Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
World Bank-Development Research Group(personal account). CIFAR, @cgdev.org. Economist who mixes disciplines and methods. Hindustani music. https://www.vijayendrarao.org/
Political science
27%
Economics
23%
https://worldbank.org/en/events/2025/11/18/policy-for-the-people
After 25 years at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, I’ll give my farewell talk — Policy for the People — on Nov 18 at 12:30 PM ET.
Honored to be joined by Nandini Krishnan, Robin Mearns & Deon Filmer.
🎥 worldbank.org/en/events/2025/11/18/policy-for-the-people
Honored to be joined by Nandini Krishnan, Robin Mearns & Deon Filmer.
🎥 worldbank.org/en/events/2025/11/18/policy-for-the-people
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 21
For sure. I plan to spend a lot of time
In Bangalore
In Bangalore
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
This next phase is a continuation of what has always driven me — curiosity about how people create meaning and agency in their lives, and how social science can better honor, and practice, that complexity.
Grateful for the journey — and excited for what’s next.
Grateful for the journey — and excited for what’s next.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
I’ve been privileged to collaborate with extraordinary colleagues and partners in villages, governments, and research teams across the world — and to help build conversations between disciplines, and between people who don’t often speak to one another.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
When I joined the Bank in 1999, I never imagined how much the institution — and I — would evolve. Working in the Bank’s research department has given me the freedom to explore how culture, politics, and economics intertwine in shaping people’s lives.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
I will continuing my affiliations with CIFAR’s Boundaries, Membership & Belonging program and as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
I’ll be leaving the Bank effectively on December 15, 2025 (with my official departure on June 30, 2026) to make more time for independent research, writing, and teaching. From March to June 2026, I’ll be Distinguished Scholar-Practitioner in Residence at Northwestern University’s Buffet Institute.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Oct 20
Some news:
After 26 years in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, I have decided that it’s time for me to move on.
After 26 years in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, I have decided that it’s time for me to move on.
Reposted by Vijayendra Rao, Michael A. Clemens
Populist Rhetoric, Poverty Realities: Lessons from ABCDE 2025
There is no easy escape from the deepening populist retrenchment around the world. But let’s not forget that development is measured not by how fast an economy grows, but rather by the improvements to...
www.cgdev.org
This year's #ABCDE2025, themed “Development in the Age of Populism,” sparked discussions on trade and geopolitics, poverty reduction, & more.
Following the conference, @eeshani.bsky.social shares what we learned—and didn’t—about populism & poverty in LMICs:
www.cgdev.org/blog/populis...
Following the conference, @eeshani.bsky.social shares what we learned—and didn’t—about populism & poverty in LMICs:
www.cgdev.org/blog/populis...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Aug 3
She turned a barren wasteland into a forest farm in Bengaluru
YouTube video by Good Food Movement
youtu.be
My cousin Rama Ranee changed my life—introducing me to yoga, meditation, and fieldwork in rural India.
For 35 years, she’s transformed a barren patch near Bangalore into a biodiverse, biodynamic sanctuary.
This stunning film by Good Food Movement captures her journey. youtu.be/W1XA-KOgKoA?...
For 35 years, she’s transformed a barren patch near Bangalore into a biodiverse, biodynamic sanctuary.
This stunning film by Good Food Movement captures her journey. youtu.be/W1XA-KOgKoA?...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Is There an Underside to Economic Growth ? A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Malaysia
This paper sheds light on a Malaysian paradox that may have lessons for the rest of the world. Despite high gross domestic product growth with concurrent sharp reductions .
documents.worldbank.org
Our study is the first predominantly qualitative paper accepted in The World Bank Economic Review.
It makes the case for listening carefully to what people say—especially when the numbers look good.
📄 Read it here: documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
It makes the case for listening carefully to what people say—especially when the numbers look good.
📄 Read it here: documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Three key takeaways for development policy:
1️⃣ Growth is not enough.
2️⃣ We need to protect people from the market’s vagaries.
3️⃣ Reconnecting economic and social life is critical—especially amid rising populism.
1️⃣ Growth is not enough.
2️⃣ We need to protect people from the market’s vagaries.
3️⃣ Reconnecting economic and social life is critical—especially amid rising populism.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Quantitative indicators—like GDP or consumption surveys—often miss this underside.
Open-ended conversations reveal the lived experiences and emotional undercurrents that data alone can’t capture.
Open-ended conversations reveal the lived experiences and emotional undercurrents that data alone can’t capture.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
This is what Hirsch meant by “social congestion”:
More money doesn’t buy better lives when education, housing, health, and leisure become rationed by class, and social networks fragment under economic strain.
More money doesn’t buy better lives when education, housing, health, and leisure become rationed by class, and social networks fragment under economic strain.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Drawing on Karl Polanyi and Hirsch, we argue that economic growth can fracture the social fabric.
It prioritizes individual mobility over collective well-being—leading to anomie, congestion, and declining access to formerly free public goods.
It prioritizes individual mobility over collective well-being—leading to anomie, congestion, and declining access to formerly free public goods.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Strikingly, the less developed western regions expressed less discontent.
There, people seemed more attuned to relative rather than absolute income—and less affected by what Fred Hirsch called “positional competition.”
There, people seemed more attuned to relative rather than absolute income—and less affected by what Fred Hirsch called “positional competition.”
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
We conducted 56 open-ended focus group interviews across Malaysia.
What we heard:
▪️ “Imbalance” between income & living costs
▪️ Reliance on multiple jobs
▪️ Rising debt
▪️ Stress & social disconnection
▪️ Ethnic polarization
What we heard:
▪️ “Imbalance” between income & living costs
▪️ Reliance on multiple jobs
▪️ Rising debt
▪️ Stress & social disconnection
▪️ Ethnic polarization
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Malaysia is often hailed as a success story of the “East Asian Miracle”:
✔️ High growth
✔️ Sharp poverty reduction
✔️ Falling inequality
But what do people themselves say about this progress?
✔️ High growth
✔️ Sharp poverty reduction
✔️ Falling inequality
But what do people themselves say about this progress?
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 28
Is There an Underside to Economic Growth ? A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Malaysia
This paper sheds light on a Malaysian paradox that may have lessons for the rest of the world. Despite high gross domestic product growth with concurrent sharp reductions .
documents.worldbank.org
Why do people feel worse even as their countries grow richer?
In an age of populism, we need to ask what policy misses when it focuses solely on growth.
A thread on our paper: Is There an Underside to Economic Growth? 👇
📄 documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
In an age of populism, we need to ask what policy misses when it focuses solely on growth.
A thread on our paper: Is There an Underside to Economic Growth? 👇
📄 documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 16
😂
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Jul 16
Development folks (usually of a particular vintage) who are prone to making Denmark comparisons - note that you can fit six Denmarks in Delhi, five in Jakarta, four in Cairo….
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· May 27
Given that high quality codes are necessary in order to assess whether an LLM introduces bias, we argue that it may be preferable to train a bespoke model on a subset of transcripts coded by trained sociologists rather than use an LLM.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· May 27
We find that using LLMs to annotate and code text can introduce bias that can lead to misleading inferences. By bias we mean that the errors that LLMs make in coding interview transcripts are not random with respect to the characteristics of the interview subjects.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· May 27
We ask whether LLMs can help code and analyse large-N qualitative data from open-ended interviews, with an application to transcripts of interviews with Rohingya refugees and their Bengali hosts in Bangladesh.
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Apr 28
Moving from nudging to boosting: empowering behaviour change to address global challenges | Behavioural Public Policy | Cambridge Core
Moving from nudging to boosting: empowering behaviour change to address global challenges
www.cambridge.org
Instead of “nudging” people to get them to do what YOU think is good for them, “boost” their agency so that they are better able to think and act for themselves. Wonderful paper from Behavioral Public Policy that encapsulates what many of us have been thinking. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Apr 10
Ah yes, Gauss. I also used something called LISREL for my dissertation
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Apr 10
Very interesting Owen. Disciplinary distinctions on software have been around a long time. When I started grad school in 1985 it was SAS(Economists) vs SPSS (Sociologists), and all the fancy ones used Fortran. 🙂
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Apr 9
V.K.R.V. Rao
Institutional Builder Extraordinaire By Vijayendra Rao
azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in
My essay is on VKRV Rao, who developed the first set of national income estimates for a poor country, founded the Delhi School of Economics, and laid the intellectual foundations of IDA, the concessional funding arm of the World Bank azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/indian-econo...
Vijayendra Rao
@bijurao.bsky.social
· Apr 9
Distinguished Indian Economists
Swaying Minds and Shaping the Modern Indian Economy
azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in
Indian economists have been central to development thinking from the early 19th century. This amazing collection of biographical essays on distinguished Indian economists of the past is really worth reading azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/distinguishe...