Backstory: Gautam Rao on Democracy, Diffusion, and and the Long Game of Research

In this episode, Maddison speaks with Gautam Rao, Associate Professor at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley, about his paper titled, "Laboratories of Democracy? Experimental Evidence on Policy Diffusion between Municipalities in Brazil,” joint with Ines Badin, Jonas Hjort, Diana Moreira, Juan Santini.  He also discusses how this project built on an earlier project, “How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities,” and talks about the process of forming collaborations with field partners and coauthors. Gautam also shares about his experience of developing his job market paper, “Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Generosity, Discrimination and Diversity in Delhi Schools.”