Yeow Hwee Chua: Economists have always been interested in studying the determinants of economic growth. (See Jones [2016] for a comprehensive review of the growth literature.) Among these factors, one important driver that could substantially influence future growth is demographic change. This holds relevance in today's world as many countries face shifts in demographics such as aging populations, falling birth rates, and changes in the working-age population. An understanding of the relationship between demographic trends and economic growth is thus of first order importance.
This paper seeks to advance our understanding of one crucial aspect, the demographic dividend, using micro-level data in India. The demographic dividend refers to how changes in age structure could impact economic growth within a country. A key contribution of this paper is the construction of panel data across different states in India. This allows the authors to exploit state-level variation across different states...