ROCKING OUR PRIORS

Nineteenth century Britain saw remarkable economic growth and a rise in real wages. But not everyone shared in the nation’s wealth. Unable to earn a sufficient income themselves, working-class women were reliant on the ‘breadwinner wage’ of their husbands. When income failed, or was denied or squandered by errant men, families could be plunged into desperate poverty from which there was no escape. Emma Griffin unlocks the homes of Victorian England to examine the lives – and finances – of the people who lived there. Drawing on over 600 working-class autobiographies, including more than 200 written by women, Bread Winner changes our understanding of daily life in Victorian Britain. The book: https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300230062 https://people.uea.ac.uk/e_griffin Professor Griffin's homepage: https://people.uea.ac.uk/e_griffin On Twitter: @EmmaGriffinHist This podcast is a few audio chapters, read by Dr Alice Evans.

Poor slum-dwellers are FOUR times less likely to believe that they will get a response when directly approaching an official than poor rural villager. So controlling for income, the slum dwellers are much more despondent about government - find Dr Gabi Kruks-Wisner (UVA) and Dr Adam Auerbach (American University). This reflects differing observations and expectations in urban and rural places. What rocked my priors is their argument that clientelism is not bad governance, it does not necessarily worsen outcomes. Perhaps it's just another mode of claims-making? Read her full paper here: https://krukswisner.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/auerbach_kruks-wisner_pop_2020.pdf If you'd like to hear more about "Claiming the State", check out my earlier podcast with Gabi. In the podcast, Gabi highlights Dr Tariq Tachil's paper how ethnographic research can improve surveys: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12116-018-9272-3 We also discuss my paper on Cambodia, which you can read here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243219865510 Dr Gabi Kruks Wisner is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia: https://krukswisner.wordpress.com/ @gabi_kw She co-wrote this paper with Dr Adam Auerbach at American University https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/aauerba.cfm @adam_m_auerbach

I read aloud my latest paper, "How Cities Erode Gender Inequality", published in Gender & Society: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243219865510 This is an experiment! Kindly recorded by the Harvard Kennedy School. One take, in my *slightly* theatrical style. Let me know what you think! :-)

Professor Sanchita Saxena shares insights on her new book on "Labor, Global Supply Chains, and the Garment Industry in South Asia". Key questions: - Why are garment wages so low in Bangladesh? - Why aren't wages improving? - What would enable higher wages? Buy the book: https://www.routledge.com/Labor-Global-Supply-Chains-and-the-Garment-Industry-in-South-Asia-Bangladesh/Saxena/p/book/9781138366800 Learn more about Professor Saxena's work, at Berkeley: https://southasia.berkeley.edu/sanchita-saxena

Professor Kathryn Sikkink (at the Harvard Kennedy School) argues that human rights laws, institutions, and movements are both legitimate and effective. We discuss whether human rights are western imperialism; whether rights movements help improve conditions for the masses; and what we still don't know about norm dynamics, but desperately need to find out! You can buy the book here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691170626/evidence-for-hope Professor Sikkink is the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, at the Harvard Kennedy School: https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/people/kathryn-sikkink

Professor Daron Acemoglu discusses his new book, arguing that liberty and prosperity require strong states and strong societies. Alice asks where do strong societies come from? What explains the global heterogeneity in social capital, as well as labour coercion? Can his theory accommodate East Asia? And whether the state-society binary is really the best way to understand threats to liberty today? Professor Acemoglu is incredibly impressive. I do hope you enjoy this episode. Buy the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555400/the-narrow-corridor-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a-robinson/ Read more about Professor Acemoglu's work: https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/acemoglu

Professor Branko Milanovic, world-leading expert on income inequality, discusses his fascinating new book. We discuss: - Was communism necessary for indigenous capitalism? - How can we tackle rising inequality? - How to respond to the xenophobic backlash? & - Isn't climate breakdown exacerbating global inequality. For more details on the book: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674987593 For more about Professor Milanovic: Website: https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/people/milanovic-branko/ Blog: http://glineq.blogspot.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan

Poor rural Indians come to expect and demand more of the state if they observe other people like them successfully mobilising for better services and public goods. Through quantitative and qualitative research in Rajasthan, Dr Gabi Kruks-Wisner shows feedback loops in observations, expectations, and claims-making. Read more about her work: https://krukswisner.wordpress.com/ Buy the book: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/claiming-state-active-citizenship-and-social-welfare-rural-india?format=PB&isbn=9781316649008#xFBr4rHJoOX5Yzxr.97 This chimes with "Fragmented Democracy" by Jamila Michener: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/9A69DF1567190EF38883D4766EBC0AAC And "Forbearance as Redistribution" by Alisha Holland: http://alishaholland.com/book/ And "Making Motherhood Work" by Caitlyn Collins: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13324.html All these new books demonstrate feedback loops, in people's observations, expectations, and demands of the state.

Do people in developing countries prioritise the economy or the environment? To find out, Dr Quynh Nguyen & Dr Eddy Malesky undertook a nationally representative survey in Vietnam, asking people which kinds of firms they preferred. Their results may surprise you. You can read the full paper here: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/apsa/apsa19/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1513930&PHPSESSID=tqrf3ob26mr1r3i8qa97a0ghe0 Dr Quynh Nguyen is a Lecturer in international political economy at the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University. https://www.quynhnguyen.net/teaching Dr Eddy Malesky is a Professor of Political Science at Duke. https://polisci.duke.edu/people/edmund-malesky

It's a coup! Ken Opalo and Dan Honig - Assistant Professors of International Development - have seized my podcast! They discuss brilliant new work by Dr George Kwaku Ofosu, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Washington University in St Louis: "Do Fairer Elections Increase the Responsiveness of Politicians?", forthcoming in the American Political Science Review. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/do-fairer-elections-increase-the-responsiveness-of-politicians/26AA077459ACA822C4E20A9903E64691#.XVbd_1sosiQ.twitter. Read more about his work here: https://www.georgeofosu.com/ And Tugba Bozcaga, PhD candidate at MIT. Read her paper here: https://t.co/ruc5W88M5s?amp=1 And learn more about her work her: https://www.tugbabozcaga.com/