EGC Longitudinal Surveys in Ghana and India

Two large-scale surveys have been conducted by the Economic Growth Center in India and Ghana to gather data to study the pathways through which social and political institutions influence patterns of economic development.

The projects have three components: a survey of households and their enterprises; an inventory of the village/neighborhood infrastructure; and a complete listing of the village/neighborhood population and their socioeconomic characteristics. The India survey was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Micro Finance (CMF) at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in Chennai. The Ghana surveys are conducted joint with Northwestern University and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana.

Gujarat Pollution Audits and Inspections

In many regulated markets, private, third-party auditors are chosen and paid by the firms that they audit, potentially creating a conflict of interest. In collaboration with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, researchers affiliated with the EGC and J-PAL conducted a two-year field experiment in the Indian state of Gujarat that sought to curb such a conflict by altering the market structure for environmental audits of industrial plants to incentivize accurate reporting. In addition, to study how plant emission standards are enforced, the researchers, again in collaboration with GPCB, experimentally doubled the rate of inspection for treatment plants and required that the extra inspections be assigned randomly.

Tamil Nadu Social Network Mapping Survey

The Tamil Nadu Social Network Mapping Survey (SNM) is a unique social network dataset assembled during 2014-16 from 111 villages across four districts in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, India. These four districts cover a population of 2.5 million people. The SNM dataset is uniquely suited for the network research, as it includes complete network data on financial and social connections for almost all households in every village.

Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh Interventions

Under the Kolkata flexible microfinance program in 2007, urban microfinance borrowers in India were randomized into one of two repayment schedules before loan disbursement. Repeated surveys (a baseline conducted in 2007 and four follow-ups in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2018, with low attrition) enable micro-level tracking of entrepreneurship, including intra-household dynamics.

The Madhya Pradesh Female Financial Inclusion dataset was designed to evaluate how strengthening women's control over their wages from a workfare program influences their work decisions and, in the longer run, community and individual norms around work. The two waves of household survey (conducted 1 and 3 years after the intervention) contain separate survey modules for husbands and wives and detailed information on labor force participation, women's empowerment and financial inclusion.

Studies on Early Childhood Development

There are several experimental and observational datasets relating to early childhood development, including data on a parenting intervention in Colombia, early childhood interventions in Odisha, and a child development survey in Tanzania. The Colombia Parenting Intervention was a 2010 randomized controlled trial across 96 Colombian towns evaluated two child development interventions and their interactions. The first intervention consisted of weekly home visits, during which a visitor would engage the mother and child in a number of activities. The second intervention consisted of micro-nutrient supplementation, while the third combined the first two interventions. Surveys on the Odisha Early Childhood Interventions were designed to evaluate two consecutive interventions that were randomized at the community-level. The Tanzania Child Development Survey combines construction of new child development measures with their validation and use in a new cohort dataset.

International Labor Force Surveys 

EGC researchers have harmonized government data on labor market flows from 42 countries across 67 million individuals. Now the dataset is open for use by other researchers.

EGC India Data Archive

The Economic Growth Center has multiple datasets on India for use exclusively by EGC affiliates. These files include unit-level data from the household/establishment surveys carried out by India’s National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) and from India’s Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), along with a number of other datasets, listed below. For permission to use the data and information about accessing the files, please fill out this form.  

Yale EGC - All Available India Data
Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) - The ASI is an annual survey of registered factories across India. It is the only nationally representative survey of the factory sector (a “factory” is a manufacturing establishment that meets a minimum employment criterion). 1982-83; 1984-85; 1987-88; 1990-91; 1993-94; 1996-97; 1997-98; 1998-99; 1999-2000; 2000-01; 2001-02; 2002-03; 2003-04; 2004-05; 2005-06; 2006-07; 2007-08; 2008-09; 2009-10; 2009-10 revised; 2010-11; 2011-12; 2012-13; 2013-14; 2014-15; 2015-16; 2016-17; 2017-18
 
Economic Census (EC) 2005
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Data
India Village Level Studies, 1975-1984
India05_Agriculture
  • 1987-2002/3
    • Andhra Pradesh; Assam; Bihar; Gujarat; Haryana; Karnataka; Kerala; Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; Orissa; Rajasthan; Tamil Nadu; West Bengal
  • Farm Harvest Prices
    • 1986-87; 1988-89; 1989-90; 1990-91; 1991-94; 1993-94; 1995-96
National Highway (NH) Data 1981; 1991; 2002
National Sample Survey (NSS) - At regular intervals, the NSSO undertakes nation-wide household surveys of consumer expenditure and employment. It also carries out a number of other surveys such as surveys of unorganized manufacturing, debt and investment, and informal non-agricultural enterprises.
  • 1983; 1986-2003; 2004-2012 
    • Rounds 38; 42-58; 60-69

 

Rural Banks Can Reduce Poverty: Experimental Evidence from 870 Indian Villages

This experiment, which randomized branch placement by private sector bank, Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS), sought to quantify the impacts of KGFS services on poverty reduction, entrepreneurship, agricultural investments, social networks, mental health, and female empowerment – the first large-scale experimental impact evaluation of improved access to formal financial services for rural populations.