This article examines how household-level cash transfers affect political attitudes in Pakistan. Exploiting the locally exogenous eligibility cut-off of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), we estimate the causal impact of programme receipt on satisfaction with the government. We find that beneficiaries report significantly higher satisfaction. However, this effect is not associated with improvements in economic conditions or perceptions of state capacity. Instead, the effect emerges only in communities where the programme has been in place for over two years, coinciding with the shift from discretionary nominations by parliamentarians to proxy-means test–based targeting. The results further indicate that increased satisfaction is driven by households whose inclusion reflects objective eligibility criteria, particularly in constituencies where patronage networks have historically shaped programme access. The pattern is consistent with the idea that rule-based targeting may improve approval among poorer households in politically salient communities, although we cannot fully separate this mechanism from duration of exposure to the programme. Even in weakly institutionalized settings, the adoption of transparent and rule-based social policies can improve citizens’ perceptions of the state.
Caste-based discrimination is prohibited by law in Nepal. However, it remains deeply entrenched in Nepalese society, leading to widespread discrimination against lower castes, particularly Dalits, in various social and economic activities. This research aims to examine disparities in house prices between Dalits and non-Dalits using a hedonic price model. To accomplish this, we utilize demographic data, self-reported information on house attributes and house prices from the 2018 wave of the Household Risk and Vulnerability Survey (HRVS). The findings indicate that Dalit-owned houses are priced significantly lower than houses owned by Kshatriyas and Brahmins, even after accounting for all relevant house characteristics. Propensity score matching analysis reveals that this Dalit discount ranges from 11% to 16%, translating to a reduction of NRs 123,000 to NRs 174,000 for Dalit-owned houses compared to non-Dalit-owned houses. Furthermore, the analysis across regions suggests that house price differentials between Dalits and non-Dalits are less prevalent in the southern plains and urban areas than in mountainous and rural regions. One possible explanation for this housing price differential is the limited demand for Dalit-owned houses in the mountains and rural areas due to their smaller market size.
This article focuses on Manali and the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. It seeks to reconstruct colonial interventions and excursions in the area between 1846 and 1925 to examine the emergence of modern recreational travel and tourism in the Kullu Valley. In doing this, the article contributes to the scholarship on hill stations in South Asia in two ways. First, it incorporates the largely missing colonial history of tourism in Manali and the Kullu Valley into existing scholarship. Second, it argues that what this tourist history reflects is that even without the building of a colonial urban settlement, colonial practices of visiting the ‘wilderness’ could themselves produce subsequent urbanisation—catalysing sites from which the Himalayas were consumed for recreation and leisure. The article is in three parts: The first part considers the distinction between colonial travel and tourism and older, indigenous forms of mobility and visitation. The second part illustrates the chronological development of colonial settlement and tourism in Kullu, including imaginative and tangible infrastructures for travel as the number of English visitors increased. Finally, the article reflects on how colonial excursions and interventions set the stage for tourism and urbanisation to flourish in postcolonial Manali and the larger Kullu district.
This study outlines the emergence and gradual domination of a community within the market for a commodity. Focusing on the Syrian Christian community in Kerala, India, we explore their ascent as dominant players in the market for small cardamom. Through a historical analysis of Syrian Christian migration and subsequent entrepreneurial endeavours, we demonstrate how this community leveraged social networks, political influence and strategic business practices to establish themselves as both producers and traders of cardamom. By competing with Nairs in the nineteenth century and collaborating with Tamil capital in the twentieth century, Syrian Christians gradually emerged as a dominant force within the cardamom market. This article elucidates the multifaceted strategies employed by Syrian Christians, including the formation of a political party, the secularization of religious symbols and the strategic use of media to emerge as a dominant force in the cardamom market. It further outlines how the emergence of Syrian Christians changed the market. Through a close reading of quality grades and associated practices of market-making, the article details how Syrian-Christian-dominated firms shaped the cardamom market.
