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2016–2017 Summer Full-Time Undergraduate RFs

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Ghana Youth Survey: A Longitudinal Study of the Private and Social Returns to Education 

Primary school enrollment has risen in sub-Saharan Africa over the past two decades, but secondary school enrollment rates remain relatively low. In this ongoing study in Ghana, researchers are evaluating the effect of secondary school scholarships on life outcomes in the longer run, from employment and health outcomes for the scholarship recipient themselves to the cognitive development of their children. Under the guidance of the researchers, the undergraduate summer RF will help the local survey team pilot and rollout new survey instruments as well as manage the incoming data.

Faculty supervisor: Pascaline Dupas, Department of Economics
Location: Accra, Ghana


Innovation and Product Design by Handicraft Artisans in a Context of Global Markets 

Historically, handicraft artisans in developing countries have relied on a few, traditional product designs in their production process. However, innovating and adopting new product designs could improve their economic livelihoods by opening up new markets. Motivated by this observation, we ask: under what conditions do handicraft artisans innovate and adopt new designs in their production process to cater to urban and global markets? The student will conduct exploratory research in the wood and lacquerware cluster of Channapatna in India and the nearby city of Bangalore. The exploratory research will consist of interviewing and surveying designers in Bangalore who work with artisans to ask them about their experience introducing new designs amongst the Channapatna artisans, and spending some time in Channapatna interviewing and observing artisans at work. This exploratory research will help inform the design of a field experiment testing means to improve artisans’ openness to experimentation with new designs.

Faculty supervisor: Aruna Ranganathan, Graduate School of Business
Location: Bangalore/Channapatna, India


Socioeconomic Impacts of Urbanization in Cote d’Ivoire 

Historically, handicraft artisans in developing countries have relied on a few, traditional product designs in their production process. However, innovating and adopting new product designs could improve their economic livelihoods by opening up new markets. Motivated by this observation, we ask: under what conditions do handicraft artisans innovate and adopt new designs in their production process to cater to urban and global markets? The student will conduct exploratory research in the wood and lacquerware cluster of Channapatna in India and the nearby city of Bangalore. The exploratory research will consist of interviewing and surveying designers in Bangalore who work with artisans to ask them about their experience introducing new designs amongst the Channapatna artisans, and spending some time in Channapatna interviewing and observing artisans at work. This exploratory research will help inform the design of a field experiment testing means to improve artisans’ openness to experimentation with new designs.

Faculty supervisors: Pascaline Dupas, Department of Economics, and Marcel Fafchamps, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)
Location: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire


The Technology of Peaceful Protests as a Means for Political Change 

There were moments in the twentieth century when activists believed non-violent civil disobedience would change the process of political reform forever. Yet despite notable successes of movements that adopted this political technology – from the Suffragette Movement, to India's mass mobilization for independence, to the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. South – there have been many failures and partial successes. Beyond the question of mobilizing support, there is a key organizational challenge: mass movements that start peaceful often turn violent, providing license to states to repress such movements with violence. This project analyzes the external economic and internal organizational incentives under which civil disobedience movements succeed and fail. The research draws from novel, recently declassified intelligence data on non-violent and violent mobilization during three epochs of India's independence movement. The summer undergraduate RF will be tasked with collecting primary and hitherto untapped archival materials on the Indian Independence movement. The work will entail accessing national, police, and domestic intelligence archives from the colonial era, both in New Delhi and in a few Indian state capitals. The work will involve scanning original documents and entering and analyzing data.

Faculty supervisor: Saumitra Jha, Graduate School of Business
Location: New Delhi, India