Railways, Development and Literacy in India

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Latika Chaudhary, Naval Postgraduate School; James Fenske, University of Warwick

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
Note on Replication Files.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 14.3 KB 06/10/2018 12:22:PM
cross_section_1881_1921.dta application/x-stata-dta 371.1 KB 09/12/2023 08:09:AM
jeh_appendix_tables.do text/plain 17.5 KB 09/08/2023 03:00:PM
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ols_spatial_HAC.ado text/plain 18.5 KB 08/29/2023 02:21:PM
panel_1901.dta application/x-stata-dta 208.3 KB 08/29/2023 02:21:PM
panel_1911_1921.dta application/x-stata-dta 345.5 KB 08/29/2023 02:21:PM
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reg2hdfespatial-id1id2.ado text/plain 5.7 KB 09/14/2023 09:31:AM

Project Citation: 

Chaudhary, Latika, and Fenske, James. Railways, Development and Literacy in India. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-09-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/E193803V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We study the effect of railroads, the single largest public investment in colonial India, on human capital. Using district-level data on literacy and two different identification strategies, we find railroads had positive effects on literacy, in particular on male and English literacy. We show that railroads increased literacy by raising secondary and elite primary schooling, rather than vernacular primary schooling. Our mediation analysis suggests that non-agricultural income, urbanization, and opportunities for skilled employment are important mechanisms, while agricultural income is not.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources Centre for Competitive Advantage (CAGE), University of Warwick; Leverhulme Trust (United Kingdom)



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V1 [2023-09-14]

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