MSN
MC 3-306
The
World Bank
Phone:
202-458-8034
Fax : 202-522-1153
Email:
vrao@worldbank.org
CITZENSHIP
CURRENT POSITION
Lead
Economist, Development Research Group,
The World Bank (Feb. 1999 to present)
EDUCATION
Ph.D (Economics), December 1990 (Title: Birth,
Marriage and Death: Essays in Demographic Economics)
The
Advisory
Committee: Jere Behrman, Andrew Foster,
Robert Pollak and Paul Taubman
B.A. (Economics,
with Statistics and Sociology), June 1984
St. Xavier's
College,
Aguiuar
Award for best undergraduate in the Arts and Humanities
PREVIOUS
APPOINTMENTS
9/94-12/98:
Assistant Professor, Department of
Economics, with Concurrent Appointments in the Center for Environmental Studies
and the Asian Studies Department
(On Leave from September 1997-December
1998)
9/97-1/99:
Visiting Mellon Fellow, Population
Studies and
(On Sabbatical Leave from
9/92-9/94:
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department
of Economics and
Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow,
10/90-9/92:
Hewlett Post-Doctoral Fellow, Committee
on Demographic Training and
Associate, Committee on Southern Asian
Studies.
9/85-9/87:
Research Assistant to Anil Deolalikar
and Jere Behrman, Nutrition and Health Projects, Center for the
Analysis of Developing Economies
GRANTS AND
FELLOWSHIPS
1)
Research Grant
from Knowledge for Change Program: To prepare the Policy Research Report on
Local Development (with Ghazala Mansuri)
2)
Research Grant
from SIDA to study Village Governance in
3) Research Grant from DFID via the World Bank’s
Communications and Development Unit to study Deliberative Democracy in
4) Research Grant from BNPP (Dutch Government) to study
Village Governance in
5) Research Grant
from World Bank Research Department and ASEM trust funds – (with Vivi
Alatas, World Bank, Victoria Beard, Wisconsin, and Menno Pradhan, World Bank)
To evaluate the impact of an urban CDD project (UPP2) in Indonesia using
mixed-methods.
6) Research Grants
from World Bank Research Department and DFID – (with Tim Besley, LSE and
Rohini Pande, Columbia University) To study the Impact of Village
Decentralization (Panchayat Reforms) in India
7) Research Grant
from Norwegian Trust Fund To Evaluate Impact of Social Funds in
8) Research Grant
from the Dutch Government – (With Mike Walton) To Edit Volume on Culture and
Development
9) World Bank Research Grant and Dutch Trust Fund Grant, 1999 (joint
with Michael Woolcock) A multi-disciplinary analysis of the relationship
between urban poverty, risk protection and kinship in
10) Robert Schalckebach Foundation, 1997. Grant to
study the impact of property rights and cultural systems on inter and
intra-household inequality in rural
11) Rockefeller Foundation, 1995-96.
Worked with Sonalde Desai on a grant to study fertility and household decision
making in
12) Mellon Foundation Fellowship, University of
Michigan, 1993-94. Fellowship to study
women's status, decision making and demographic transitions in rural South
India using economic, demographic and anthropological methods.
13) Hewlett Foundation Fellowship, University of
Chicago, 1990-92. Fellowship to undertake post-doctoral training in Economic
Demography.
14)
PROFESSIONAL
ACTIVITIES AND HONORS
Advisory:
Advisory
Committee Member:
Successful Societies Program, Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research
Life Member: Institute for Social and Economic Change,
Member: Development
Committee, Ubuntu at Work
Research
Associate:
Brooks World Poverty Institute,
Member: Social
Development Board – World Bank, from 2002-present
Member: Gender Board – World Bank, from 2002-2007
Editorial:
Associate
Editor: Economic Development and Cultural Change
Editorial
Board: Journal
of Development Studies
Editorial
Board: Journal
of Mixed-Methods Research (Sage)
Associate
Editor:
International Journal of Multiple-Methods Research
Referee:
American
Economic Review, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, American Political
Science Review, American Sociological Review, Bulletin of Economics and
Statistics, Demography, Development and Change, Economic Development and
Cultural Change, Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of
Development Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of
Feminist Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Labor Economics,
Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of
Public Economics, National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation,
Oxford University Press, Population Development Review, Review of Economics and
Statistics, Review of Income and Wealth, Social Science and Medicine, World
Bank Economic Review
OTHER
EMPLOYMENT
1)
Free-Lance Writer on Indian Classical
Music
2) Apparel – Trade Journal of the
Indian Garment Industry, 1983-84
Economics
Correspondent
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Development
in Karnataka: Challenges of Equity, Governance and Empowerment, (edited by
Gopal K. Kadekodi, Ravi Kanbur and Vijayendra Rao), Academic Foundation Press,
Culture and Public Action (edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael
Walton), Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004
Website: http://www.cultureandpublicaction.org
Reports
World
Development Report 2006: Equity and Development (member of core team of authors), World Bank
and Oxford University Press, 2005
The
Political Economy of Gram Panchayats in South India (with Tim Besley and Rohini Pande), World
Bank
1.
“Book Review of Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies
by William Axinn and Lisa Pearce,” Economic
Development and Cultural Change, forthcoming.
2.
“Revisiting
between-group inequality measurement: An
application to the dynamics of caste inequality in two Indian villages,” (with
Peter Lanjouw), World Development
(forthcoming)
3.
“Dignity Through Discourse: Poverty and the Culture
of Deliberation in Indian Village Democracies,” (with Paromita Sanyal), Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (forthcoming)
4.
“The Political Economy of Village Sanitation:
Capture or Poor Information,” (with Radu Ban and Monica Das Gupta), Journal
of Development Studies (forthcoming)
5.
Tokenism
vs. Agency? The Impact of Women’s Reservations on Village Democracies in
6.
“Disciplinary Monopolies in Development Research,”
(with Michael Woolcock), Global Governance, December 2007
7.
"PN Mari Bhat: An Intellectual Tribute,"
(with Monica Das Gupta, Samuel H. Preston, Vijayendra Rao, and TV
Sekhar)," Economic and Political Weekly, September 8 2007, Pp:
3611-3615
8.
“Governance
and the “Karnataka Model of Development’” (with Gopal K. Kadekodi and
9.
Book
Review, Twenty-First Century
10.
“The
Political Economy of Gram Panchayats in
11.
“Governance
in the Gullies: Democratic Responsiveness and Community Leadership in
12.
“Participatory
Democracy in Action: Survey Evidence From Rural India,” (joint with Tim Besley
and Rohini Pande), Journal of the European Economic Association, April/May 2005, Vol. 3, No. 2-3, Pages 648-657
13.
The Social Impact of Social Funds in
14.
"The Determinants of Gender Equity in India:
Examining Dyson and Moore's Thesis with New Data” (joint with Lupin Rahman), Population
and Development Review, 30(2), Pp:
239-268, June 2004
15.
“The Politics
of Public Good Provision: Evidence from Indian Local Governments,” (with Tim
Besley, Rohini Pande and Lupin Rahman), Journal of the European Economic
Association , Vol. 2-23, 2004
16.
“Community
Based (and Driven) Development: A Critical Review,” (with Ghazala Mansuri), The
World Bank Research Observer, vol. 19,
no. 1 (2004), pp. 1-39
17.
“Wedding Celebrations as Conspicuous Consumption: Signaling Social
Status in Rural
18.
Sex
Workers and The Cost of Safe Sex: The Compensating Differential for Condom Use
in
19.
"Experiments
in Participatory Econometrics: Improving the Connection Between Economic
Analysis and the Real World", Economic and Political Weekly May
18th, 2002, 22(20), 1887-91
20.
“Terror
as a Bargaining Instrument: A Case Study of Dowry Violence in Rural
21.
Statistical
Discrimination and Social Assimilation,” (with Francis Bloch), Economics
Bulletin, Vol. 10, #2 , 2001
22.
“Celebrations
as Social Investments: Festival Expenditures, Unit Price Variation and Social
Status in Rural
23.
”Poverty
and Public Celebrations in Rural
24.
“The
Marriage Squeeze Interpretation of Dowry Inflation – Response,” Journal of Political Economy, December,
2000
25.
"Price
Heterogeneity and Real Inequality: A
Case-Study of Poverty and Prices in Rural
26. "Can Economics Mediate the Link Between Anthropology and Demography?" Population and Development Review, Vol. 23 #4, Pp:833-38, December 1997
27.
"Wife Beating in Rural
28.
"The Marriage Squeeze and the Rise in
Informal Marriage in Brazil," (with Margaret E. Greene) Social Biology, Vol. 42 #1/2, Spring
1995 (Also published in an earlier version in Portugese as "A Compressao
do Mercado Matrimonial e o Aumento das Unioes Consensuais no Brasil," Revista Brasileira De Estudos De Populâço ,
V.9 N.2, Jul/Dec. 1992)
29.
"The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic
Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural
30. "Dowry
Inflation in Rural
31. "Diet, Mortality and Life Expectancy: A Cross-National Analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Volume 1, #3, 1988, Pp. 225-233
Contributions
to Edited Volumes:
1. Michael Bamberger,
Vijayendra Rao and Michael Woolcock, "Using Mixed Methods in Monitoring
and Evaluation: Experiences from International Development," Handbook of
Mixed Methods Research (C. Teddlie and A. Tashakkori, editors), Sage Publishers
(forthcoming), 2010
2. “El valor de la evaluación
interdisciplinar: el análisis de programas de desarrollo basados en la
comunidad” Chapter 5 in José García Montalvo (editor), El Análisis Experimental de la Ayuda al Desarrollo, Fundación BBVA,
Madrid, 2008
3. “The Great Motivator,”
Chapter 25 in A Passionate Humanitarian:
VKRV Rao, SL Rao, N Jayaram, VM Rao,
MV Nadkarni, RS Deshpande (editors), Academic Foundation Press, New Delhi, 2008
4. “Decentralization and Elite Capture: The
Selection of Leaders and Beneficiaries in Community-Driven Projects in
5. “Symbolic Public Goods and The Coordination
of Collective Action: A Comparison of Local Development in
6. “Assessing the Karnataka Model of Development,” Chapter 1 in Challenges of Karnataka’s Development, edited by Gopal K. Kadekodi, Ravi Kanbur and Vijayendra Rao, Academic Foundation Press, New Delhi, 2007
7.
“Dowries”
in Kaushik Basu (edited) Oxford Companion
to Economics in India, Oxford University Press,
8.
“Sex
Work” in Kaushik Basu (edited), Oxford
Companion to Economics in India, Oxford University Press,
9.
“Mixing
Qualitative and Econometric Methods: Community-Level Applications,” Chapter 13
in Measuring Empowerment (Deepa
Narayan, editor), The World Bank,
10. “Culture and
Public Action: Relationality, Equality of Agency and Development,” (with
Michael Walton), Chapter 1 in Culture and Public Action: A
Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, (Vijayendra Rao and
Michael Walton, editors) Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004
11. “Conclusion,”
(With Michael Walton), Chapter 16 in Culture and Public Action: A
Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, (Vijayendra Rao and
Michael Walton, editors) Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004
12. “Integrating
Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Program Evaluation,” (with Michael
Woolcock), in Francois Bourgingnon and Luiz Pereira Da Silva (edited) Tool
Kit for Evaluating the Poverty and Distributional Impact of Economic Policies,
World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003
13. “Potters and
Slums: Two Qualitative and Quantitative
Projects in
14. “Wife-Abuse, Its
Causes and Its Impact on Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural
Karnataka: A Participatory" Econometric Analysis," in Gender,
Population, and Development, M.Krishnaraj, R.Sudarshan, A.Sharif (ed.),
15. "The Demand
for Dowries and Bride Characteristics in Marriage: Empirical Estimates for Rural
South-Central India," (with Anil Deolalikar,
WORKING PAPERS
1) “Is
Deliberation Equitable? Evidence from Village Democracies in
2) “Why and How Does History Matter for Development,” (with Michael Woolcock, Simon Szreter, Vijayendra Rao)
3)
“Caste
Mobility in an
4)
“The Political Construction of Caste in
5) “Just
Rewards: Local Politics and Public Resource Allocation in
6) “Social
Networks and Risk Management Strategies: What do we Know? (with Jishnu Das and Michael Woolcock),
February 2003
7) “Is Community Driven Development Driven by
the Community? An Case-Study of the
8)
“Earnings
and Incentives in Sex Work: An Analysis of the
Sonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Project in
9) “The Gift of a Virgin: The Social Context of Child Marriage in Rural
North India," (with Sonalde Desai and B.L. Joshi), mimeo,
10) "Does Prestige Matter? Compensating
Differentials for Social Mobility in the Indian Caste System", Discussion
Paper, 92-6 (PRC),
11) “The Link Between Female Sterilization and
Domestic Violence” (with Anne Waters), University of
12) Bargaining and Fertility in
ONGOING
PROJECTS
1) Policy Research
Report (Monograph) on Local Governance and Community Development (with Ghazala
Mansuri)
2) Qualitative and
Quantitative Analysis of the impact of village democratization and
decentralization processes in rural
3) History and
Development Policy, edited volume with CA Bayly, Simon Szreter and Michael
Woolcock.
4) The Social Life
of Economic Deprivation: Culture, Politics and Poverty in
5) An Impact and
Process Evaluation of Community Driven Development in urban
6) Social Change
and Mobility in
SELECTED
OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
1.
World Bank – South Asia Social Development
Department – Local Government Accountability in
2.
World Bank, East Asia Urban Department (EASUR),
Evaluation of the Urban Poverty Project II in
3.
World Bank, South Asia Rural Department (SASRD),
Analysis of Panchayat Reform in
4.
World Bank, Operations Evaluation Division (OED),
Team on Evaluation of Social Funds,
5.
Mrichakatika (NGO specializing in income generation among women potters in rural
FIELD EXPERIENCE
1. 1992-94: A total of 4 months of field work on
domestic violence, economic inequality and marriage markets in 3 villages in
2. 1996:
One month of field work on gender equity in 2 villages in UP state in
3. 2000:
One month of field work property rights, risk, and urban governance in 4
slums in
4. 2001: One month of field work on community
based development in
5. 2002: Three weeks of field work on village
government in 4 villages in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states in
6. 2003:
Two weeks of field Work in 3 poor urban areas in Central Java, Indonesia
on community based development
7. 2006: Three weeks of field Work on village
government in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala state in
8. 2006:
One week of field work in South Kalimantan, Indonesia on community based
development
9. 2007:
One week of field work in Raichur District,
10. 2008: One week in Gulbarga District, Karnataka
and one week in
SELECTED
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Seminar presentations in 2005-09: Stanford,
Center for Policy Research (Delhi), Brown University, Boston University, Iowa
State, George Washington University, University of British Columbia, Yale
University, University of California-Berkeley, World Bank, Harvard University,
University of Wyoming, American University, George Washington University, SAIS
– Johns Hopkins, Delhi School of Economics, Institute of Development Studies –
Sussex, IGIDR – Mumbai, Center for Policy Research – Delhi, Indian Institute of
Management – Bangalore, Institute for Advanced Study at the Indian Institute of
Science– Bangalore, CESS – Hyderabad, Austrian Diplomatic Academy – Vienna
1) Invited Speaker,
Culture and Poverty Conference,
2) Invited Speaker,
Conference on Urban Democracy,
3) Co-Organizer of
Conference on History and Development Policy,
4) Invited Speaker:
Successful Societies Meeting, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research,
5) Invited Speaker:
Conference on Poverty, Inequality and the State,
6) Invited Speaker:
Conference on Democracy in
1) Invited Speaker:
Conference on Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Govt. of
2) Co-Organizer
(with
3) Invited
Participant: Conversations between Economists and Anthropologists Part II –
4) Invited
Participant: Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics –
5) Invited
Participant: Conference on Global Poverty Measurement –
6) Co-Organizer –
Conference on Culture and Public Action – World Bank, June 30-July 1st,
2002
7) Invited Speaker:
MacArthur-NCAER Conference on Gender Issues in Population Health and
Development,
8) Invited Speaker:
First International Conference on Dowry and Bride-Burning in
9) Invited Speaker:
Conference on Anthropological Demography,
10) Invited Speaker:
Conference on Sexual Coercion and Women's Reproductive Health, Population
Council,
Several presentations at AEA Meetings,
Econometric Society, NEUDC (Development Economics) Conference, and Population
Association of America.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Courses
in 2004
1) Spring Semester
-
Masters Course on Economic Development
(co-taught with Garrance Gennicot)
2) World Bank –
World Bank Institute
Courses on
Mixed-Methods Analysis for Poverty Reduction and Evaluation. (with Michael Woolcock)
Courses
in 2003
World
Bank Institute
Mixed-Methods
Analysis for Poverty Reduction. (with
Michael Woolcock)
Courses
in 2002
World
Bank Institute
Mixed
Methods Analysis for Poverty Reduction (with Michael Woolcock)
The
local measurement of governance effectiveness.
Courses
in 2001
3rd
Nordic Ph.D Workshop in Development Economics,
Lectures
on Culture, and Mixed Methods Analysis in Development
Courses
in 1996-97
Econ
511: Econometrics ( MA Students at the Center for Development Economics)
Misc
013: Introduction to Indian Classical Music (Winter Study)
Econ
101: Introduction to Economics (2 Sections)
Econ
389: Alternative Ways to View Economic Behavior (Rated in the top 5 per cent of
courses in the College - A Course Contrasting Economic and
Socio-Anthropological Perspectives on Human Behavior)
Courses
in 1995-96
Econ
101: Introduction to Economics (2 Sections)
Econ
253: Econometrics (Undergraduate - 2 Sections)
Econ
218: Population Economics (Rated in the top Quartile of Courses in the College)
Courses
in 1994-95
Econ
364: Economic Development (Rated in top Quartile of Courses in the College)
Econ
218: Population Economics
Misc
013: Introduction to Indian Classical Music (Winter Study)
Econ
253: Econometrics (Undergraduate - 2 Sections)
Courses
in 1993-94:
Economic
Development, Spring - 1993-94
Economics
of Population, Fall 1993-94
Courses
in 1990
Economics
of Population, Summer 1990
REFERENCES
AVAILABLE ON REQUEST