How do electoral quotas focused on a single dimension of identity affect the representation of other disadvantaged identities? In this paper, I examine the impact of quotas for marginalized ethnic groups on women’s representation and argue that, when gender norms are correlated with social status, quotas for marginalized ethnic groups may influence women’s representation. To empirically test this, I use a novel design that leverages quasi-random variation in the assignment of caste quotas for council member seats in rural Maharashtra. I find that, for seats with quotas for marginalized caste groups, the likelihood of women running for and winning political office is higher than for seats without quotas. Consistent with the theory, I find evidence suggesting that these findings are driven by differential gender norms across groups. This paper highlights how norms matter for understanding the effects of electoral quotas on representation.

Governments around the world regulate political candidacy. This paper studies the impact of electoral laws in India that disqualify citizens with more than two children from contesting local government offices. Since political officeholders significantly influence the communities they govern, these laws were designed to shape social norms around family size. I leverage variation in the law’s adoption across states within a difference-in-differences framework to examine how it affects political candidacy among Muslims, India’s largest religious minority and one of its most marginalized groups. I find that fertility limits reduce Muslim candidacy. I argue that this is due to the dilemma potential candidates face between complying with the law or adhering to social norms regarding family size. Drawing on an original survey of 500 village politicians, I find evidence consistent with my theory. This paper underscores that states’ efforts to shape social norms through electoral laws may come at the cost of marginalized groups' political representation.

In recent years, many countries, particularly in the global south, have undergone decentralization, transferring power to local bodies. This study focuses on exploring the consequences of a crucial aspect of decentralized government: the voting systems used to elect executives. While existing scholarship has extensively examined the incentives and performance of the head of government under different voting systems, little attention has been given to legislators (non-executive politicians). I argue that if shifts in the voting system affect the de-facto power of a seat, they also influence who enters and who stays in the race. In particular, I examine how these shifts affect candidate nomination (who enters), withdrawal (who exits), and candidacy (who stays) for non-executive political offices, with a focus on consequences for historically marginalized groups. This research seeks to contribute to our understanding of how changes in the value of a seat shapes political dynamics.

As evidenced during covid-19, medical misinformation can have severe conse- quences, especially among populations with low levels of digital literacy and educa- tion. This paper evaluates whether a sustained, classroom-based media literacy ed- ucation can help school children in Bihar, India, become more discerning consumers of misinformation. Collaborating with Bihar’s state government, we tested a field experiment in 583 villages, targeting over 12,000 students, that engaged treatment re- spondents in classroom discussions about health misinformation topics. Results from intent-to-treat estimates demonstrate that our intervention had significant impacts on a number of counts: treated students showed heightened ability to discern between true and false information, changed health preferences, increased reliance on scientific medicine and lower dependence on untrustworthy sources of news. We resurveyed participants 4 months after the program and found that not only did effects persist, treated respondents were able to discern true from false political information as well. Finally, we also detect spillover network effects within families: parents of treated students are significantly better at discerning true from false information. These findings hold significant implications for assessing the efficacy of media literacy measures at scale in light of previous studies that often yield null or mixed results. Our paper speaks to the ability of policy-based interventions to have externally valid and long-term results.

Misinformation can have severe consequences, especially among populations with low levels of digital literacy, education, and access to technology. A large body of literature looks at interventions to counter misinformation, but we know less about the message-level attributes that make particular pieces of information attractive. We field an in-person survey in Bihar, India, with a sample of over 6,000 adolescents to determine what factors influence the sharing of (mis)information. Using a conjoint design that randomizes a piece of information's topic, veracity, transmitter identity, original source, and social endorsement -- each in an online or offline setting with an effective sample size of ~36,000 profiles -- our study reveals three key findings. First, respondents relied on source, social endorsement, and veracity cues when deciding what information to share, with a pronounced emphasis on veracity and accuracy. Second, results revealed a bias against Muslim transmitters of information, but not Hindu transmitters, with Muslim sources being penalized more severely for disseminating false information. Finally, while social endorsement plays a significant role in information sharing, its impact varies between online and offline settings, with respondents placing greater importance on reputation-affecting cues when sharing information in-person. These results demonstrate that religious biases can extend to information processing and the online versus offline context that information is received in can significantly alter choices, demonstrating that focusing on less privileged populations in terms of access to information and digital connectivity can reveal striking findings.

We examine how extreme temperatures affect voter turnout and electoral outcomes in state assembly elections across India. Our findings reveal that both, low and high temperatures on polling days, lead to a decrease in voter turnout. We show that low temperatures exacerbate the gender gap in turnout, while high temperatures affect male and female turnout equally. The decline in turnout due to higher temperatures is especially pronounced when the morning and evening temperatures are high. Moreover, extreme temperatures increase the winner's vote share, indicating reduced electoral competition. We plan to expand our analysis to investigate the effects on winner characteristics and policy performance as a consequence of decreased electoral competition.

Studies have demonstrated that gender quotas have significant positive implications for society. Yet this evidence sits alongside anecdotal accounts of women merely serving as stand-ins for their male family members. As a step towards reconciling these contradictory claims, we develop low cost behavioral measures of public-facing representation in village councils in India. We define public-facing representation as combination of visibility and accessibility of local politicians to their constituents. Specifically, we use data from two phone audits of politicians in village councils in Bihar (n=697) and Maharashtra (n=520) to test if politicians in gender reserved village councils serve as the first point of contact for the public at large. Next, using a survey of 969 citizens Bihar we measure the extent to which residents can correctly identify the name of their village council president. Our analysis reveals that there exists significant variation in the magnitude of public facing representation in councils reserved for women, but on average women are significantly worse off than their male counterparts. Moreover, we find evidence suggesting that male family members plausibly manage/help in councils reserved. Going forward this project will trace political history within the family, and examine the division of political labor within the household.