CDSE student Felix Rusche has been awarded the ESEM 2024 Award for his paper “Broadcasting Change: India’s Community Radio Policy and Women’s Empowerment.” In his research, Felix investigates the role of grassroots media as a tool for development, focusing on India’s 2006 community radio policy. By analyzing data from over 250 radio stations, he identified women’s empowerment as a central theme in programming. Leveraging innovative methods to account for geographical variation in radio access, Felix demonstrates that community radio has a positive impact on girls’ education, delays marriage, reduces fertility rates, and enhances young women’s autonomy. Read more about Felix's research here.
The ESEM Award recognizes the best papers in applied economics (broadly taken to include applied theory, empirical economics, experimental economics, and computational economics, including both micro and macro approaches) presented by young researchers within 10 years of their doctoral studies.
Many congratulations to Felix Rusche on this remarkable achievement!