Culture and development
This theme investigates developing economies, particularly the roles culture, identity and ideas play in shaping developing countries.
Our research explores the roots of underdevelopment and the failure of governments to adopt ‘appropriate’ institutions. We investigate how ideas, interests and cultural norms affect policymaking and the development of institutions. We also consider how culture can be shaped or changed and the effect this can have on nation building and identity.
Theme leaders
Sharun Mukand
Sharun is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick
Robert Akerlof
Robert is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick.
Current and future research
We are working on a number of projects including:
- What makes a society tolerant? How do minorities react to persecution in different contexts? We will be studying India and Germany in the inter-war period to understand these questions, analysing the circumstances under which scholars migrated owing to persecution in their home countries.
- Ideas and identity politics in developing and developed countries
- Combating corruption: the role of guilt, shame and the rule of law
- Taxation and supplier networks: evidence from India
- Costs and benefits of rural-urban migration: evidence from India
Research highlights
-
Improved menstrual health and the workplace: an RCT with female Bangladeshi garment workers, Kristina Czura, Andreas Menzel, Martina Miotto, ScienceDirect, 2023
-
Electoral Importance and the News Market: Novel Data and Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India, Julia Cagé, Guilhem Cassan, Francesca R. Jensenius, REPEC, 2023
-
From the Manufacturing Belt to the Rust Belt. Spatial Inequalities in the United States: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review, Alexander Klein, CEPR, 2023
-
Trajectories of Early Childhood Skill Development and Maternal Mental Health, Dilek Sevim, Victoria Baranov, Sonia Bhalotra, Joanna Maselko, Pietro Biroli, The Journal of Human Resources, 2023
-
Religion and Growth, Sascha O. Becker, Jared Rubin, and Ludger Woessmann, Social Science Research Network, 2023
-
How Cognitive Skills Affect Strategic Behavior: Cognitive Ability, Fluid Intelligence and Judgment, David Gill, Zachary Knepper, Victoria Prowse, Junya Zhou, REPEC, 2023
-
Social Networks, Gender Norms and Labor Supply: Experimental Evidence Using a Job Search Platform, Farzana Afridi, Amrita Dhillon, Sanchari Roy, Nikita Sangwan, Social Science Research Network, 2022
-
Historical roots, cultural selection and the ‘New World Order’, Marcus Miller, Social Science Research Network, 2022
Feature
How do culture and institutions help to explain development and divergence in a globalising world? Presentation by Sharun Mukand.