Research

Articles

• Kjelsrud, A., K. Moene and L. Vandewalle (forthcoming), Political Competition Over Life and Death -  Social Provision and Infant Mortality in India, Journal of Human Resources. 

Media coverage: Ideas for India, The Wire 

Data

• Bjorvatn, K., D. Ferris, S. Gulesci, A. Nasgowitz, V. Somville and L. Vandewalle (2025), Childcare, Labor Supply, and Business Development: Experimental Evidence from Uganda, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 17(2): 75-101.

Media coverage: VoxDev

Data

• Somville, V. and L. Vandewalle (2023), Access to Banking, Savings and Consumption Smoothing in Rural India, Journal of Public Economics, 223. 

Media coverage: Faculti 

• Cassan, G and L. Vandewalle (2021), Identities and Public Policies: Unexpected Effects of Political Reservations for Women in India, World Development, 143.

Media coverage: Ideas for India

Data

• Mehrotra, R., V. Somville and L. Vandewalle (2021), Increasing Trust in Bankers to Enhance Savings: Experimental Evidence from India, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 69(2): 623-644.

Data

• Baland, J.-M., R. Somanathan and L. Vandewalle (2019), Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Microfinance in India, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 67(3): 537-569.

Media coverage: Ideas for India, VOX

• Somville, V. and L. Vandewalle (2018), Saving by Default: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural India, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(3): 39-66.

Media coverage: Ideas for India, VOX

Data

• Vandewalle, L. (2017), The Role of Accountants in Indian Self-Help Groups: A Trade-off between Financial and Non-Financial Benefits,  World Development, 93: 177-192.

• Casini, P., L. Vandewalle and Z. Wahhaj (2017), Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas: The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups. World Bank Economic Review, 31(1): 97-128.

Media coverage: NewsReach (May-June 2012)

Other Publications

• Bjorvatn, K.,  D. Ferris, S. Gulesci, A. Nasgowitz, V. Somville and L. Vandewalle  (2024), Long-Term Effects of Preschool Subsidies and Cash Transfers on Child Development: Evidence from Uganda. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 459-462.

Media coverage: VoxDev 

• Ray, D., S. Subramanian and L. Vandewalle  (2021), India's Lockdown, in The COVID-19 Pandemic, India and the World: Economic and Social Policy Perspectives. Routledge India.

Also Published in India and the Pandemic: The First Year, Essays from the India Forum. Orient Blackswan.

Media coverage: CEPR Policy Insight No. 102, Counterview, India Forum, VoxEU

• Baland, J.-M., R. Somanathan and L. Vandewalle  (2008), Microfinance Lifespans: A Study of Attrition and Exclusion in Self-Help Groups in India.  India Policy Forum, vol. 4: 159-210.

Working Papers

• Inequality and Social Unrest in India, with Mathieu Couttenier and Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti (Submitted).

We show that inequality can lead to social unrest in rural India. We develop a theoretical framework in which civilians rationally engage in social unrest to oppose the (unfair) distribution of surplus by the elite. Our model predicts that the likelihood of observing social unrest in a village increases with the sum of distances between the (log) average and the lowest incomes.  We test this prediction using unique micro-data on bank account information covering 2,197 Indian villages. Guided by our theoretical framework, we propose an instrumental variable strategy based on the idea that positive water shocks disproportionately benefit the highest incomes in a village. Our analysis then show that a 10% increase in our inequality measure leads to a 6.5% rise in the unconditional probability of social unrest in a given village and month.

• The Effect of Gender-Targeted Transfers: Experimental Evidence from India, with Ingvild Almas and Vincent Somville (Submitted).

Women are the primary recipients of many welfare programs around the world. The support for these policies is often based on the idea that women make better choices for the household, especially regarding consumption and nutrition. However, the empirical evidence on such differential choices is still scarce. Existing evidence are from different welfare programs around the world, and identification sometimes rests on strong identifying assumptions. We add to the evidence base by reporting from an experiment designed to study the effect of gender targeting in India and find no differential effect on household consumption and nutrition choices in this context.

• Cash Transfers for Business Survival: Evidence from Uganda, with Kjetil Bjorvatn, Denise Ferris, Selim Gulesci, Arne Nasgowitz and Vincent Somville (Submitted).

Countries often use cash transfers to support businesses and households during times of crises, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. While such transfers have been found to be effective in normal times, little is known about the effects when markets are closed and movements are restricted. In this paper, we study a temporary cash transfer in Uganda, and demonstrate that it improved business outcomes during the Covid lockdown and had persistent, positive effects on household income, savings and food security.

Work in Progress

• Promoting Parental Engagement in Education: Experimental Evidence from Uganda, with Kjetil Bjorvatn, Selim Gulesci, Arne Nasgowitz and Vincent Somville.

• Customer Knowledge and the Price-Quality Gradient, with Julia Cajal-Grossi and Christopher Woodruff.

• Private Sector Development in Low Income Economies: The Case of Carpenters in Uganda,  with Julia Cajal-Grossi, England Can, Jonathan Morduch and Christopher Woodruff.

• Male Emigration and Gender Discrimination in Remittance-Receiving Indian Households, with Abhishek Chakravarty, Selim Gulesci and Chinmay Tumbe.

• Enhancing the Effectiveness of Vocational Education in Vietnam,  with Smriti Sharma, Saurabh Singhal, Finn Tarp and Diego Ubfal.

Field Projects (Ongoing)

• Private Sector Development in Low Income Economies, with Julia Cajal-Grossi, Jonathan Morduch and Christopher Woodruff  (2021-2024).

  • • The project aims to enhance the knowledge about small firms in low income economies. For a period of six months we will gather high-frequency data in Uganda. Based on the insights from analyzing the high-frequency data we will design and test an intervention.

    • Funded by MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth,  Argidius Foundation and the Gates Foundation. Additional funding received through the International Growth Centre (IGC).

• Enhancing the Effectiveness of Vocational Education in Vietnam, with Smriti Sharma, Saurabh Singhal, Finn Tarp and Diego Ubfal (2020-2022) - Postponed with one year.

  • • The project aims to improve the performance of vocational colleges in Vietnam. Through pilot surveys, we identified two key challenges. We designed interventions to address these challenges and will test those using a randomized control trial.

    • Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

• Engaging Women in Mobile Money Markets, with Xavier Giné and Jessica Goldberg (2019-2022) - Postponed with three years.

  • • We work with bKash, the largest provider of mobile financial services in Bangladesh to incentivize the expansion of their female agent network. To do so, agents will receive a subsidy to hire either a man or a woman to help with the bKash business. We will use administrative data from bKash to understand the performance of male versus female providers of financial services. We will also study if employer beliefs change as a result of being exposed to working with a female.

    • Funded by the Gates Foundation and Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL)

• Impact of e-KYC on Access to Finance: Evidence from Bangladesh, with Xavier Giné and Jessica Goldberg (2018-2021).

  • • We will evaluate the reduction in transaction costs and its impact on deepening financial inclusion in Bangladesh, where the network of banking agents is expanding rapidly.

    • Funded by DIME and the Swiss National Science Foundation

Field Projects (Finalized)

• Child Care for Childhood and Business Development, with Kjetil Bjorvatn, Selim Gulesci, and Vincent Somville (2018-2022).

  • • We study the impact of a childcare subsidy, an equivalent cash grant, or both on household members' labour market outcomes, earnings, family well-being and child development.

    • Funded by the Research Council of Norway, Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) and the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries Programme  (G2LM-LIC)

• The Short-Term Effects of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Rural Communties In India, with Ashwini Deshpande, Joshua Merfeld, Vijayendra Rao and Kritika Saxena  (2020).

  • • We collect data from SHG members, local government officials, police officers and health workers to better understand policy implementation and coordination issues during the pandemic.

    • Funded by the International Growth Centre (IGC)

• Savings Behaviour and the Introduction of Mobile Banking in India, with Vincent Somville (2013-2016).

  • • In India, a significant proportion of the households, especially in rural areas, are outside the coverage of the formal banking system. But recent advances in mobile technology provide an opportunity to easily expand the access to formal financial services. People can use mobile phones to save, transfer money to other users and receive payments from the government. Together with our partner, Basix Sub-K, we set-up various randomized controled trials that allow us to address gaps in research on the financial lives of the poor.

    • Funded by the Research Council of Norway

• Self-Help Groups: Group Action Study, with Paolo Casini (09/2010 - 10/2010).

  • • The aim of this study is to measure the influence of collective actions undertaken by SHGs on the provision of public goods in their villages. Therefore, we did a detailed survey of all the SHGs that the NGO PRADAN created in Odisha, India, and of the villages in which the SHGs meet.

    • Funded by the CRED

• Self-Help Groups: Performance Study, with Jean-Marie Baland and Rohini Somanathan (04/2006 - 04/2008).

  • • Self-Help Groups are the dominant institutional form of microfinance in India. We conducted a large field survey on SHGs created by the NGO PRADAN to understand the reasons behind the rapid development of some groups, and the failures or stagnation of others.

    • Funded by FUCID