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Summary: This paper examines public–private partnerships (PPPs) for development through the example of telecenters in two Indian states. How might a developmental state position itself with respect to civil society under a PPP model of service delivery? We find that each state’s political economy is reflected in its PPP strategy, but that in both states the emerging middle classes rather than the poor benefit most from ongoing telecenter projects. Outsourcing development services to private entities need not “privatize” the state but does alter the way in which citizens “see” the state. Service delivery through telecenters becomes a symbol of government efficiency and responsiveness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper studies the product cycle and neo-technology theories of trade in the context of generic pharmaceuticals. It analyzes the export performance of 131 Indian pharmaceutical firms for the period 1989–2004. The results indicate that technology proxied by foreign patent rights has a positive impact on exports. This suggests that developing countries with innovation skills for process innovations are capable of penetrating international markets in the later stages of the product cycle by using patents, which were the barriers to trade in the early stages of the product cycle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper examines the role of financial sector policies in determining private investment in the economies of India and Malaysia. The results suggest that significant directed credit programs favoring certain priority sectors tend to discourage private capital formation in both countries. Interest rate controls appear to have a positive impact on private investment, with the effect being more pronounced in Malaysia. While high reserve and liquidity requirements exert a negative influence on private investment in India, the effect is found to be positive in Malaysia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper conducts a statistical investigation into the impact of differences in economic benefits, wealth, and social classes within the community on collective management of forests. There are two key results. First, social parochialism is not a pre-requisite for collective management of forests. Moderate levels of social diversity are associated with low collective management, but at high levels of social diversity, collective management is high. Second, moderate wealth heterogeneity is beneficial; however, at high levels and in the presence of benefit heterogeneity, it decreases collective management. Similarly, benefit heterogeneity reduces collective management if wealth heterogeneity also exists. These results run counter to the dominant understanding of heterogeneity but may be seen as alternate explanations under a specific socioeconomic context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper provides comparative analyses across women’s employment-status groups to examine how processes of exclusion and constrained and adverse inclusion shape different women’s labor market opportunities and outcomes in Lucknow, India. It examines under what conditions, if at all, women’s labor contributes to household-poverty reduction and for which work types paid employment leads to increased voice for women in the household, one dimension of a process of empowerment. It finds that women’s labor force participation has a meager influence on household and individual level development outcomes largely due to the inter-related processes of exclusion and inclusion, where social norms and responsibilities for reproductive work can lead to constrained inclusion in the labor market, adversely affecting women’s terms of incorporation. The findings have relevance for programming focusing on improving the range and quality of choices for women in the paid economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We study the impacts of women's Self-help group membership on women's and men's empowerment. • We measure empowerment using two alternate indices: the A-WEAI and the Pro-WEAI. • We find that SHG membership has a significant positive impact on aggregate measures of women's empowerment. • We also find that SHG membership reduces the gap between men's and women's empowerment scores. • The impacts are driven by increase in control over income, decisionmaking over credit, and active involvement in groups. Women's groups are important rural social and financial institutions in South Asia. In India, a large majority of women's groups programs are implemented through self-help groups (SHGs). Originally designed as savings and credit groups, the role of SHGs has expanded to include creating health and nutrition awareness, improving governance, and addressing social issues related to gender- and caste-based discrimination. This paper uses panel data from 1470 rural Indian women from five states to study the impact of SHG membership on women's empowerment in agriculture, using the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) and the abbreviated Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI). Because SHG membership was not randomized and women who self-select to be SHG members may be systematically different from non-members, we employ nearest neighbor matching methods to attribute the impact of SHG membership on women's empowerment in agriculture and intrahousehold inequality. Our findings suggest that SHG membership has a significant positive impact on aggregate measures of women's empowerment and reduces the gap between men's and women's empowerment scores. This improvement in aggregate empowerment is driven by improvements in women's scores, not a deterioration in men's. Greater control over income, greater decisionmaking over credit, and (somewhat mechanistically, given the treatment) greater and more active involvement in groups within the community lead to improvements in women's scores. However, impacts on other areas of empowerment are limited. The insignificant impacts on attitudes towards domestic violence and respect within the household suggest that women's groups alone may be insufficient to change deep-seated gender norms that disempower women. Our results have implications for the design and scale-up of women's group-based programs in South Asia, including the possibility that involving men is needed to change gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Self-help groups (SHGs) are now viewed as promising platforms for multiple development interventions for several reasons. • Study provides qualitative insights on dynamics of SHG meeting attendance in SHG-led health intervention in India. • Finds meeting regularity and attendance are barriers to wide coverage, particularly for most vulnerable women. • Social capital developed between SHGs and sponsor organization is critical to successfully layer health interventions. • Social capital between SHG and sponsoring organization is developed through benefits received from past association. Women-led self-help groups (SHGs) are increasingly being utilized as platforms for delivering development activities by funding agencies and governmental bodies. However, there is currently little understanding as to whether SHGs are effective or equitable platforms for delivering health or livelihoods interventions. Social capital is hypothesized as a comparative advantage when utilizing SHGs as development platforms, however the specific mechanisms have yet to be explored. This paper investigates the efficacy and equity of SHGs as platforms for development programs through analyzing 64 interviews and 6 focus group discussions collected from an agriculture and behavior change intervention delivered through SHGs in eastern India. We find that while, theoretically, SHGs are a promising platform for health messaging this is largely dependent on SHG norms of attendance, which itself is closely tied to socioeconomic conditions and social capital. Social capital is important both within SHGs as well as between SHGs and the implementing organization. Sites with more mature SHGs had greater economic security allowing more active participation in the intervention than sites with more poverty and young SHGs. The former sites also had greater norms of trust and reciprocity (social capital) with the implementing organization that led them to accept additional interventions. In the latter sites, SHG members had competing demands on their time and less trust in the implementers, making it difficult to attend both SHG meetings and health sessions. We put forth a materialist understanding of social capital formation, where SHG members must have already received substantive benefit from membership for new activities to be successfully incorporated into their agenda. Further, using SHGs as a nutrition message delivery platform should not detract from individual engagement with more vulnerable members of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The growth and export trajectories of China and India are not unique. Their significance arises from their size and the distinctive nature of their economic and political actors. For this reason they are having an increasing impact on other economies including in the developing world. This paper provides a framework for assessing these impacts, distinguishing different vectors of interaction, complementary and competitive impacts and direct and indirect impacts. This sets the scene for the articles included in this Special Issue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The dynamic rural nonfarm sector in China has been a major contributor to the country’s remarkable growth, while in India the growth in output and employment in this sector has been rather stagnant. This paper argues that the observed patterns in the rural nonfarm development are the results of institutional differences between the two countries, especially in their political systems, ownership structure, and credit institutions. A review of the strengths and weaknesses of the rural nonfarm economy in China and India highlights the potentials and challenges of growth in the sector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Historically, local rural governments in India have enjoyed very limited powers and citizens have been afforded very few opportunities to shape local development. In 1996, the state government of Kerala initiated the “People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning” devolving new authority and resources to panchayats and mandating structures and processes designed to maximize the direct involvement of citizens in planning and budgeting. In both its scope and design, these reforms represent the most ambitious effort to build local institutions of participatory democratic governance ever undertaken in the subcontinent. This paper provides a detailed evaluation and analysis of the formative period of the reforms based on extensive survey data collected in 2002 from a sample of 72 randomly selected panchayats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper examines poverty and vulnerability by using a multidisciplinary approach in which household survey data and poverty analysis were applied in interaction with open-ended qualitative research methods. The study uses a variety of quantitative survey-based methods in combination with qualitative Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods to explore key issues concerned with poverty, risk, and vulnerability in some of India’s poorest regions. It documents poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon and the poor as a highly heterogeneous group; efforts to reduced poverty in its many dimensions must recognize this diversity and how it is reflected in constraints and opportunities for rising out of poverty. Poverty reduction policies and programs must be designed accordingly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Democratic decentralization and community participation often stand at the center of an agenda of “good governance” that aims to reduce corruption and increase the state’s accountability to its citizens. However, this paper suggests based on empirical studies on the Employment Assurance Scheme in rural West Bengal that the strength of upward accountability (especially to political parties) is as crucial as downward accountability to communities. When these vertical accountabilities are weak, horizontal accountability structures between local civil society and officials can mutate into networks of corruption in which “community” actors become accomplices or primary agents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper suggests that demand instruments of international vaccine procurement, instead of being seen primarily as a global management instrument, can usefully induce industrial change and technological innovation through improved technical standards and regulations. The example of Indian vaccines is analyzed, and an industrial evolution schematic is investigated. The findings suggest that some fine tuning can improve the demand side for technological innovation. However, tensions between industrial and health policies and their separate evolutions are also visible, and more is needed to link industrial and technological gains with domestic health needs, if the goal is broader social impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: In this paper, we test whether economic growth decreases child labor by bringing together data from the National Sample Survey of India and state-level macrodata to estimate a bivariate probit model of schooling and labor. Our results lead us to conclude that contrary to popular wisdom, growth actually increases rather than decreases child labor because it increases the demand for child workers. The level of state NDP, village wages, and household incomes are seen as the conduits through which growth influences the supply side of the child labor market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

If development means the expansion of human capabilities, then freedom from domestic violence should be an integral part of any exercise for evaluating developmental progress. This paper focuses on a hitherto unexplored factor underlying women's risk of marital violence, namely, women's property status. Many studies have examined the scale and correlates of marital violence, but neglected this dimension. Based on a household survey in Kerala (India), the authors assess the prevalence and correlates of both physical and psychological violence--long term and current. Women owning immovable property (land or a house) are found to face a significantly lower risk of marital violence than propertyless women. This has implications for development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian State of Kerala presents a paradox of development, with its remarkable social achievements and relative industrial backwardness. This paper describes Kerala's industrial backwardness as due to a path-dependent process of industrialization. A policy decision in the 1930s-marked by a priority for investments in chemical-based industries and the identification of hydroelectricity as a potential basis for industrialization-continue to have implications for industrial growth in Kerala today. With the policy decision in the 1930s, industrial structure in Kerala came to be locked into a pattern that offered very little potential for interindustry interlinkages and industrial growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent paper has suggested that the entry of transnational corporations (TNCs) favorably affected the productivity of Indian software, by inducing greater human capital formation in the industry, which in turn raised the productivity of existing investments. This note suggests an alternative causation that may lie behind the favorable effect of TNCs on the evolution of Indian industry. Factor market competition by local and foreign firms bid up the price of scarce human capital. Leading domestic producers in the industry responded to this scarcity by developing the offshore model and the complementary organizational capabilities suited to it and to introduce process methodologies and organizational practices that economized on human capital. These growing firm capabilities we argue lie behind the growing productivity of the Indian software sector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the determinants of private saving in the process of economic development, in the light of the Indian experience. It is found that the saving rate rises with both the level and the rate of growth of disposable income. The real interest rate on bank deposits has a significant positive impact, but the magnitude of the impact is modest. Public saving seems to crowd out private saving, but less than proportionately. Furthermore, the spread of banking facilities in the economy and the inflation rate have a positive impact and changes in the external terms of trade a negative impact on private saving. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The evolution of the Indian software sector is explained by the larger context of uneven and combined development. The imperatives of a market-driven global order suggest an open-ended process of development, making some economic and technological convergence realizable but also generating contradictions at various levels. This paper focuses on differential innovative capability, the uneven diffusion of technical education in India, and the increasing economic integration of the software industry as sources of uneven development. The combined nature of the development process is reflected in the coexistence of the successful software sector with several lagging sectors with all of them being functionally integrated as part of Indian social formation. To cope with the contradictions of such change a balanced development will be critical. To make development more inclusive deep structural problems that plague those outside the orbit of the successful software industry must be resolved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the rationale, practice, and problems of contract farming in vegetable crops in the agriculturally developed Indian Punjab which has faced the problem of sustainability of growth since the early 1980s. It is found that agribusiness firms deal with relatively large producers and their contracts, which are biased against the farmer, perpetuate the existing problems of the farm sector such as high chemical input intensity, and social differentiation. Contracting has however, led to higher farm incomes and more employment for labor. There seems to be an inherent contradiction in the objectives of the contracting parties and those of the local economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's software industry presents the case of an internationally competitive high-tech industry from a developing economy. This paper takes the evolution of the industry in terms of human capital accumulation. The initial stock of human capital leads to entry of transnational corporations (TNC), which triggers a cumulative process of further human capital accumulation through a process of externalities (spillovers) governed by firm-level and market structure dynamics. Spillovers from TNC operations are more effective when TNCs operate at higher end of technology and build backward linkages with local firms and institutions in a developing economy. The empirical exercises, based on the analysis of qualitative information collected through field interviews and econometric analysis of firm-level panel data, provide evidence of the positive contribution of TNCs for the evolution of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Uber for tractor models promise to improve farmers access to mechanization. • We study two digital pioneers: Hello Tractor (Nigeria) and EM3 (India). • We examine how they influence the attributes of transaction costs. • The tools mainly benefit service providers, i.e. larger ones. • Enabling environments are key to harness the potential for smallholders. Digital tools hold great promise to promote agricultural transformation and benefit smallholder farmers in the developing world. One such tool is Uber for tractors , which aims to enable farmers to access tractor hire services in a way that is deemed similar to the Uber service for ride-hailing. While widely praised, Uber for tractors has not yet been rigorously analyzed. How does it work in practice? And what is its potential to reduce the transaction costs of tractor service provision, both for tractor owners and for smallholders who use tractor services? To answer these questions, we present case studies of two companies that apply digital tools in support of tractor hire: Hello Tractor in Nigeria and EM3 Agri-Services in India. A transaction costs economics framework was developed to identify how Uber for tractor tools can, in theory, influence the attributes of service hire transactions and, thus, reduce transaction costs. For the empirical analysis, a mixed-methods approach was applied involving approximately 400 respondents and comprising net-maps (a participatory mapping tool), focus group discussions, interviews with tractor owners and other stakeholders, and a survey among farmers. Our results show that the Uber for tractor models have indeed the potential to reduce transaction costs for service providers, in particular the owners of several tractors, by enabling the monitoring of tractors and operators through GPS devices. Farmers who access services have, so far, only indirectly benefitted from the new digital tools, because they still relied on "analog" solutions - booking agents and phone calls - rather than a smartphone app to request services. Overall, the paper shows that Uber for tractors is a pioneering concept, but investment in enabling conditions, such as digital literacy and network coverage, is required to harness the full potential of such digital innovations for smallholder farmers in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to understand the factors behind low contract renewal rates frequently observed in insurance programs in poor countries. This is done on the basis of the experience of a micro-insurance health program in India. We show that poor understanding of the insurance concept, compounded by a serious supply-side information failure, is a major cause of low contract renewal among households which had previously enrolled into the program. Controlling for the level of their information about how to collect the insurance payout, households that did not experience a health shock during the first year tended to pull out of the scheme when they are subject to a cognitive bias reflected in short-term framing. When they are classic expected utility maximizers, however, the absence of a health shock did not affect their contract renewal decision. The policy implication of our findings is considerable since they provide a strong justification for mandatory universal health insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The normative promise of urbanization in India – muting of the caste boundaries – remains untested empirically. • We show that caste-based residential segregation is rife, even among India's most urban centers. • The degree of segregation does not vary by the population size of a city, or its growth over the last 6 decades. • Methodologically, we highlight what should be an ideal neighborhood to study segregation in Indian cities. We present the first ever large-scale snapshot of urban residential segregation in India at the neighborhood-scale. Our analysis from 147 largest cities in contemporary India shows how caste-based residential segregation is independent of city size (our sample includes all cities in India with at least 0.3 million residents in 2011). The extent of segregation in the largest metropolitan centers with over ten million residents closely tracks cities that are nearly two orders-of-magnitude smaller. We also show how residential segregation across a large swathe of urban India mirrors the spatial geometry of rural India. Our findings call into question one of the central normative promises of modernization in India and elsewhere — the gradual withering of traditional ascriptive identities such as caste. Our paper also contributes to the emerging debates in urban segregation by developing an interdisciplinary framework for analytical and empirical operationalization of a neighborhood unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We show that the rise in rural obesity in India is closely associated with urbanization of its rural spaces. • These risks have increased disproportionately among lower socio-economic classes. • Those living near towns with a population of 50,000 & those living in more economically developed states are at greater risk. • Greater diet diversity alleviates the urban effect of the rural obesity pandemic. While obesity across rural India has doubled in the last decade, research explaining such an unprecedented change is sparse. This paper shows that the rise in the incidence of rural obesity is associated with the process of structural transformation, especially within rural spaces. As the distance to nearby towns from the villages has reduced, urban proximity not only leads to improved livelihoods but also a change in dietary practices and access to processed food. Combining the rural sample of India's latest National Family Health Survey (2015–16) with the estimates for town distance from the village clusters, we show that an additional kilometer of reduction in rural–urban distance increases the risk of obesity among women by 0.06 percent. Our estimates imply that for every kilometer of reduction in rural–urban proximity 3000 rural women become at-risk for obesity. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this burden is higher in towns with a population of over 50,000. We also find that the risk has increased disproportionately among the lower socio-economic classes. Similarly, states at a more mature stage of structural transformation face higher risk of obesity. Finally, we find that higher dietary diversity reduces the influence of urban growth on rural obesity. Our findings underscore the looming dual burden of malnutrition among developing countries and suggest that nutrition policies that promote diet diversity could be a panacea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Gujarat Solar Park is an archetype of India's sustainable energy transition. • The solar park is mandated to facilitate 'gender positive' outcomes and boasts female empowerment. • Configurations of labor under the political economy of solar have excluded women from employment opportunities. • Corporate social responsibility schemes designed to empower women reproduced caste and class-based social power asymmetries. • Solar park development in India represents an antinomy of a nature-society relation. India is undergoing a rapid transition to renewable energy; the Gujarat Solar Park typifies this transition. In addition to mitigating climate change, the Gujarat Solar Park boasts female empowerment through social development schemes. This manuscript is inspired by the following research question: To what extent are 'gender positive' processes and projects associated with solar development in India realized on the ground? Utilizing mixed methods fieldwork and drawing on literature from feminist political ecology, this paper demonstrates how the modalities of solar park development represent an antinomy of a nature-society relation. New configurations of labor under the political economy of solar have produced a gendered surplus population of landless peasants who are not absorbed into wage-labor employment in the solar park. Further, associated social development schemes actually disempower women, despite mandates of 'gender positive' outcomes by UN-based climate treaties to which this project is beholden. The opportunity to participate in one such scheme for female empowerment was reserved for only women of middle-to-high class status and those of dominant castes, thereby reproducing class and caste-based social power asymmetries. Female (dis)empowerment eclipses 'gender positive' guarantees of the solar park. This study highlights some unintended consequences of sustainable energy transitions in the Global South at the local scale. Designing development interventions related to climate change mitigation that boast 'gender positive' outcomes must be careful not to exacerbate gender disparities and economic exclusion in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• I compare the process of structural transformation in both national data and household panel data in India. • The national data provides evidence that India is in the midst of structural transformation. • Household data tells a similar story, though rural households lag behind in key indicators. • The results have implications for using stylized facts to set policy agenda. This paper compares national-level data from India with 40 years of household panel data from rural India to track sectoral changes in employment and income as well as examine the hypothesis of induced innovation in agricultural production. In the national data, India appears to be in the midst of a structural transformation. The share of agriculture in GDP and employment has shrunk while agricultural output continues to grow. This productivity growth appears to adhere to the induced innovation hypothesis, as productivity per hectare has increased more rapidly than productivity per worker. Many of the same patterns exist in the household data. Tracking households across time, I observe agricultural output has increased, despite more households engaging in off-farm labor. Household agricultural production is highly specialized and has increased its reliance on improved inputs. However, while agricultural income has grown, industrial and service income has remained stagnant, and the relative income of these households has declined in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study weather effects on migration in rural India. • Positive weather shocks facilitate migration abroad and to cities in the same state. • Adverse weather shocks drive rural-urban migration to different states. • Urban climate migrants are less educated and are from agricultural households. • Approximately 8% of urbanization between 2005 and 2012 can be attributed to weather. In this paper, we move from the large strand of research that looks at evidence of climate migration to the questions: who are the climate migrants? and where do they go? These questions are crucial to design policies that mitigate welfare losses of migration choices due to climate change. We study the direct and heterogeneous associations between weather extremes and migration in rural India. We combine ERA5 reanalysis data with the India Human Development Survey household panel and conduct regression analyses by applying linear probability and multinomial logit models. This enables us to establish a causal relationship between temperature and precipitation anomalies and overall migration as well as migration by destination. We show that adverse weather shocks decrease rural-rural and international migration and push people into cities in different, presumably more prosperous states. A series of positive weather shocks, however, facilitates international migration and migration to cities within the same state. Further, our results indicate that in contrast to other migrants, climate migrants are likely to be from the lower end of the skill distribution and from households strongly dependent on agricultural production. We estimate that approximately 8% of all rural-urban moves between 2005 and 2012 can be attributed to weather. This figure might increase as a consequence of climate change. Thus, a key policy recommendation is to take steps to facilitate integration of less educated migrants into the urban labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) in policy evaluations has revolutionized our approach to designing effective public policies. This essay argues that understanding the politics of policymaking is integral to the discussion of RCTs. The literature on RCTs has not sufficiently engaged with this issue. Examining a recent set of papers, the essay analyzes how the political process of policymaking as well as its political consequences may matter for the overall welfare implications of an intervention, including those involving the experimental method. Additionally, such political concerns with the method may be hard to avoid as both small and large scale RCTs may involve unintended and yet, consequential, political effects. Given the influence that RCTs enjoy within the discipline and in the wider development community, bringing the political economy considerations within the ambit of analyses could make policy evaluations more holistic, better our understanding, and consequently, bring research closer to practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We evaluate impact of a large-scale intervention using technology-aided teaching in 1823 rural government schools in India. • We use a resource light design that requires one computer and projector per school and minimal teacher retraining. • We observe positive impact on student learning outcomes in the subjects for which the intervention was conducted. • Being a resource light design, it can be helpful in achieving the objective of SDG-4. One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-4) adopted by the United Nations focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Most research on impact of technology on learning outcomes depends on designs that require low student-to-computer ratio and extensive retraining of teachers. These requirements make the designs difficult to implement on a large scale and hence are limited in terms of inclusivity and ability to 'provide equitable opportunity for all'. Our paper is the first to evaluate an intervention design that is aimed at dealing with these concerns. We conduct a large-scale randomised field experiment in 1823 rural government schools in India that uses technology-aided teaching to replace one-third of traditional classroom teaching. Even with high student-to-computer ratios and minimal teacher training, we observe a positive impact on student learning outcomes. The study thus presents a low cost, resource-light design, which can be implemented in a developing country on a large scale to address the problem of poor learning outcomes, thereby making the intervention inclusive and equitable in line with the spirit of SDG-4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First national study to assess the impact of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) on children's cognitive scores. • We find that receiving ICDS intervention in early childhood benefits children's cognitive development at later ages. • ICDS is positively associated with reading and arithmetic test scores for girls. • ICDS is also positively associated with reading and arithmetic test scores of children from low-income families. • We argue that ICDS plays a critical role in bridging the gaps in cognitive achievement in India. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme aims to provide food supplementation, immunization, health check-ups, and early childhood education to children under the age of six years. There is mounting evidence that links poverty, undernutrition, and lack of stimulation at early ages with cognitive and economic disadvantages later in life. Furthermore, early childhood nutritional, educational, and health interventions are associated with human capital gains in developing countries. In this paper, we investigate the medium-term impact of ICDS services received in early childhood on subsequent reading and arithmetic achievement among children in the ages of eight to 11 in India. There are no nationwide studies that investigate the impact of ICDS on cognitive outcomes. Utilizing data from the two waves of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) and applying propensity score matching, we find that ICDS has a positive impact on cognitive achievement, primarily for girls and children in low-income families. Since the influence of ICDS intervention is observed for these groups, we believe that the ICDS plays a critical role in reducing gender and income-related gaps in cognitive achievement in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The impact of rainfall shocks on school enrollment has changed in the past 30 years. • By 2007, positive rainfall shocks lead to a decrease in school enrollment. • School enrollment rises after a negative rainfall shock. • These effects are more pronounced for girls and older children. Despite long-standing international agreements like the Millennium Development Goals, 264 million children in developing countries are not enrolled in school, and children in rural areas remain twice as likely to be out of school as children in urban areas. One potential explanation for this pattern is that children's education in rural areas is vulnerable to weather shocks, but there is no consensus about whether rainfall shocks help or harm school enrollment in the existing literature. This paper explores whether changes in the relationship between rainfall shocks and schooling outcomes over time can explain the different results in the literature by using household survey data from India across three decades. My study finds that adverse rainfall shocks have an increasingly stronger positive impact on school enrollment over time, whereas enrollment is increasingly falling after positive rainfall shocks. This effect is stronger for girls than for boys, more pronounced for older children, and is consistent with an increase in the importance of opportunity costs of a child's time in more recent years. Children may have to drop out of school when employment opportunities are more readily available after a positive rainfall shock, but are able to go to school when jobs are scarce. These results offer a potential explanation for the different results in the literature, where studies on countries with higher economic development tend to find results consistent with an opportunity cost story, whereas this is not the case for studies on countries with a lower level of development. The results suggest that policymakers need to pay close attention to the obstacles faced by girls and older children to make access to education universal, and should develop policy tools that incentivize households to send their children to school even when employment opportunities are readily available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]