Bureaucratic Representation and State Responsiveness: The 1918 Pandemic in India
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Guo Xu combines personnel records with vital statistics 1910-1925 to study how bureaucratic representation affects mortality in 1,271 Indian towns during the 1918 Influenza pandemic. Exploiting the rotation of senior colonial officers across districts and a cross-border comparison, towns headed by Indian (as opposed to British) district officers experienced 15% lower deaths. The lower mortality effects extend beyond the urban areas and coincide with greater responsiveness in relief provision. Bureaucratic representation can thus be a powerful way to increase state responsiveness during times of crisis.
About the speaker
Guo Xu is an Assistant Professor at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the LSE. His research focuses on the selection, recruitment and allocation of talent in private and public sector organizations. Visit his personal website >>
To Attend the Event
This webinar will take place on 1st December 2020 (Tuseday) at 11:00am HKT (GMT+8). See corresponding times for different times zones.
The speaker will present for 1 hour, followed by a 15-minute Q&A session.
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The event will be recorded for internal use only and the recording will not be made available online after the event.
This webinar is part of a series of Zoom events that explores issues in growth and development in India. The series' academic committee consists of Takashi Kurosaki (Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study), Pushkar Maitra (Monash University and Sujata Visaria (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology).
Our next webinar series
Target and Community Networks in Anti-Poverty Programs
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