Political Reservation and Substantive Representation: Evidence From Indian Village Councils

India Policy Forum is a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) that aims to examine India’s reforms and economic transition using policy-relevant empirical research. The Objective of the IPF is to generate theoretically rigorous, empirically informed research on important current and unfolding issues of Indian economic policy. The first paper examines the services sector in India, evaluating its growth and future prospects. The second paper looks at India’s corporate sector, analyzing the profitability of firms in the wake of liberalization. The third paper explores the reasons for the large time and cost overruns that have been endemic to Indian infrastructure projects. The final two papers focus on more political issues, looking at the impact of political reservations used to increase women’s political voice, as well as the politics of intergovernmental resources transfers.