About the series: This exploratory series identifies how rigorous research in political economy can contribute to cutting edge agendas and pressing needs in global development, which broadly encompasses poverty eradication, governance, peace-building, climate action, China’s rising global role, and other issues. This is an interdisciplinary group. Graduate students from all departments are welcome. To sign, please email Yuen Yuen Ang at yuenang@umich.edu.

About the speaker: Vijayendra (Biju) Rao is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, works at the intersection of scholarship and practice. He leads the World Bank’s Social Observatory, an inter-disciplinary effort to improve the conversation between citizens and governments.

Recommended readings:

1. “Deliberative Democracy in an Unequal World: A Text-As-Data Study of South India’s Village Assemblies,” by Rao & co-authors, American Political Science Review, 2019: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/deliberative-democracy-in-an-unequal-world-a-textasdata-study-of-south-indias-village-assemblies/081C0A8F242D2C5273EBC60A4CCEFB73

2. Mixing big & thick data; an IBM report featuring World Bank’s Social Observatory: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/148311