Rinchan Ali Mirza

Introduction: I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Economics at the University of Kent. Prior to joining Kent I was a post-doctoral researcher at the Center of Research in the Economics of Development at the University of Namur from 2016 to 2019.

I have a DPhil in Economic History from the University of Oxford, an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, and a BSc (Joint Honours) in Mathematics and Management from King's College London. 

Research Fields: Economic History, Political Economy, Economics of Religion, Development Economics, Applied Microeconomics.

Affiliations: I am a faculty fellow of the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS) whose purpose is to foster contacts among leading economists, historians, legal scholars, political scientists, and sociologists working on the Muslim world. I am also a research fellow at the Centre For Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP), an impact-driven organisation focused on improving decision making in the Public and Private sectors through rigorous research, and a founding member of the Development Economics Research Centre at Kent (DeReCK). 

Contact Details:

Email: r.a.mirza@kent.ac.uk

Curriculum Vitae:  Download (PDF) 

Twitter: @RinchanMirza

Webpage: https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/people/2994/mirza-rinchan

Publications:

1. Malik, A. and Mirza, R.A., 2022. Pre-colonial Religious Institutions and Development: Evidence through a Military Coup. Journal of the European Economic Association, 20(2), pp.907-956.

2. Bharadwaj, P. and Mirza, R.A., 2019. Displacement and Development: Long Term Impacts of Population Transfer in India. Explorations in Economic History, 73, p.101273.

3. Cassan, G., Iyer, L. and Mirza, R.A., 2024. Enfranchisement, Political Participation and Political Competition: Evidence from Colonial and Independent India. Journal of Economic History, forthcoming.

4. Bharadwaj, P., Fenske, J., Kala, N. and Mirza, R.A., 2020. The Green Revolution and Infant Mortality in India. Journal of Health Economics, 71, p.102314.

Book Chapters, Blog Posts and Media: 

1. Partition and the Reorganization of Commercial Networks (solo-authored) 2024. In the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian Commercial History. Oxford University Press.

2. Devolution under Autocracy: Evidence from Pakistan (with Adeel Malik & Jean-Philippe Platteau) 2023. In Decentralised Governance: Crafting Effective Democracies Around the World.  LSE Press.

3. Islam and the Politics of Development: Shrines and Literacy in Pakistan (with Adeel Malik) 2021. In The Oxford Handbook of Politics in Muslim Societies. Oxford University Press.

4. Why are frontiers and borderlands more conflict prone—and what have institutions got to do with this? (with Adeel Malik & Faiz-ur-Rehman) WIDERAngle Blog on latest Research in Global Development (2023)

5. Religious Elites and the Political Economy of Development (with Adeel Malik) Broadstreet Blog on Historical Political Economy (2021)

6. Does the right to vote affect political behaviour? Historical evidence from India (with Lakshmi Iyer & Guilhem Cassan). Ideas for India Blog for more evidence-based policy (2020)

7. Mint, August 24th, 2020, "Voting rights don’t boost political participation" (with Lakshmi Iyer & Guilhem Cassan)

Working Papers:

1. Entrenched Political Dynasties and Development under Competitive Clientelism: Evidence from Pakistan (with Jean-Philippe Platteau & Adeel Malik) EDI Working Paper (2021)

2. Frontier Rule and Conflict (with Adeel Malik & Faiz-ur-Rehman) UNU-Wider Working Paper 128/2023 (2023)

3. The Long-Term Effect of Refugee Resettlement: Evidence from Pakistan through Partition (solo-authored) (unpublished working paper since 2022)

   • CAGE Warwick Blog post on The Long-Term Impacts of Forced Displacement

   • University of Kent Blog post on The Long-Term Impacts of Refugee Resettlement 

Selected Work in Progress: 

1. Irrigation and Inequality (with Adeel Malik & Zahra Jafari)

2. Electoral Accountability, Local Government Spending and Development in South Asia (with Lakshmi Iyer and Latika Chaudhary)

3. Marital Alliances, Electoral Outcomes, and Development (with Adeel Malik, Bryan S. Graham and Ollie Ballinger)