It is quite interesting to see a bunch of papers written on one aspect of Indian economy from a variety of angles. Following are some such papers by Dave Donaldson of MIT. The first one was presented in the ASSA 2014 and that is what got me reading Dave’s work.

1. Can Openness to Trade Reduce Income Volatility? Evidence from Colonial India’s Famine Era

2. Weather and Death in India

3. Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Shocks? Evidence from India’s Famine Era

While we are on weather shocks, you might be interested in my earlier post on weather shocks and consumption smoothing in India and this one on general importance of rainfall shocks in post independence India.