Year: 2025 | Month: March | Volume 70 | Issue 1
Democratic Protests and Economic Outcomes in Punjab’s Agriculture
Abhijit Das
Sahin Aktar Munshi
Bikram Barman and Nivedita Deka
DOI:10.46852/0424-2513.1.2025.15
Abstract:
This study examines the economic impact of democratic protests on agriculture and local economies in Punjab, focusing on key variables such as agricultural yield, local GDP, and employment. Utilizing a sample of 400 farmers from protest-affected and non-affected districts, the analysis employs Differencein- Differences (DiD) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) methodologies. The results reveal that protests led to a significant reduction in agricultural yield, averaging -0.60 tons/ha (p < 0.01) for affected districts
compared to their non-affected counterparts. Additionally, local GDP in protest-affected areas declined by approximately -50.0 million INR (p < 0.05), indicating the broader economic consequences of political unrest. Employment rates also suffered, with a statistically significant decline of about 9.5 percentage points (p < 0.01) in protest-affected districts relative to non-affected ones. The common support zone in the PSM analysis confirmed the robustness and reliability of these estimates. Overall, the study underscores
the vulnerability of agricultural communities to political disruptions and highlights the urgent need for targeted policy interventions to safeguard rural livelihoods and enhance economic resilience during periods of civil unrest.
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