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Institutions, Local Agency, and Allegiance: Healthcare Provision in Colonial India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 December 2025

Jordi Caum-Julio
Jordi Caum-Julio*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, University of Barcelona, Department of Economic History, Institutions and Policy, and World Economy, Av. Diagonal, 690, Barcelona, 08034, Spain.
*
E-mail: jordi.caum@ub.edu.
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Abstract

This paper uses a novel georeferenced cross-sectional dataset to explore which factors influenced the funding of hospitals and dispensaries in colonial India, emphasizing land tenure systems as a cause of regional variation. Where land was owned by cultivators, healthcare facilities received more resources from local public bodies and were better funded compared to regions where land was owned by landlords. In contrast, in landlord regions they received more private donations and subscriptions from Indians.

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Type
Article
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 86 , Issue 1 , March 2026 , pp. 1 - 37
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Economic History Association

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Footnotes

I am grateful to Alfonso Herranz-Loncán and Gabriele Cappelli for their invaluable advice and feedback. I would also like to thank Latika Chaudhary, Daniel Gallardo-Albarrán, Aldo Elizalde, James Fenske, Jean Lacroix, Guillaume Blanc, Nuno Palma, and Peter Murrell for their comments. Part of the work on this paper was completed while the author held the Arthur Lewis Lab Postdoctoral Fellowship, The University of Manchester, Department of Economics, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. This paper has also benefited from insightful feedback received at the LSE Graduate Economic History Seminar, UB Graduate Economic History Seminar, Pre-WEHC Young Scholars Workshop, Globalization and Growth in the History of East and Southeast Asia Conference, 7th Asian Historical Economics Conference, the job market presentation at the University of Manchester, 2023 EHS Annual Conference, and RHI seminar at Wageningen University. Finally, I would also like to thank Bishnupriya Gupta and two anonymous referees for their very useful comments. Any errors that remain are my sole responsibility.

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