My primary fields of research are political economy and development economics. Here is my CV. Some of my research papers are below.

Property Rights in Developing Countries

"Land Titling and Rural Transition in Vietnam." (with Quy-Toan Do) Economic Development and Cultural Change 56, no. 3 (April 2008).

"The Cost of Property Rights: Establishing Institutions on the Philippine Frontier Under American Rule, 1898-1918." (with Noel Maurer) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-023, August 2008. (Revised April 2009.) [PDF]

"Unbundling Property Rights: The Impact of Urban Housing Reforms on Labor Mobility and Savings in China." (with Xin Meng and Nancy Qian), Work in progress [Preliminary Version].

Political Economy

"Direct versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-term Consequences." Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming. [PDF]

"Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India." (with Anandi Mani) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-006, July 2008. (Revised November 2009.) [PDF]

"Electoral Redistricting in the World's Largest Democracy: An Evaluation." (with Maya Shivakumar), September 2009. [Preliminary Version]

"Political Decentralization and Crime: Evidence from India’s Panchayati Raj." (with Anandi Mani, Prachi Mishra and Petia Topalova), October 2009. [Preliminary Version]

Public Goods Provision in Developing Countries

"History, Social Divisions and Public Goods in Rural India." (with Abhijit Banerjee and Rohini Somanathan) Journal of the European Economic Association 3, nos. 2-3 (April-May 2005): 639-647.

"Public Action for Public Goods: Theory and Evidence." (with Abhijit Banerjee and Rohini Somanathan) In Handbook of Development Economics. Vol. 4, edited by T. Paul Schultz and John Strauss. Elsevier Science & Technology Books, 2008. [NBER Working Paper version]

"Colonial Land Tenure, Electoral Competition, and Public Goods in India." (with Abhijit Banerjee) In Natural Experiments in History, edited by Jared Diamond and James Robinson. Harvard University Press, forthcoming. [PDF]

Conflict

"Geography, Poverty and Conflict in Nepal." (with Quy-Toan Do) Journal of Peace Research, forthcoming. [PDF]

“Conflict, Poverty and the Lagging Regions of South Asia.” in Ejaz Ghani, ed., World Bank Report on the Bottom Half Billion and Lagging Regions of South Asia, forthcoming. [HBS Working Paper version]

“Mental Health in the Aftermath of Conflict.” (with Quy-Toan Do), in Michelle Garfinkel and Stergios Skaperdas, eds., Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Peace and Conflict, Oxford University Press, forthcoming. [PDF]

Book Reviews and Other Publications

“India’s Pockets of Prosperity?” with Laura Alfaro and Semil Shah, The Christian Science Monitor, July 31, 2009. [Link]

Review of Economic Cooperation between Singapore and India: An alliance in the making? by Faizal bin Yahya, South Asian Review, December 2008.

Review of Understanding Civil War: Evidence and Analysis, Vols. 1 & 2, edited by Paul Collier and Nicholas Sambanis." Journal of Economic Literature, March 2007.

HBS Course Materials

Iyer, Lakshmi, John D. Macomber, and Namrata Arora. "Dharavi: Developing Asia's Largest Slum." Harvard Business School Case 710-004.

Iyer, Lakshmi, and John D. Macomber. "Dharavi: Developing Asia's Largest Slum (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 710-011.

Alfaro, Laura, and Lakshmi Iyer. "Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (A)." Harvard Business School Case 709-027.

Alfaro, Laura, Lakshmi Iyer, and Namrata Arora. "Tata Motors in Singur: Public Purpose and Private Property (B)." Harvard Business School Case 709-029.

Alfaro, Laura, and Lakshmi Iyer. "Public Purpose and Private Property (A) and (B) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 709-028.

Iyer, Lakshmi. "Punjab and Kerala: Regional Development in India." Harvard Business School Case 707-008.

Iyer, Lakshmi. "Punjab and Kerala: Regional Development in India (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 708-047.

Iyer, Lakshmi. "To Trade or Not to Trade: NAFTA and the Prospects for Free Trade in the Americas." Harvard Business School Case 705-034.

Iyer, Lakshmi. "To Trade or Not to Trade: NAFTA and the Prospects of Free Trade in the Americas (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 706-011.

Iyer, Lakshmi, and Noel Maurer. "What Should the Federal Reserve Do? Thoughts of Greenspan and Bernanke." Harvard Business School Case 706-017.

Abdelal, Rawi E., Lakshmi Iyer, and Noel Maurer. "Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE): Course Overview." Harvard Business School Note 706-029.