experiment to evaluate a service (Avaaj Otalo, or AO) that delivers mobile-phone-based agricultural information to cotton farmers in western India. This...
View ArticleHow cultural beliefs and attitudes of women influence women’s participation...
Previous studies on women’s role in agriculture and nutrition have indicated that women’s empowerment in agriculture is positively associated with per adult equivalent calorie availability and dietary...
View ArticleElectronic Data Collection – An overview for beginners
We feature a collaborative blogpost by our research associates, Sneha Mani and Suraj Nair Today, electronic data collection finds application in various walks of life - be it in hospitals,...
View ArticleYale Economic Growth Center's Tamil Nadu Socioeconomic Mobility Survey Part...
We feature a collaborative blogpost by Tanay Balantrapu, Research Manager, IFMR LEAD, and Ashwati Menon, Senior Officer, IL&FS Social Inclusion Group The Government of India’s Swachh Bharat...
View ArticleFinancial literacy: When, what and how
This article is authored by Parul Agarwal, Senior Research Manager at IFMR-LEAD, and was recently published by Ideas for India. The need for financial literacy and its importance for financial...
View ArticleDemand and Adoption of Innovation- Mobile based services
“Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity"-Michael Porter Any study that evaluates a service/product innovation having a completely new or modified design, not only assesses the effect...
View ArticleGiorgia Barboni on her Research Experience in India
Giorgia Barboni is a Principle Investigator on a few IFMR LEAD projects. She was recently in India conducting research work. We took this opportunity to ask her about her research experiences in India...
View ArticleBig and small ideas in development economics: Theory, evidence and practice
Karthik Muralidharan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego speaks with Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, World Bank and former Chief Economic...
View ArticleCAB Conference 2015 - Translating Research into Policy and Action
IFMR LEAD, at Institute for Financial Management and Research, and College of Agricultural Banking-RBI successfully organized their 6th international conference on financial inclusion and livelihood...
View ArticleUs and Them (Pink Floyd, 1973)
After having worked in the field for considerable amount of time, I use this space to reflect on what differentiates us and the people we study. I am going to gloss over obvious differences like...
View ArticleFrom the diary of a novice researcher
Currently, we are in the baseline phase of data collection for the project- Affordable Day Care to Empower Indian Women. This is an impact evaluation project, which aims to assess the impact of day...
View ArticleExperimenting with piggy banks for livelihoods
Picture yourself as a working-woman in rural Bihar. Lucky for you, at this time, it’s the three to four months in which you get a daily wage: harvesting season. Unlucky for you, as a Paswan, or...
View Article
