Using state-level variation in the timing of political reforms, we find that an increase in female representation in local government induces a large and significant rise in documented crimes against women in India. Our evidence suggests that this increase is good news, driven primarily by greater reporting rather than greater incidence of such crimes. In contrast, we find no increase in crimes against men or in gender-neutral crimes. We also examine the effectiveness of alternative forms of political representation. Large scale membership of women in local councils affects crime against them more than their presence in higher-level leadership positions. (JEL D72, J16, K42, O15, O17)

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The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India

This article reviews the existing field experimentation literature on the prevalence of discrimination, the consequences of such discrimination, and possible approaches to undermine it. We highlight key gaps in the literature and ripe opportunities for future field work. Section 2 reviews the various experimental methods that have been employed to measure the prevalence of discrimination, most notably audit and correspondence studies; it also describes several other measurement tools commonly used in lab-based work that deserve greater consideration in field research. Section 3 provides an overview of the literature on the costs of being stereotyped or discriminated against, with a focus on self-expectancy effects and self-fulfilling prophecies; Section 4 also discusses the thin field-based literature on the consequences of limited diversity in organizations and groups. The final section of the paper, Section 4 , reviews the evidence for policies and interventions aimed at weakening discrimination, covering role model and intergroup contact effects, as well as sociocognitive and technological debiasing strategies.

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Field Experiments on Discrimination

Electoral quotas, which are used in more than 100 countries around the world, increase the representation of target groups in legislatures. But do the beneficial effects of quotas persist after they are withdrawn? Answering this question is important because quotas are often thought of as temporary measures, used to improve the lot of particular groups of people until they can take care of themselves. Target groups could secure representation for themselves after quotas lapse as the constraints that previously prevented their effective political voice are mitigated, either by broad social processes or by quotas themselves. Therefore, a thorough accounting of the costs and benefits of quotas must investigate whether quotas themselves can continue to boost the representation of target groups in legislatures after they are withdrawn. This question is particularly important because quotas restrict the opportunities available to nontarget groups and might, in fact, cause a backlash against beneficiaries (Weiner 1978; Wilkinson 2000). Little evaluation of the lasting effects of quotas has been conducted for at least two reasons. First, despite intentions to the contrary, quotas are rarely withdrawn. 1 This makes it difficult to assess what would

Do Electoral Quotas Work after They Are Withdrawn? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India

Do electoral quotas for women alter women's chances of winning elections after they are withdrawn? I answer this question by examining an unusual natural experiment in India in which randomly chosen seats in local legislatures are set aside for women for one election at a time. Using data from Mumbai, I find that the probability of a woman winning office conditional on the constituency being reserved for women in the previous election is approximately five times the probability of a woman winning office if the constituency was not reserved for women previously. I also explore tentative evidence on the mechanisms by which reservations affect women's ability to win elections. The data suggest that reservations work in part by introducing into politics women who are able to win elections after reservations are withdrawn and by allowing parties to "learn" that women can win elections.

Do Electoral Quotas 'Work' After They Are Withdrawn? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India

Management accounting in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been an issue of growing interest in the management accounting literature in recent years. However, published research is fragmented, spanning various fields such as accounting, small business and entrepreneurship, general management, and production and operations management. This paper aims to synthesize extant knowledge on management accounting in SMEs and provide concrete suggestions on how to proceed. We performed a systematic literature review, synthesized the results, and identified research gaps. Our findings show that usage of management accounting is not only lower but also different in SMEs compared to larger entities. Based on a comparison of SMEs, the review explains how environmental, staff, and organizational factors significantly influence the organization of management accounting in SMEs and that SME performance in general benefits from proper management accounting. We conclude with several concrete research q...

Management Accounting in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Current Knowledge and Avenues for Further Research

Political reservation for disadvantaged groups is believed to be a way of improving targeting of publicly provided goods to those groups. This paper examines the impact of political reservations for women and scheduled castes and tribe (SC/ST) candidates in local governments in West Bengal, India between 1998-2004 on targeting to landless, low caste and female-headed households. It differs from existing literature by differences in geographic coverage, time span, and use of selfreported household benefits across a broad range of programs. Reservation of chief executive (pradhan) positions in local government for women was associated with a significant worsening of within-village targeting to SC/ST households, and no improvement on any other dimension of targeting. Reservation of pradhan posts for SC/ST members was associated with a significant increase in benefits received by the village as a whole, improvement in intra-village targeting to female-headed households, and to the group (SC or ST) of the pradhan. The effects of women’s reservations are not consistent with simple citizen-candidate or elite capture models of electoral politics. They are consistent with a more complex hypothesis of capture-cum-clientelism which is weakened by election of politically inexperienced women to reserved pradhan posts.

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Impact of Political Reservations in West Bengal Local Governments on Anti-Poverty Targeting

We examine effect of randomized reservations of Pradhan (chief executive) positions in West Bengal local governments (panchayats) for women and members of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) following the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1993. Our sample consists of 89 villages spread throughout 15 rural districts of West Bengal, in which we examine effects on targeting to poor and SC/ST households of IRDP credit, agricultural extension programs, employment programs, and budgetary policies. We find the reservations were associated with improved targeting of the IRDP program, but poorer targeting of employment programs, and lower local revenues raised by the panchayats. Aggregating pecuniary effects of the IRDP and employment programs, the net effect of the reservations appears to have worsened targeting to SC/ST and landless households. The effects also differ with local land inequality and poverty among SC/ST groups: reservations improved targeting in villages with low inequality and poverty, but worsened targeting among the rest.

http://people.bu.edu/dilipm/wkpap/wbtreserv.pdf

Impact of reservations of panchayat pradhans on targeting in west bengal 1

This paper examines recent changes in the structure of Argentine exports and the implications for future growth. The authors find that the current export structure of Argentina is not conducive to future growth because it is dominated by low-productivity goods that tend to be exported by low-income countries. The productivity content of Argentine exports has increased recently although, as of 2004, these changes have been relatively minor. The authors identify products with characteristics similar to those currently exported by Argentina and which are more likely to foster growth because they would shift the structure of exports more the efficiency frontier. Those products include chemicals and primary products with some degree of value added, including partly processed meat, fish and grains. If economic growth is to be fostered by developing new export products and by increasing the value added of existing exports, there will be a need for sector-specific analysis to address possible market failures. The analysis should focus on issues such as the provision of public goods needed for production (including infrastructure, but also complex intangibles such as sector-specific legislation), possible impediments to effective coordination, sector-specific and economy wide externalities, or barriers to information. This last source of potential market failure is critical to a successful policy framework for exports and growth.

/pdf/export-structure-and-growth-a-detailed-analysis-for-2ai23jnkge.pdf

Export structure and growth : a detailed analysis for Argentina

Export Structure and Growth: A Detailed Analysis for Argentina

This paper attempts to establish a formal relationship between innovation and productivity using Colombian firm-level data It is found that the production of goods and services new to the firm and to the domestic market enhances firms' sales per worker, and innovation that results in introducing new goods and services to the international market boosts both sales and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) Innovation in processes likewise improves firms' productivity and sales Finally, innovation in marketing and management increases sales per worker and enhances TFP when investment is made in Research and Development The paper also studies the factors behind firms' decision to invest in innovation, the intensity of such investment and the returns to investment in innovation

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Monica Parra Torrado

Papers

Impact of Political Reservations in West Bengal Local Governments on Anti-Poverty Targeting

Impact of reservations of panchayat pradhans on targeting in west bengal 1

Export structure and growth : a detailed analysis for Argentina

Export Structure and Growth: A Detailed Analysis for Argentina

Innovation, Research and Development Investment and Productivity in Colombian Firms