Related Articles

Matching keywords : Strategic, location, transportation, hub, geopolitical, focus, interest, powers, decade, critical.

ADB’s Comprehensive Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major global crisis that requires country, regional, and global intervention, as well as collaboration to mitigate damage to economies and peop...

by Asian Development Bank | On 25 Jan 2021

Business Standard Weekend Ruminations: The market as weapon: What China has long exploited India has rarely used

Opening up India's market to neighbouring countries can be as strategic as access denial to others. The game should be played both ways, even if it upsets domestic business lobbies.

by T.N. Ninan | On 16 Aug 2020

Weekend Ruminations: Advice for shoot-from-the-hip nationalists: Take aim before firing

It's all good to be tactical - keep China out of strategic markets; hit back in the same coin if it looks to keep India's key sectors out - but don't shoot yourself in the foot.

by T.N. Ninan | On 21 Jun 2020

Urban Food Markets and the Lockdown in India

On March 24, 2020, the Government of India announced a 21-day national lockdown that has since been extended to May 3, 2020. The lockdown has left urban food markets in disarray with severe supply b...

by Sudha Narayanan | On 06 May 2020

Adverse Selection and Credit Certificates: Evidence from a P2P Platform

Certificates are widely used as a signaling mechanism to mitigate adverse selection when information is asymmetric. To reduce information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers, Chinese peer-to-peer...

by Maggie Rong Hu | On 24 Apr 2019

Rebalancing the Economy and Reforming the Fiscal System of the People’s Republic of China

The goal of the note is to lay out and discuss a package of reforms that could be consistent with the objectives of the government. The fiscal instruments that we consider here include the division of...

by Roy Bahl | On 07 Mar 2019

Outward FDI and Crossborder M&As by Indian Firms: A Host Country-Level Analysis

This paper tries to understand the trends and the pattern of Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) by Indian firms and the factors that determine OFDI from India through Cross-Border Mergers and Ac...

by P.L. Beena | On 31 Jan 2019

Enlargement Decisions of Regional Trading Blocs with Asymmetric Members

This paper analyzes the conditions under which an existing bilateral free trade area (FTA) prefers to expand in size and when it prefers consolidation through customs union (CU) formation when the exi...

by Sunandan Ghosh | On 31 Jan 2019

How Does Public Debt Affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach

This study investigates the macroeconomic effects of public debt in India using a Structural Vector Auto regression (SVAR) framework for the period from 1980 to 2017. The objective of this study is to...

by Ranjan Kumar Mohanty | On 23 Jan 2019

Mobility and congestion in urban India

The paper presents the development of a methodology to estimate robust city-level vehicular mobility indices, and apply it to 154 Indian cities using 22 million counterfactual trips measured by a web...

by Prottoy A. Akbar | On 22 Nov 2018

Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines

A debt trap occurs when someone takes on a high-interest rate loan and is barely able to pay back the interest, and thus perpetually finds themselves in debt (often by re-financing). Studying such pra...

by Dean Karlan | On 04 Oct 2018

Money and Business Cycle: Evidence From India

This paper takes a New Keynesian model with non-separable money in utility to Indian data using maximum likelihood. The identification problem in isolating the effect of money on output and inflation...

by Ashima Goyal | On 21 Sep 2018

Strengthening India’s External Intelligence Infrastructure: An Assessment .

This paper outlines a number of points, which would help to develop a more superior external intelligence infrastructure. In absence of a national security strategy (NSS), the task of intelligence age...

by Shantanu K. Bansal | On 04 Sep 2018

Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-Cognitive Characteristics in Rural China

This paper evaluates the parental response to non-cognitive variation across siblings in rural Gansu province, China, employing a household fixed effects specification; the non-cognitive measures of i...

by Jessica Leight | On 26 Jun 2018

The Impact of Monetary and Tax Policy on Income Inequality in Japan

This paper assesses the effects of the most recent monetary policy behavior of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) (in particular, zero interest rate policy and negative interest rate policy) and Japanese tax pol...

by Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary | On 09 Jun 2018

Family Businesses: The Emerging Landscape 1990 - 2015

The widespread reforms were expected to bring about significant transformations in the structure, operations, allocation of resources (including capital) and competitiveness of the businesses in India...

by Nupur Bang | On 27 Apr 2018

Forward Guidance

The paper assesses the power of forward guidance—promises about future interest rates—as a monetary tool in a liquidity trap using a quantitative incomplete-markets model. The results suggest the effe...

by Marcus Hagedorn | On 24 Apr 2018

Nepal Human Development Report 2014: Beyond Geography Unlocking Human Potential

The report presents a rigorous statistical analysis across space and time, using the available national data.

by National Planning (NPC) | On 13 Apr 2018

Informality, Governance and Growth

This paper develops a growth framework of a typical developing and democratic setting with formal and informal sectors, which faces trade-off of redistribution through either direct subsidy or strat...

by Dibyendu Maiti | On 05 Apr 2018

Towards a Green Public Bank in the Public Interest

Four decades of neoliberal market fundamentalism and its relentless assault on the public sector and our understandings of publicness have generated a profound crisis of social reproduction and envi...

by | On 21 Mar 2018

Investment Choice with Managerial Incentive Schemes

In this paper we show that firms might get an additional strategic benefit from using marginal-cost-reducing investments in conjunction with a managerial incentive scheme. While both these instrumen...

by | On 12 Mar 2018

Measuring the Equilibrium Impacts of Credit: Evidence from the Indian Microfinance Crisis

In October 2010, the state government of Andhra Pradesh, India issued an emergency ordinance, bringing microfinance activities in the state to a complete halt and causing a nation-wide shock to the li...

by Emily Breza | On 10 Mar 2018

Long-term Implications of Humanitarian Responses: The Case of Chennai

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Tamil Nadu lost about 8,000 people and the lives and livelihoods of over 897,000 families were affected. In 2015, Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nad...

by | On 09 Mar 2018

Report Summary Women’s Healthcare: Policy Options

The paper says that the Committee noted that synergy between the central and state policies will bring changes in women's healthcare.

by Nivedita Rao | On 06 Mar 2018

Estimates of Air Pollution in Delhi from the Burning of Fire Crackers during the Festival of Diwali

Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world, especially in the winter months from October - January. These months coincide with the religious festival of Diwali. It is argued that air qualit...

by Dhananjay Ghei | On 27 Feb 2018

Indigenisation of Lithium ion Battery Manufacturing: A Techno-economic Feasibility Assessment

The paper says that the Government of India (GoI) recently announced plans for transition to all electric transportation by 2030.

by Tanmay Sarkar | On 26 Feb 2018

India and Bhutan: The Strategic Imperative

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed aware about the nuances that underpin India's cultural and political obligations in Asia. By making Bhutan as his first visit abroad followed by a visit to Nepal, h...

by | On 20 Feb 2018

Centre-State Relations, Finance Commissions and Kerala’s Fiscal Crisis

The paper takes a look at the past record of vertical transfers viz., transfers from the Centre to the States as a whole.

by K.K. George | On 16 Feb 2018

Factors Affecting the Academic Achievement: A Study of Elementary School Students of NCR Delhi, India

The foremost aim of the study was to investigate and analyze the relationship of General Mental Ability, Interest and home environmentwith Academic Achievement.Methods:The participants were 110 stude...

by | On 12 Feb 2018

Citizen Engagement, Deliberative Spaces and the Consolidation of a Post-Authoritarian Democracy: The Case of Indonesia

This paper argues that support for citizen participation and accountability among civil society actors can consolidate local deliberative spaces and improve the performance of local government.

by Hans Antlöv | On 07 Feb 2018

Union Budget 2018-19: Budget for Children in New India

India is currently going through a major demographic transition and it is this transition that is going to make India one of the world’s youngest countries with largest young population. Of this you...

by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights | On 05 Feb 2018

Trade in Intermediate Goods: Implications for Productivity and Welfare in Korea

The paper find technical changes and the degree of inefficiency are related with the magnitude of multipliers, but we leave a fundamental identification problem to future research.

by Kim Gui | On 30 Jan 2018

The Effect of Restructuring on Labor Reallocation and Productivity Growth: An Estimation for Korea

The paper says that the productivity growth of the service sector would foster economy-wide productivity and it can be achieved by the mitigation of misallocation of resources in service sectors.

by Choi Hyelin | On 26 Jan 2018

What Determined 2015 TPA Voting Pattern?: The Role of Trade Negotiating Objectives

This paper analyzes 2015-TPA voting patterns in the Congress in the context of the trade negotiating objectives.

by Yoon Joon | On 24 Jan 2018

Securing India's Littorals in the Twenty-first Century: Issues and Challenges

The brief narrates that the twenty-first century marked paradigm shifts in the changing world order.

by W.Lawrence S.Prabhakar | On 22 Jan 2018

A Guide to Using Budget Analysis

Budget analysis entails analysis and assessment of budget from the lens of marginalised sections of population with the objective of prioritisation of public expenditures and collection of revenues...

by Happy Pant | On 17 Jan 2018

Northeast India: The Emerging Scenarios

The paper narrates that in today’s age of globalization and trans-border connectivity, the Northeast is fast emerging as the potential gateway for India to Southeast and East Asia through Myanmar.

by Namrata Goswami | On 17 Jan 2018

Using Gross Trade Data to Map Archetypal GVCs

This paper introduces a new, publicly available database for tracking merchandise trade in the global value chains for apparel/textile/footwear, motor vehicles and parts, and electronics, developed or...

by Michael Ferrantino | On 16 Jan 2018

The Regularization of Street Vending in Bhubaneshwar, India: A Policy Model

The papers says that police and municipal inspectors would persistently harass the vendors by threatening them and confiscating their merchandise.

by Randhir Kumar | On 05 Jan 2018

International Trade Governance and Sustainable Transport: The Expansion of Electric Vehicles

This paper has been conceived as an exploratory scoping exercise intended to identify and better understand trade-related issues and knowledge gaps, including how various types of trade measures and p...

by International Centre for Development (ICTSD) | On 22 Dec 2017

Immigrants’ Residential Choices and their Consequences

This paper investigates the causes and effects of the spatial distribution of immigrants across US cities. We document that: a) immigrants concentrate in large, high-wage, and expensive cities, b) the...

by | On 18 Dec 2017

Informal Workers in Global Horticulture and Commodities Value Chains: A Review of Literature

This paper presents and analyzes the key findings from a comprehensive review of value chain-related studies on the commodities and horticulture sectors, focusing on what this literature reveals about...

by Man-Kwun Chan | On 06 Dec 2017

Electronic filing System, Bureaucratic Efficiency and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from Bangladesh

A look into the effect of an e-Governance initiative in Bangladesh is on efficiency in the public sector. The electronic Filing (e-Filing) system was introduced to all the Deputy Commissioners' (DC)...

by Wahid Abdallah | On 15 Nov 2017

Monetary Transmission in India: Working of Price and Quantum Channels

The paper examines the strength and efficacy of transmission from the policy rate and liquidity provision to market rates in India, using event window regression analysis. The paper finds the interest...

by Ashima Goyal | On 15 Sep 2017

How Did China become the largest Solar PV Manufacturing Country?

Globally increasing demand for solar gear and a domestic thrust on solar manufacturing have propelled China to the top position in terms of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing countries.

by Nagalakshmi Puttaswamy | On 29 Aug 2017

Is There Enough Public Resource for School Education? Examining the Available Evidences

The enactment of RTE Act, 2009 imposes a duty on the Indian states to fulfill every child's right to elementary education. Education is also a stand-alone goal among SDGs, which India is one of the si...

by Protiva Kundu | On 22 Aug 2017

Extreme Heat And Migration

The impacts of climate change on global temperatures profoundly affect people’s ability to sustain their livelihoods as well as their health; both of these dimensions in turn influence the migration o...

by International Organisation for Migration | On 18 Aug 2017

Human Development Report 2016 - Human Development for Everyone

The Report explores who has been left out in the progress in human development and why.

by Selim Jahan | On 16 Aug 2017

Fuel Blending in India: Learnings and Way Forward

The expert paper further estimates significant potential for an overall improvement in balance of trade with increased blending in the context of an expected recovery in global crude oil prices.

by Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy CSTEP | On 27 Jul 2017

Asia Bond Monitor - June 2015

The report narrates that the local currency bond market in emerging East Asia continued to expand in 1Q15 to reach US$8.3 trillion at end-March.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 24 Jul 2017

Reforming the Financing System for the Road Sector in the People’s Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) implemented a Fuel Tax Reform in 2009 that made significant changes to the way the country funds and delivers its ‘ordinary road’ program.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 17 Jul 2017

Harmonization and Standardization of Bond Market Infrastructures in ASEAN+3: ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Sub-Forum 2 Phase 3 Report

This report is an outcome of Phase 3 discussions under the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Sub-Forum 2, which have focused on making bond market infrastructures in the region more inter-operable through the...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 11 Jul 2017

Asia Bond Monitor - September 2015

The publication reviews recent developments in East Asian local currency bond markets along with the outlook, risks, and policy options. This issue includes a special section on Sukuk (Islamic bonds)...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 06 Jul 2017

Improving Interchanges: Introducing Best Practices on Multimodal Interchange Hub Development in the People’s Republic of China

This report provides an discussion on a range of important issues in the interchange hub design. It also provides a general approach in developing a good interchange hub.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 04 Jul 2017

Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note: Railways

The immediate priority must be to implement policies that will enable MR to retain as much of its current market as is economically justified over the next 5–10 years, while ensuring its finances are...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 31 May 2017

A Comparative Analysis of Tax Administration in Asia and the Pacific: 2016

The analysis and practical guidance provided in this report are based on surveys of revenue bodies conducted in 2014 and 2015, along with accompanying research of revenue bodies’ corporate documents,...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 22 May 2017

ASEAN+3 Bond Market Guide 2016: Thailand

The paper says that the government has continued to issue bonds since then with the primary objectives being to finance the annual budget deficit, support social and economic development, and restruct...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 16 May 2017

Sanitation and Sustainable Development in Japan

The paper outlines that the sanitation has long been “beneath the radar” on the development agendas of governments worldwide. Aside from the massive investment requirements for putting in place sanita...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 12 May 2017

The Comply-or-Explain Approach for Enforcing Governance Norms Subrata Sarkar

In recent years the comply-or-explain approach for enforcing corporate governance norms has gained ground in regulatory parlance. The comply-or-explain approach has the advantage of tailoring govern...

by Subrata Sarkar | On 04 May 2017

Leave No One Behind : A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment

The report captures the importance of shaping macro-economic policies so they support inclusive growth, and ensuring that women entrepreneurs have access to technology and finance. It also highlights...

by | On 21 Feb 2017

Union Budget: A Window of Opportunity for Our Children?

In the context of social sector and particularly for children, the Union Budgets have disappointed the marginalized community and the Union Budget 2017-18 further pushed its children to the peripher...

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 06 Feb 2017

Safety of Women in Public Spaces in Delhi: Governance and Budgetary Challenges

The study attempts to highlight some of the major hurdles in Delhi’s governance and fiscal policy in ensuring the safety of women in public spaces. Though violence against women is widespread and oc...

by Kanika Kaul | On 27 Jan 2017

Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin (SBM-G): GOI, 2016-17

Using government data, this brief reports on trends for SBM-G along the following parameters: • Allocations and expenditures • Physical progress of toilets built • Expenditures incurred under ...

by Avani Kapur | On 27 Jan 2017

Vital Stats: Participation of Members of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (2012-2017)

The Election Commission recently announced the poll schedule for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In this context, data on the composition of the 16th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (2012-...

by Jhalak Kakkar | On 10 Jan 2017

Indian Variant of MTEF: The Scope and Opportunities to Develop an Effective Budget Planning Process

The paper examines the medium-term fiscal policy (MTFP) and a more conventional medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) adopted in India under the provisions of the fiscal rules. The MTFP and the MTE...

by Pratap Ranjan Jena | On 10 Jan 2017

Going Cashless: Is India Ready for Digital?

Cash, alas, is not free; its use comes at a significant cost. I have studied the cost of cash in over 70 countries, in research outlined in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, titled ‘The...

by | On 04 Jan 2017

Bank Lending and Loan Quality: The Case of India

This paper analyses how non-performing loans (NPLs) of Indian banks behave through the cycle. We find that a one-percentage point increase in loan growth is associated with an increase in NPLs over...

by Pallavi Chavan | On 15 Dec 2016

Problems and Challenges of Urbanization in India: A Sociological Evaluation

The urbanization is a process which urban social and urban civilization forming gradually. On the way of urbanization, we develop the economy first and improve the quality of people’s life later. Alth...

by | On 14 Dec 2016

Challenges to the Role of Private Participation in Public Transportation: A Case of Kerala’s Private Buses

The State of Kerala in 2012 through a notification stopped issuing new permits to inter-district buses in Kerala while exempting state run Kerala State Transport Corporation. This was the beginning...

by Madhu Sivaraman | On 28 Nov 2016

Productivity Dynamics in India's Service Sector: An Industry-Level Perspective

The rapid rise of service sector in India, as in its developing counterparts in Asia, follows the pattern of skipped industrialization and raises concern for sustaining economic growth in India. Whil...

by K L Krishna | On 10 Oct 2016

Long-Range Growth: Economic Development in the Global Network of Air Links

This paper studies the impact of international long-distance flights on the global spatial allocation of economic activity. To identify causal effects, it exploits variation due to regulatory and tech...

by Filipe Campante | On 21 Sep 2016

Zoning and the Economic Geography of Cities

Comprehensive zoning is ubiquitous in U.S. cities, yet surprisingly little is known about its long-run impacts. This paper provides the first attempt to measure the causal effect of land use regulatio...

by Allison Shertzer | On 19 Sep 2016

Who Takes a Call on Price Stability, the Government or the RBI?

The question here is, whether it’s the responsibility of the Government or the Central Bank to ensure price stability in an economy? For instance, what was the role of the RBI when the prices of pulse...

by Deepthi Mary Mathew | On 07 Sep 2016

Brain Drain Versus Brain Gain: The Study of Remittances in Southeast Asia and Promoting Knowledge Exchange Through Diasporas

The study attempts to identify the macroeconomic determinants of remittance inflows in South Asian countries. It uses additively separable utility function as theoretical framework and the Arellano-Bo...

by | On 16 Aug 2016

Infrequent but Long-Lived Zero-Bound Episodes and the Optimal Rate of Inflation

Countries rarely hit the zero-lower bound on interest rates, but when they do, these episodes tend to be very long-lived. These two features are difficult to jointly incorporate into macroeconomic mod...

by Marc Carreras | On 16 Aug 2016

Can “Make In India” Make Jobs? The Challenges of Manufacturing Growth and High–Quality Job Creation in India

A new “Make in India” campaign to “transform India into a global manufacturing hub” aims to use manufacturing as a vehicle for job growth. Is this strategy realistic? This paper helps answer the quest...

by | On 10 Aug 2016

Make in India – Scheme For Transforming India

Make in India is an international marketing strategy, conceptualized by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014 to attract investments from businesses around the world and make...

by | On 10 Aug 2016

Benefits of Coastal Shipping: Scope for Sea Change in Domestic Freight Transportation in India

The share of coastal shipping in the modal mix of domestic freight transportation in India is currently very low despite it being more costeffective, fuel-efficient and environment-friendly compared...

by Lavanya Ravikanth Anneboina | On 03 Aug 2016

Policy and Evidence

There has to be evidence in the policy dialogue. Some may believe that all it takes to convince the body politic of the necessity to choose one policy over another is to present the evidence, complete...

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 03 Aug 2016

Bringing Real Market Participants' Real Preferences into the Lab: An Experiment that Changed the Course Allocation Mechanism at Wharton

This paper reports on an experimental test of a new market design that is attractive in theory but makes the common and potentially unrealistic assumption that “agents report their type”; that is, tha...

by Eric Budish | On 27 Jul 2016

Network Externalities And Process R&D: A Cournot-Bertrand Comparison

This paper examines the implication of the nature of competition in a market with network externalities on strategic investment in process R&D by firms. It shows that network externalities have a posi...

by Mili Naskar | On 25 Jul 2016

Roads to Innovation: Firm-Level Evidence from China

Although both infrastructure and innovation play an important role in fostering a country’s economic growth, discussion in the literature about how the two are connected is limited. This paper examine...

by Xu Wang | On 25 Jul 2016

Searching for Religious Discrimination among Anganwadi Workers in India: An Experimental Investigation

This paper examines whether, in India, discriminatory practices by government-employed child caregivers along religious lines, lead to differential health outcomes among the care receiving children. C...

by Utteeyo Dasgupta | On 19 Jul 2016

Keeping the South China Sea in Perspective

The South China Sea disputes involve the interests of the United States, particularly with regard to freedom of navigation, international norms and law, relations with important partners and allies, a...

by | On 13 Jul 2016

Valuing Air Quality Using Happiness Data: The Case of China

This paper estimates the monetary value of cutting PM2.5, a dominant source of air pollution in China. By matching hedonic happiness in a nationally representative survey with daily air quality data a...

by Xin Zhang | On 30 Jun 2016

Qualitative Methods for Gender Research in Agricultural Development

The rise of mixed methods approaches to development-oriented research has brought new attention to qualitative research methods. This paper describes the use of qualitative approaches to illuminate ge...

by | On 29 Jun 2016

Global Economic Prospects at 25

Although global growth is projected to accelerate gradually, a wide range of risks threaten to derail the recovery, including a sharper-than-expected slowdown in major emerging markets, sudden escalat...

by World Bank [WB] | On 29 Jun 2016

Eradication of Child Labour- Socio–Legal Challenge and Judicial Activism in India

According to the NSSO (66th round of Survey) on Child Labour in Major Indian States, 2009-10 in the (Age group 5-14) is 49.83 lakh. Poverty and social conditions of the family are main reasons childre...

by | On 27 Jun 2016

Is Partisan Alignment Electorally Rewarding? Evidence from Village Council Elections in India

Do ruling parties positively discriminate in favour of their own constituencies in allocating public resources? If they do, do they gain electorally in engaging in such a practice? This paper tests wh...

by Subhasish Dey | On 27 Jun 2016

The Fight against Inflation: A Measure of our Institutional Development

There are efforts to control inflation. A new governor and the committee should try to bring low inflation future for India which has got many benefits.

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 21 Jun 2016

The Wealth of Waste: The Economics of Wastewater Use in Agriculture

This Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) water report presents an economic framework for the assessment of the use of reclaimed water in agriculture, as part of a comprehensive planning process in...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 07 Jun 2016

The Contours and Concerns of Drought-Induced Migration

Umi Daniel is currently working as Head Migration Thematic unit at Aide et Action South Asia. His areas of interests are tribal empowerment, people’s right to food, micro level planning, rights and en...

by Umi Daniel | On 03 Jun 2016

Elephants in the Room: Challenges for India as an Emerging Development Partner

Emerging powers are re-shaping the norms and practices of international development. As the Indian economy continues to grow and the country bids for a seat at the great power table, the ambitions of...

by Tanoubi Ngangom | On 26 May 2016

National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy

Creativity and innovation have been a constant in growth and development of any knowledge economy. There is an abundance of creative and innovative energies flowing in India. India has a TRIPS compl...

by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion DIPP | On 19 May 2016

Women, Energy and Water in the Himalayas: Integration of Women in Planning and Management

The policy guidelines were developed as part of the pilot project 'Incorporating Needs and Roles of Women in Water and Energy Management in Rural Areas in South Asia-Capacity Building in Rural Areas o...

by | On 18 May 2016

Incentives and Outcomes: China's Environmetal Policy

Using 2000-2009 data, the report finds that, while spending on environmental infrastructure has visible positive environmental impact, city spending is strongly tilted towards transportation infrastru...

by | On 04 May 2016

Monetary Transmission in Developing Countries: Evidence from India

This paper examines what the empirical evidence has to say about the strength of monetary transmission in India, using the structural vector autoregression (SVAR) methods that have been applied broadl...

by | On 02 May 2016

The Comply - or - Explain Approach for Enforcing Governance Norms

This article critically examines the relative advantages of the comply - or - explain approach vis -à-vis the more traditional comply -or- else approach and identifies the specific insti...

by | On 02 May 2016

PAISA for Panchayats - Tracking Fiscal Devolution toLocal Goverments: A case study from Kolar district, Karnataka

The PAISA for Panchayats research project extends AI’s PAISA methodology to track fund flows and implementations processes at the Panchayat level. By focusing on understanding the state of fiscal devo...

by | On 13 Apr 2016

Role of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in Improving Agricultural Productivity in Selected Districts

A study was undertaken by the Council for Social Development with the sponsorship of Planning Commission, Government of India with the following specific objectives to analyse the impact of NFSM initi...

by Ankita Goyal | On 05 Apr 2016

Structural Change, Economic Growth and Trade: Case for Regional Reallocation of Investment in India

The economic structure and rates of growth across the states in India are markedly different, with significant disparities in income per capita growth as well as sector-specific performance. The high-...

by Alokesh Barua | On 21 Mar 2016

Water Reallocation and Grabbing Processes, Mechanisms and Contributory Factors

The paper attempts to develop a project life-cycle approach to gain insights into the complexities of water reallocation. The paper is able to show that water reallocation and the resultant phenomeno...

by Subodh Wagle | On 21 Mar 2016

Optimizing Public Expenditure Allocations between Secondary and Higher Education

With a view to define a balance in the allocation of public expenditure across secondary education and higher education, this paper compares, the relative contributions of public expenditures on secon...

by Vijay P. Ojha | On 16 Mar 2016

Environmental Policy in a Federation with Special Interest Politics and Inter-governmental Grants

The paper explores the potential effect of intergovernmental grants (IGG) on sub-national (local) environmental policy in a federal structure. In the model, a politically-inclined local government rec...

by Divya Datt | On 15 Mar 2016

Investing in Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is poised to continue developing at a significant pace. The subregion is well placed to benefit from the emerging Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Com...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

Improving Interchanges Introducing Best practices on Multimodal Interchange Hub Development in the People's Republic of China

This report discusses the experiences and commonly encountered issues when developing railway interchange hubs. It proposes basic design principles as well as research approaches. The report focuses o...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

Innovative Strategies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Accelerated Human Resource Development in South Asia Bangladesh

Improving the quality of skills among its labor force will help further economic growth in Bangladesh. Thus, there is an urgent need to provide better access to TVET to help increase productivity and...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

A New Divide in the South China Sea

Nazery Khalid evaluates the prospect of peace in the South China Sea based on how the recent spat between China and Philippines is panning out.

by | On 14 Mar 2016

Srilanka Building on Success

Sri Lanka has emerged in recent years as one of the most dynamic countries in South Asia. With a rich cultural heritage, an increasingly sophisticated work force, and a strategic location that links A...

by Asian Bank | On 14 Mar 2016

Towards Rules of the Monetary Game

There are few areas of robust growth around the world, with the IMF repeatedly reducing its growth forecasts in recent quarters. This period of slow growth is particularly dangerous because both ind...

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 14 Mar 2016

Shifting Preferences at the Fed: Evidence from Rolling Dynamic Multipliers and Impulse Response Analysis

The existing empirical literature on Taylor-type interest rate rules has failed to achieve a robust consensus. Indeed, the relatively common finding that the Taylor principle does not hold has fueled...

by Matthew Greenwood Nimmo | On 13 Mar 2016

China - Rebalance to Avoid the Middle Income Trap

China’s new leadership must rebalance the country’s economy if it is to avoid falling into the middle income trap. Yet slowing growth rates make drastic reforms politically sensitive at a time when th...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Invisible Ink: Looking for the Lost Trade between China, Russia, and Central Asia

China, Russia, and the Central Asian States have consistently engaged in economic relations. However, the bilateral trade statistics that are publicly available show a history of inconsistent and unre...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Deep Seabed Minerals: A New Frontier in the Pacific Region

Minerals, such as rare earth metals, are increasingly becoming an important commodity in a resource-constrained world economy. As a result new frontiers both onshore and offshore, to the depths of the...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

India's Shale Gas Boom: Dream or Reality?

As India prepares for the release of its long anticipated shale gas policy, pressure continues to mount on New Delhi. An increase in coal imports over the past 12 months has demonstrated the stress on...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Striking a Balance: Myanmar and the Issue of Intellectual Property Rights

Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights in Myanmar has the potential to act as a catalyst for economic growth, spurring foreign direct investment and in the long run helping the c...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

South Korea's "Island of Peace": A Flashpoint in the East China Sea?

Renewed impetus has been put into building a military naval base on the strategically located island of Jeju, off the coast of South Korea. With the rise of tensions in the East China Sea and Yellow S...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Pakistan's Nuclear Security: Separating Fact from Fear

For more than a decade fears have been voiced by the international community at the prospect of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or other non-state actors. The author ar...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Toward Crisis Management in East Asia’s Seas

Maritime disputes in in the East and South China Seas escalated in 2013 and remain locked in a dangerous cycle of action and reaction with the attendant danger of a direct military confrontation betwe...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Vietnam's Proactive Foreign Relations

In the post-Cold War era, Vietnam has been successful in expanding relations both regionally and globally. And whereas China remains a strategic challenge for Vietnam in the South China Sea, Hanoi has...

by | On 11 Mar 2016

Myanmar’s Fragile Ceasefire

Resolving Myanmar’s protracted civil war is the country’s defining challenge. With declarations of support signed for a National Ceasefire Agreement, there is much optimism that Myanmar is finally on...

by | On 10 Mar 2016

Critical Review of Literature on Computable General Equilibrium Models

This model focuses on sectoral allocation of capital and labour and distribution of sectoral output. Second, Harberger-Scarf-Shoven-Whalley models, which have their roots in welfare economics. Third,...

by Zafar Iqbal | On 10 Mar 2016

In Search of a Better Match: Qualification Mismatches in Developing Asia

This paper empirically tests the role of search frictions in driving qualification mismatches in the labor market. Using new data from several low-income economies in urban Asia we find that overeduca...

by Kenn Chua | On 10 Mar 2016

Blurring the Lines: Strategic Deception and Self-Deception in Markets

Building on the results of a participant observation in a Chinese IT-sector company located in the northern part of China, this paper aims to clarify the nature of deception in markets. Contrary to th...

by | On 09 Mar 2016

On the Allocation of Public Goods to Villages in India

The paper tries to analyse the effect of religious composition on the provision of public services captured mainly by infrastructure index, of four types, (i) basic amenities such as water, housing an...

by Santanu Gupta | On 09 Mar 2016

How Protected are our Children in Assam?

Situation of children in Assam in 2016.

by Melvil Pereira | On 09 Mar 2016

Framing Moral Markets: The Cultural Legacy of Social Movements in an Emerging Market Category

One challenge facing research on categories is to explain their content and the extent to which they gain meaning from cultural material that originates from moral arenas. This article suggests that c...

by | On 08 Mar 2016

Overview on the State of Pandemic Preparedness in Southeast Asia: Challenges and the Way Forward

This NTS alert looks at the state of pandemic preparedness in Southeast Asia, while in the second part later in the month we will turn our attention towards the issues of poverty and infectious diseas...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 06 Mar 2016

Putting Food on the International Table

Based on the recent Group of Eight (G8) Summit held in Italy, this issue of the Alert will examine international deliberations on food security with a focus on the efforts and challenges facing the G8...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 05 Mar 2016

Cancún Agreement: Implications for Southeast Asia

The recent 2010 UN climate change conference in Cancún, Mexico, and the resulting Cancun Agreement, has shown that there is an increasing recognition of the need to protect the poor and vulnerable in...

by | On 03 Mar 2016

Bihar Budget Analysis 2016-17

The Finance Minister of Bihar, Mr. Abdul Bari Siddiqui, presented the Budget for Bihar for the financial year 2016-17.

by Arvind Gayam | On 03 Mar 2016

Thai Floods – What Effect on Rice?

Thailand’s worst floods in decades have caused over 350 deaths, and are inflicting extensive damage to much of the country’s land, crops, livestock, infrastructure, housing and industrial areas. An es...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 02 Mar 2016

Back to the Future: Is Rio+20 A 1992 Redux or Is There Cause for Optimism?

Rio+20, set for June 2012, offers an opportunity to review the current state of global environmental summitry. What can be expected of this latest round of global dialogue on sustainable development?...

by J. Ewing | On 01 Mar 2016

Budget 2016: Once Again Fails to Deliver for the Dalit Adivasis

The Union Budget has failed to deliver on the needs of the marginalised section of population. The spending has been much lower than what was budgeted.

by Paul Divakar | On 01 Mar 2016

Not a ‘Healthy’ Budget

Disappointingly, the new health policy that appeared to be robust one, has received little support in the Union Budget.

by | On 01 Mar 2016

Japanese-Chinese Territorial Disputes in the East China Sea – Between Military Confrontation and Economic Cooperation.

This paper analyses the various legal, political, military and economic circumstances of the two territorial disputes in the ECS, and it evaluates the approaches by both sides to turn the ECS from a `...

by Reinhard Drifte | On 01 Mar 2016

Budget for Children 2016-2017: Not Even Halfway through its Demographic Dividend

The share of children in the Union Budget 2016-17 goes up to 3.32% showing a slight increase from 3.26% in the last years Budget 2015.

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 01 Mar 2016

Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure

How large are the benefits of transportation infrastructure projects, and what explains these benefits? To shed new light on these questions, I collect archival data from colonial India and use it to...

by Dave Donaldson | On 29 Feb 2016

Is the ASEAN plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) the Answer Tt Southeast Asia’s Food Security Challenges?

The recently launched ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) aims to safeguard the region’s food security in times of calamity, disaster, supply shock or extreme price spike. The region had...

by Sally Trethewie | On 27 Feb 2016

Porous borders in a changing world: What does this mean for security in Southeast Asia?

The issue of borders, their porosity and the security challenges they create amid a rapidly changing regional and global strategic environment is indeed a serious one for Southeast Asia. The criticali...

by | On 27 Feb 2016

Repositioning US Engagement in Southeast Asia: A Case for Non-traditional Security

Southeast Asian officials and analysts have complained about the waning US interest in the region due to the US preference for a bilateral approach to Southeast Asia. This US approach is out of sync w...

by Mely Caballero-Anthony | On 26 Feb 2016

Location Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Services: Evidence from Chinese Provincial-level data

This article analyzes the location determinants of foreign direct investment in services, both theoretically and empirically. It hypothesizes four sets of factors as the location determinants of FDI i...

by Feng Yin | On 26 Feb 2016

Cheating in the Lab Predicts Fraud in the Field: An Experiment in Public Transportations

We conduct an artefactual field experiment using a diversified sample of passengers of public transportations to study attitudes towards dishonesty. We find that the diversity of behavior in terms of...

by | On 26 Feb 2016

Oil Pipeline from Myanmar to China: Competing Perspectives

An oil pipeline is set to be constructed to connect Myanmar with China. To make sense of the development, one can benefit from paying attention to industry descriptions about the project, rather than...

by | On 25 Feb 2016

Government Debt

The present Status Paper for 2015-16 is fifth in this series and reinforces the Government’s commitment to keep the level of public debt within sustainable limits and follow prudent debt management pr...

by Ministry of Finance GOI | On 25 Feb 2016

National Hazardous Waste Management Strategy

National Hazardous Waste management Strategy has now been formulated to complement and strengthen the regulatory regime. This is based on the understanding and experience of diverse issues connected w...

by Ministry of Environment and Forest | On 24 Feb 2016

Report on “Dealing with Energy Vulnerabilities: Case Studies of Cooperation and Collaboration in East Asia”

Much literature on East Asia’s energy security has focused on the dynamics of competition over resources and how potential conflicts could arise from this. While this analytical perspective identifies...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 23 Feb 2016

Non-Traditional Security Challenges, Regional Governance, and the ASEAN Political-Security Community

Much of the attention on institutional development within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has focused on the progress in establishing the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC)....

by | On 23 Feb 2016

Transporting Conflicts via Migratory Routes: A Social Network Analysis (SNA) of Uyghur International Mobilisation

Transnational activism of the Uyghur diaspora in promoting the rights of their kindred back in China has been the focus of attention of the academia, press and media alike. This paper is a preliminary...

by | On 22 Feb 2016

India’s Bid for APEC Membership: Trade Policy is the Stumbling Block

India’s chances of becoming a member of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum brightened considerably after the United States welcomed its interest in early 2015. But till now, there has...

by Amitendu Palit | On 22 Feb 2016

Improving Education Outcomes in South Asia Findings from a Decade of Impact Evaluations

There have been many initiatives to improve education outcomes in South Asia. Still, outcomes remain stubbornly resistant to improvements, at least when considered across the region. To collect and sy...

by Salman Asim | On 21 Feb 2016

Feeding Southeast Asia in the 21st Century

Southeast Asia’s food security challenges are multifaceted and complex, with an estimated 14 per cent of the population suffering undernourishment. The recent International Conference on Asian Food Se...

by Sally Trethewie | On 20 Feb 2016

In Search of Food Security: Addressing Opacity and Price Volatility in ASEAN’s Rice Sector

The availability of rice has long been considered a key indicator of food security in Southeast Asia. However, for largely strategic reasons, there is a paucity of information in the public domain on...

by Sally Trethewie | On 20 Feb 2016

Managing Cross-border Movements of People in Southeast Asia: Promoting Capacity and Response for Irregular Migration in Southeast Asia

This NTS Issues Brief outlines themes highlighted at the roundtable workshop on Managing Cross-Border Movements of People in Southeast Asia: Promoting Capacity and Response for Irregular Migration hel...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 19 Feb 2016

On compact, Integrated & Connected Cities

The Urban Planning and Design focus area of UN-Habitat aims to support cities, regional and national authorities in adopting improved policies, plans and designs for more compact, socially inclusive,...

by Rafael Tuts | On 19 Feb 2016

How Much Do We Know about the Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Employment of Migrants?

The employment shock of late 2008 in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) may have been a product of three different events: (i) the contractionary macroeconomic policies introduced by the government...

by Xin Meng | On 19 Feb 2016

Participation in practice

This lecture outlines the impact of participation on practice, in particular how it can expand the scope and nature of practice in order to add strategic value to practical work. NabeelHamdi introduce...

by | On 19 Feb 2016

Slums – Past, Present and Future

In this lecture Eugenie Birch demonstrates the growth of slums and associated solutions over time, explaining the reasons for their formation and the various approaches employed to improve substandard...

by | On 19 Feb 2016

A Strategic Analysis of The Australian Foreign Investment Regime and The Prospect of Reform

This paper uses a strategic framework developed by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to assess whether Australia’s foreign investment regime is sufficiently delivering on its four main objectives...

by Alan Fels | On 19 Feb 2016

Scaling Up Climate Action through Value Chain Mobilization

The adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December by 195 governments is a major turning point in the global fight against climate change. To date, 190 governments have committed to specific actions t...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 18 Feb 2016

Can Parental Migration Reduce Petty Corruption in Education?

Educational outcomes of children are highly dependent on household and school-level inputs. In poor countries remittances from migrants can provide additional funds for the education of the left behin...

by Lisa Höckel | On 17 Feb 2016

Determinants of Interest Spread in Pakistan

This study examines the determinants of interest spread in Pakistan using panel data of 29 banks. The results show that inelasticity of deposit supply is a major determinant of interest spread whereas...

by M. Idrees Khawaja | On 16 Feb 2016

Effectiveness of Regulatory Structure in the Power Sector of Pakistan

This paper is an attempt to study the regulatory environment in the electricity sector of Pakistan. NEPRA, a regulatory authority was formed in 1997 to protect consumer interests in the area of electr...

by Afia Malik | On 16 Feb 2016

From Global Factory to Global Mall: East Asia’s Changing Trade Composition

This paper studies how East Asia’s trade composition and orientation have changed over the past decade and analyzes the implications for the region and beyond. Over the last 2 decades we have witnesse...

by Matthias Helble | On 16 Feb 2016

Effectiveness of the Easing of Monetary Policy in the Japanese Economy, Incorporating Energy Prices

Japan has reached the limits of conventional macroeconomic policy. In order to overcome deflation and achieve sustainable economic growth, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) recently set an inflation target of 2...

by Naoyuki Yoshino | On 16 Feb 2016

Hometown Investment Trust Funds: An Analysis of Credit Risk

In Asia, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a major share of employment and dominate the economy. Asian economies are often characterized as having bank-dominated financial systems...

by Naoyuki Yoshino | On 16 Feb 2016

Monetary Policy Objectives in Pakistan: An Empirical Investigation

The Taylor rule (1993) focuses only on two objectives: output and inflation. In practice, the central bank’s loss function (especially in developing countries) contains objectives other than these two...

by Wasim Shahid Malik | On 15 Feb 2016

Link between the financial inclusion and Economic Growth: Unconventional Monetary Policy in Bangladesh

Like other developing countries, Bangladesh initiated financial sector reform program during 1990’s. The main objectives of the financial sector reform programs were: i) Gradual B 3 | P a g e eliminat...

by Sayera Younus | On 15 Feb 2016

Interest Rate Spread in Bangladesh: An Analytical Review

Lower spread is a vital indicator of the efficiency and competition in the financial system and conducive to higher economic growth of a country via investment spending. In Bangladesh, the spread in t...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 15 Feb 2016

China Buys into Afghanistan

This article examines three elements of the popular narrative of China’s involvement in the development of Afghanistan’s vast natural resource wealth. It argues that Chinese companies invested in Afgh...

by Erica Downs | On 14 Feb 2016

Reforming Institutions: Where to Begin?

The theories of institutional evolution put forth by Douglas North, Darron Acemoglu and Dani Rodrik and the historical experiences of different countries in the context of development (or non-developm...

by M. Idrees Khawaja | On 14 Feb 2016

Private Schooling in India: A New Educational Landscape

Private schooling in India has expanded rapidly in the past decade. However, few studies have looked at its implications for educational quality. Using data from the recently collected India Human Dev...

by Sonalde Desai | On 14 Feb 2016

Dietary Diversity in the Everyday Lives of Children in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India

This paper investigates young people’s and their caregivers’ experiences of food insecurity, diet and eating practices in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It also provides original child-focused evidence...

by Elisabetta Aurino | On 13 Feb 2016

Regulating the Revolving Door

The increased interaction between business and government – as result of privatisations, lobbying and public contracting - has meant increased opportunities for corruption. Conflicts of interest, and...

by Transparency International TI | On 12 Feb 2016

Foreign Direct Investment as a Key Driver for Trade, Growth and Prosperity: The Case for a Multilateral Agreement on Investment

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a powerful instrument for growth and development, and is key to enhancing prosperity worldwide and boosting the global economy. Building on its previous work on the...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 11 Feb 2016

Towards the Circular Economy: Accelerating the Scale-Up across Global Supply Chains

In this report, the World Economic Forum and the Foundation, with analytics provided by McKinsey & Company, acting as project adviser, joined forces to reconcile the concept of scaling a circular econ...

by | On 11 Feb 2016

Transport Policy and Green Technology: Ways to Abate Pollution

With growing urbanization what is required is the ease of transportation. It is now high time that Government Budgets need to have a substantial allocation for this. After all transportation is lifeli...

by Sudakshina Gupta | On 11 Feb 2016

Cross-Retaliation in TRIPS: Options for Developing Countries

The possibility for developing WTO Members to suspend concessions in the field of trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) to redress an injury suffered with respect to trade in goods or ser...

by | On 10 Feb 2016

Dropout Rates and Response Times of an Occupation Search Tree in a Web Survey

Occupation is key in socioeconomic research. As in other survey modes, most web surveys use an open-ended question for occupation, though the absence of interviewers elicits unidentifiable or aggregat...

by | On 10 Feb 2016

Challenges of Non-Proliferation in Northeast Asia and Possible Solutions

As the world enters a new millennium, Northeast Asia has been witnessing the rising risk of nuclear weapons proliferation. This paper examines each of the specific risks that Northeast Asia is confron...

by | On 09 Feb 2016

The Global Commons & the Reconstruction of Sino-U.S. Military Relations

The “global commons,” which refers mainly to the sea, the skies, outer space and cyberspace, has become more and more congested and contested in recent years. Stable and dependable access to the globa...

by | On 09 Feb 2016

Ensuring Identity and Entitlements of India’s Urban Poor

Can we create awareness among the urban poor and create documents for them? What are the steps to be followed for that?

by K.R. Antony | On 09 Feb 2016

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies to Minimise GHG Footprint in Transportation Sector, India

India has a number of policies that contribute to climate mitigation but what is required to implement these into action is proper planning and allocation in the budget

by T. V. Ramachandra | On 09 Feb 2016

China’s “New Multilateralism” and the Rise of BRIC: A Realist Interpretation of a “Multipolar” World Order

This paper is an attempt to verify the debate whether the association with BRIC is instrumental to China’s global strategy and key to its various global strategic objectives. The main thrust of this p...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

Rivalry and Cooperation: A New "Great Game" in Myanmar

Myanmar since its reform and opening up has become the locus for a new "Great Game" between the world's major powers. This brings with it new challenges for China which has hitherto been the preeminen...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

The PLA’s Evolving Global Role and New Security Initiatives

China’s increased openness, accelerating economic development, and the emergence of new security challenges and relationships in the post-Cold War world have cast the Chinese military and its role in...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

A Dynamic Macroeconometric Model of Pakistan’s Economy

In this study, an attempt has been made of develop a dynamic macroeconometric model of Pakistan’s economy to examine the behaviour of major macroeconomic variables such as output, consumption, investm...

by Muhammad Arshad Khan | On 06 Feb 2016

Bangladesh National Integrity System Assessment 2014

One of the key strategic areas of Transparency International Bangladesh's research has always been the institutions of democracy and specialized pillars of governance and accountability, which constit...

by Transparency International TI | On 05 Feb 2016

Foreign Aid and the Fiscal Behaviour of Government of Pakistan

This study examines the effect of foreign aid on the fiscal behaviour of the Government of Pakistan. It applies the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to analyse the relationship that prevailed betw...

by Rabia Butt | On 03 Feb 2016

Evaluation of Gold Investment as an Inflationary Hedge in Case of Pakistan

The present study aims at empirically testing the status of gold as a potential hedge against inflation. The study whirls around analysing the nature of the relationship of expected and actual inflati...

by Nadeem Ul Haque | On 02 Feb 2016

Pakistan: The Impact of Economic Liberalisation on Poverty

The reform program that Pakistan gradually implemented during the 1980s and the early 1990s dismantled many of the components of the ISI strategy.1 The extent of dependence on quantitative import cont...

by Zafar Mahmood | On 02 Feb 2016

Financial Incentives to Industry

This paper provides details of the decisions made by the Environment Standards Committee (ESC) on Financial Incentives to industry. It also documents the progress made so far in the implementation of...

by Abdul Khan | On 02 Feb 2016

Management of Strategic Crises and the Structure of the International System

The structure of the international system affects the manner in which its sub-units manage international crises, due to its influence on the tools and outcomes of crisis management. Conversely, the ma...

by | On 02 Feb 2016

Research Imperatives for the Indian Banking Sector

In emerging economies like India, banking sector is very important. But banking sector is at 'crossroads'. There are many issues which this sector is facing and research which would generate fresh i...

by S.S. Mundra | On 01 Feb 2016

An Integrated Strategy for Sustainable Cities

The multiple challenges that cities face also represent a strategic opportunity to build sustainable cities and reap the benefits of rapid urbanization. Urban development should be understood as a bal...

by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | On 31 Jan 2016

India’s Role in East Asia: Lessons from Cultural and Historical Linkages

India’s presence in the East Asia Summit signals not only a victory for New Delhi’s “Look East” policy but also an implicit “Look West” policy on the part of India’s neighbors to the east. This conver...

by Ellen L. Frost | On 31 Jan 2016

Identifying Products with Climate and Development Benefits for an Environmental Goods Agreement

caling-up renewable energy as a means to address climate change will require addressing impediments to the global diffusion of sustainable energy goods and services. Trade policy can contribute in thi...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a new survey-based index designed to measure the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector. The WEAI was initially d...

by Sabina Alkire | On 30 Jan 2016

Fiscal Consolidation and Economic Growth: A Case Study of Pakistan

Pakistan’s economy has witnessed occasional spurts in economic growth, unfortunately, the economic growth has not been sustainable. One of the culprits often cited for haphazard growth experience of P...

by Ahmed Waqar Qasim | On 30 Jan 2016

A Safe Public Transportation Environment for Women and Girls

This report provides evidence from three quite different cities in ADB’s Central and West Asia region of the prevalence of women being harassed on public transport. It goes on to show the impacts of t...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 29 Jan 2016

Cyber Attacks: The Electronic Battlefield

The phenomenon of cyberattacks has produced a host of challenges. This analysis attempts to comprehensively describe the “operational” element of cyberattacks and deal with the notion of cyberspace. I...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Transformation of the Arab Gulf Economies into Knowledge Economies: Motivational Issues Related to the Tertiary Education Sector

Over the past ten years, Arab Gulf states have made it an explicit aim to transform their economies into Knowledge Economies.However, changing economic platforms is no easy task for a state, and the s...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Russian Intervention in Syria: Geostrategy is Paramount

Russia’s military intervention in Syria is the only direct military intervention there by a state from outside the region. Iran was there first, but its intervention took different forms. No state, be...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Industrial Policies in Lower-Middle-Income Countries

Lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) are heterogeneous countries with various economic experiences. Many underwent different types of structural transformation from agriculture to manufacturing and s...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Regulatory Cooperation: Lessons from the WTO and the World Trade Regime

Trade friction today is largely due to regulatory diversity as contemporary markets are chiefly segmented through non-tariff barriers. The purpose of the paper is to enquire into regulatory cooperatio...

by | On 28 Jan 2016

China and its Peripheries: Limited Objectives in Bhutan

Of all the nations that border China, its comparison with Bhutan would appear to be a paradox. In comprehensive power terms, Bhutan is almost a nonentity to China. Bhutan’s biggest disadvantage is its...

by Tilak Jha | On 28 Jan 2016

TRIPS and Pharmaceutical Industry: Issues of Strategic Importance

Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) brings in uniformity in the standards of intellectual property rights among the member countries of the WTO irrespective of their developmental statu...

by N. Lalitha | On 28 Jan 2016

Effect of Maternal Mental Health on Infant Growth in Low Income Countries: New Evidence from South Asia

Impaired infant growth, a major problem in South Asia, may require interventions to improve maternal mental health in addition to current interventions targeting infant nutrition. Unicef estimates tha...

by Marcus Hughes | On 28 Jan 2016

Multinationals and Foreign Investment Policies in a Digital World

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the future of the multinational enterprise (MNE) and implications for the international investment regime. The paper begins by summarising current thinking on m...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Global Production With Export Platforms

Most international commerce is carried out by multinational firms, which use their foreign affiliates for the majority of their foreign sales. In this paper, I examine the determinants of multinationa...

by Penn Stat | On 27 Jan 2016

A Common Sense Approach to the Right to Food

Despite the growing activism and debate around the right to food in the past decade, there has been little exploration of what the right means in everyday life and in the routine encounters between st...

by | On 26 Jan 2016

The Determinants of Quality Specialization

A growing literature suggests that high-income countries export high-quality goods. Two hypotheses may explain such specialization, with different implications for welfare, inequality, and trade polic...

by Roberta Piermartini | On 26 Jan 2016

Infrastructure Provision , Trade And Development Prospects: Potential Role And Relevance Of The WTO Agreement On Government Procurement (GPA)

The paper, nonetheless, acknowledges that delivering these benefits would involve significant practical and political challenges. It concludes that if the challenges can be overcome and the mutual ben...

by Kodjo Osei-Lah | On 26 Jan 2016

India in the Emerging World Order: A status quo power or a revisionist force?

This chapter sets out to trace the changing contours of India’s foreign policy by throwing light on: (i) the historical and sociological compulsions shaping India’s strategic trends and the evolution...

by | On 25 Jan 2016

Near-Term Inflation Outlook and BB’s Policy Stance

This paper uses three alternative forecasting techniques, namely, Box-Jenkins’s Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model, unrestricted Vector Autoregression (UVAR) model and Hsiao’s Fina...

by Md. Habibur Rahman | On 23 Jan 2016

Public Debt Sustainability in Bangladesh

This policy note reviews the trend in debt composition and sources of debt financing and analyzes debt sustainability of Bangladesh. Along with historical data on level of debt and sources of financin...

by Md. Ezazul Islam | On 23 Jan 2016

Interest Rates and the Demand for Money in Bangladesh: An Empirical Investigation with Quarterly Data, 1997Q4-2006Q4

This paper investigates the sensitivity of money demand to interest rates on treasury bills in Bangladesh with quarterly data for the period 1997Q4-2006Q4. A standard demand for money function is spec...

by Akhand Akhtar Hossain | On 23 Jan 2016

Volatility of Stock Return in the Dhaka Stock Exchange

This note examines the volatility in stock prices in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) during 2003- 2007. Excessive volatility and fluctuations in stock price fail to provide the correct signal on compan...

by Md. Habibour Rahman | On 23 Jan 2016

A Quick Analysis of Deposit Interest Rates Offered by Commercial Banks

The main purpose of the survey is to collect data on the extent of the mis-reporting of deposit interest rates, as accurate data is essential for effective financial and monetary policy.

by Md. Ezazul Islam | On 23 Jan 2016

Goodbye Planning, Welcome NITI

From 1 January 2015, the ‘YojanaBhavan’ on the busy Parliament Street (Sansad Marg) in Central Delhi sports a new name: NITI Aayog (Commission). This follows the official notification of the Governmen...

by | On 23 Jan 2016

Loss & Damage Associated with Climate Change: The Legal and Institutional Context in Bangladesh

The study concludes that existing legal and policy frameworks provide a limited scope to assess and address both the current and potential future risk of loss and damage associated with the adverse im...

by Abdullah Faruque | On 23 Jan 2016

Rationalizing Interest Rate Spread in the Banking Sector: Some Policy Suggestions

Despite the removal of restrictions and reforms in the banking sector to facilitate the adoption of a market oriented interest rate policy, interest rates are yet to become fully responsive to the mar...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

Learning from India's Development Cooperation

India now needs to strengthen and harmonise its institutional mechanisms for development cooperation through clear policy statements. In addition to national foreign policy and economic interests, acc...

by Institute of Development Studies IDS | On 23 Jan 2016

Understanding The Rising Powers' Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

Rising powers such as Brazil, India and China have been criticised for being obstructive in the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. The start of the United Nations (UN) negotiations saw...

by Institute of Development Studies IDS | On 23 Jan 2016

Post-Harvest Profile of Grapes

This profile has been prepared on the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force with a view to enable the farming community to scientifically manage the post-harvest operations and to widenin...

by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation GOI | On 22 Jan 2016

POST-HARVEST PROFILE OF MANGO

This profile has been prepared on the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force with a view to enable the farming community to scientifically manage the post-harvest operations and to widenin...

by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation GOI | On 22 Jan 2016

Modeling Interest Rate Cycles in India

The present study tries to examine the behaviour of various Indian interest rates such as call money rate, and yields on secondary market securities with maturity periods of 15 to 91 days, 1-year, 5-y...

by B B Bhattacharya | On 22 Jan 2016

The Impacts of Diesel Price Increases on India’s Trucking Industry

In the fiscal year 2011–12, under-recoveries1 incurred by Indian oil-marketing companies for diesel rose to an all-time high of INR81,192 crore (US$15 billion) (Government of India, 2012a). Diesel con...

by Gayatri Khedkar | On 21 Jan 2016

Emerging Powers in a Changing World

This is the second collective effort from the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies to address global issues that are largely unfamiliar to the Greek international affairs community. Last year we dealt wit...

by Stamatis Zachariadis | On 21 Jan 2016

Nepal: Finding a Way Forward

Nepal is no stranger to Constitution drafting, having gone through six such rounds since 1948, with the seventh culminating in September 2015. This recent exercise, however, was unique as it was condu...

by Rakesh Sood | On 19 Jan 2016

Crucial Collaborators or Petty Players? The Globalization of R&D and the Rise of China and India

In recent decades, research and development has become a key new arena of globalization. Whereas multinational corporations once conducted R&D primarily in their home countries, it is now often disper...

by Andrew Kennedy | On 18 Jan 2016

The Global Risks Report 2016

The Global Risks Report 2016 features perspectives from nearly 750 experts on the perceived impact and likelihood of 29 prevalent global risks over a 10-year timeframe. The risks are divided into five...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 18 Jan 2016

Looking Within The Household: A Study On Gender, Food Security, And Resilience In Cocoa-Growing Communities

This study, relying primarily on qualitative data from Côte d’Ivoire, examines how income allocation and intra-household dynamics affect household resilience during the lean season. Its findings indic...

by Elizabeth Kiewisch | On 14 Jan 2016

Transmission of Volatility of Money Market Overnight Repo Rate along the Yield Curve in Pakistan

This paper presents the empirical results of the volatility transmission of money market overnight repo rate along the yield curve in Pakistan. The results indicate that the transmission of volatilit...

by Asif Mahmood | On 11 Jan 2016

The Least Developed Countries Report, 2011

The least developed countries (LDCs) are a group of countries that have been classified by the United Nations as least developed in terms of their low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, weak hum...

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD | On 09 Jan 2016

Malaise in Maldives: A Pristine Paradise or a Painful Purgatory?

The implications of recent events in Maldives go far beyond the pristine shores of that enchanting archipelago. The paper discusses the larger geopolitical implications of the suspension of democracy,...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury | On 09 Jan 2016

Is India Making Waves in South China Sea?

The South China Sea (SCS) disputes are regarded as one of the most difficult regional conflicts in the Asia-Pacific, in an ‘arena of escalating contention. This paper looks at India’s interests and st...

by Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy | On 09 Jan 2016

New Maritime Silk Road: Converging Interests and Regional Responses

This paper discusses revival of the Maritime Silk Road. It begins with a narration of the historical background of MSR, its origin and development, followed by an analysis of latest announcements by t...

by | On 09 Jan 2016

Activity Based Training of WaterAid India Partners in Water Quality Monitoring & Management

Effective monitoring of access to, quantity of and quality of water is a key consideration for India. Given the large investments and big programmes and schemes including the current thrust of Sector...

by People's Science Institute PSI | On 07 Jan 2016

Japan’s Lost Decade: Lessons for Other Economies

Japan has suffered from sluggish economic growth and recession since the 1990s, a phenomenon dubbed “Japan’s Lost Decade.” The People’s Republic of China, many countries in the eurozone, and the Unite...

by Naoyuki Yoshino | On 06 Jan 2016

Securing the Peace: Guiding the International Community towards Women's Effective Participation throughout Peace Processes

The transition from war to peace opens a unique window of opportunity to address the root causes of conflict and transform institutions, structures and relationships within society. It is essential to...

by UN Women | On 29 Dec 2015

The Role of Sri Lanka in Enhancing Connectivity between South Asia and Southeast Asia

Improving physical connectivity between South and Southeast Asia has long been recognized as a key element in promoting greater trade and investment linkages within the region. As an island economy, S...

by Dushni Weerakoon | On 29 Dec 2015

Mainstreaming Environment and Climate for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development

This handbook is designed as guidance for policymakers and practitioners to mainstream pro-poor environment and climate concerns into planning, budgeting and monitoring. Mainstreaming is achieved by p...

by United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] | On 24 Dec 2015

Different Paths to Power: The Rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade Organization

New powers, such as China, India and Brazil, are challenging the traditional dominance of the US in the governance of the global economy. It is generally taken for granted that the rise of new powers...

by Kristen Hopewell | On 23 Dec 2015

Oil and State Capitalism: Government-Firm Coopetition in China and India

This paper examines the domestic sources of the internationalization of national oil companies (NOCs) in China and India. It argues that – counter to notions of state-led internationalization – the go...

by Jonas Mecklinga | On 23 Dec 2015

The Iran-Pakistan-India Pipeline - The Intersection of Energy Politics

This paper seeks to identify the strategic and economic variables involved in India’s decision about whether or not to pursue a proposed natural gas pipeline from Iran. There is a lot of misinformatio...

by | On 22 Dec 2015

China and Myanmar: Strategic Interests, Strategies and the Road Ahead

This research paper is divided into two parts to provide a more complete view of how both countries think in term of their ambitions and the methods they deem important to achieve them. This paper arg...

by | On 17 Dec 2015

Strategic Framework 2013–2017 Global Programme Food Security

Food security and nutrition is a major global challenge. SDC’s Global Programme Food Security(GPFS) represents an innovative initiative of Switzerland in addressing food security and nutrition challen...

by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC | On 17 Dec 2015

Is Access to Loan Adequate for Financing Capital Expenditure? A Household-level Analysis on Some Selected States of India

This paper attempts to identify the factors that determine access to credit for financing capital expenditures across selected developed, less developed and middle performing states in India. Using a...

by Meenakshi Rajeev | On 16 Dec 2015

Skill Transferability, Migration, and Development: Evidence from Population Resettlement in Indonesia

We use a natural experiment in Indonesia to provide causal evidence on the role of location-specific human capital and skill transferability in shaping the spatial distribution of productivity. From 1...

by Samuel Bazzi | On 08 Dec 2015

Regional Inequality and ‘Inclusive Growth’ in India under Globalization: Identification of Lagging States for Strategic Intervention

This paper analyses the trends and patterns of economic inequality across Indian states since the early 1990s. The inter-state inequality in per capita income and consumption expenditure show a clear...

by | On 04 Dec 2015

Paris Climate Change Summit: Why it is Bound to Fail

Expectations are high for a good and fair new climate change agreement at the much anticipated on-going climate change summit in Paris. Such expectations are elusive if the negotiations fail to face...

by Raman Letchumanan | On 03 Dec 2015

Call Centre as an Emerging Work Space – A Study of its Workers in Indian Context

An attempt is made in this paper to understand the different dimensions of the call centre as an emerging workspace. The paper provides a critical narrative of the profile of respondents (N=22), natur...

by B.Devi Prasad | On 02 Dec 2015

Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in India

HIV and AIDS are a serious challenge for the developing as well as the developed world. India, with an estimated 5.206 million people living with HIV in 2005, accounts for nearly 69 percent of the HIV...

by | On 01 Dec 2015

The Indian Insolvency Regime in Practice – An Analysis of Insolvency and Debt

This paper analyses 45 cases of insolvency and bankruptcy resolution in order to measure the efficiency and problems of the present laws for firm bankruptcy in India. These cases have been selected t...

by Aparna Ravi | On 25 Nov 2015

Safe Havens: The Emerging Terror Hubs in South Asia

This issue brief reflects on the prevalence of terror networks in South Asia as Al Qaeda is attempting to expand into new territories in South Asia, “suitable” for safe housing themselves and their il...

by Reshmi Kazi | On 23 Nov 2015

Natural Interest Rate: Assessing the Stance of India’s Monetary Policy under Uncertainty

Using a theoretical framework that combines the essence of Ramsay’s growth model and the New-Keynesian macrodynamics, and applying the Kalman filter estimation technique, this paper finds that Indi...

by Harendra Behera | On 16 Oct 2015

E-Retailing and the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015: Drawing from the European Union Consumer Directives

E-retailing has exponentially grown in the past decade. Alongside, consumer grievances have also started surfacing. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 addresses this by giving the right to the consu...

by Akhileshwar Pathak | On 15 Oct 2015

Now for the Reality Play

What the government needs to do, perhaps, is to spell out an action agenda for the next four months, in the run-up to the 2016 Budget.

by T.N. Ninan | On 02 Oct 2015

Finances for Health in India: Are New Sources the Way to Go?

The Government of India has proposed the National Health Assurance Mission (NHAM) to move the country rapidly towards universal health coverage (UHC), by providing all citizens with specified drugs, d...

by Indrani Gupta | On 30 Sep 2015

Institutional Changes Favouring FDI Inflows to India: Gradual Transformation Since 1969

How did India respond to globalization in the realm of inward foreign direct investment (FDI)? This paper presents the economic institutional change favouring FDI inflows at the union level of India b...

by | On 25 Sep 2015

Driving Across the South Asian Borders: The Motor Vehicle Agreement Between Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal

The benefits of strengthening physical connectivity in a geographically contiguous region are increasingly being recognised. These links are expected to increase economic activity and people-to-people...

by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury | On 07 Sep 2015

“Denied”: Failures in Accountability for Human Rights Violations by Security Force Personnel in Jammu and Kashmir

Indian security forces have been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir for decades, officially tasked with protecting civilians, upholding national security and combatting violence by armed groups. However, i...

by Amnesty International AI, | On 31 Aug 2015

Financial Market Regulation in India-Looking back, Looking Ahead

A broad assessment of the evolution of financial markets and the issues we are grappling with are given here. We can learn right lessons from other countries. There could be different view points and...

by Harun R Khan | On 31 Aug 2015

Identity, Interests and Indian Foreign Policy

This paper argues that India’s foreign economic policies were shaped to a substantial extent by developmental ideas within the Indian state and by the international context of the Cold War. Individual...

by | On 25 Aug 2015

Recent Developments in Myanmar and New Opportunities for Sub-Regional Cooperation: A Bangladesh Perspective

The paper analyses the potential opportunities between Bangladesh and Myanmar stemming from sub-regional cooperation. The paper examines Myanmar’s integration into the regional and global economy toge...

by Debapriya Bhattacharya | On 18 Aug 2015

The Sunday Edit: Monetary Policy Transmission: Visible Disconnect

Enhancing bank competition, among other measures, could adequately strengthen interest rate transmission; but the danger is in overreaching and losing leverage.

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 16 Aug 2015

Effectiveness of School Input Norms under the Right to Education Act, 2009

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 ratified education as a fundamental right and seeks to promote equitable access to education for all children up to the age of 14...

by Centre for Civil Society CCS | On 13 Aug 2015

Public Debt Management in India and Related Issues

This study focuses on the marketable domestic public debt of the Government of India (GoI) in terms of size, magnitude, policy and approach followed and also discusses issues and challenges on debt m...

by Lakshmanan L | On 13 Aug 2015

Reduction of GHG Emissions and Attainment of Energy Security through Sustainable Production of Biofuels: Is it a Viable Option? A Review of Experinces

The National Policy on Biofuels sets an indicative target of 20per cent blending of biofuels by 2017 to tackle the twin problem of energy security and climate change. Although biofuels seem to be the...

by Gopinath Reddy | On 13 Aug 2015

Urban Policies and the Right to the City in India: Rights, Responsibilities and Citizenship

This publication highlights the relevance in India and the multiplicity of entry points of the right to the city as a vehicle for social inclusion and sustainable social development for Indian cities....

by Centre de Sciences Humaines CSH | On 12 Aug 2015

India: Trade in Healthcare Services

During the last two decades international trade in healthcare services has expanded under the GATS. Increasingly it has acquired new dimensions with application of advanced information and communicati...

by T.P. Bhat | On 23 Jul 2015

Action Alert? A Mid-Day Meal for Children: A Story Full of Non-Compliance, Poor Performance and Irregularities, Say the CAG Findings

Is the mid-day meal scheme following the nutritional standards? Are funds properly allocated? HARCRC is showing a clear picture of what is happening to the mid-day meal scheme.

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 08 Jul 2015

Reprioritizing Government Spending on Health: Pushing an Elephant up the Stairs?

Countries vary widely with respect to the share of government spending on health, a metric that can serve as a proxy for the extent to which health is prioritized by governments. World Health Organiza...

by Ajay Tandon | On 25 Jun 2015

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) of Bangladesh Election Commission

The statement aims to stand firmly as an independent institution and to conduct every election honestly, fairly and transparency and in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the country. The st...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 18 Jun 2015

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 1390 Citizens Budget

The Government’s main budgetary objective is to allocate fiscal resources in line with Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). In this way, it will be assured that resources are allocated to...

by Ministry of Finance Afghanistan | On 11 Jun 2015

Report of the Sixty-Seventh World Health Assembly on Financing of Administrative and Management Costs

An external review, commissioned by the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board, was prepared in May 2013, providing detailed analysis of WHO’s administrative and managem...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 26 May 2015

Report of the Sixty-Seventh World Health Assembly on Strategic Resource Allocation

At the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly in May 2013, Member States requested the Director-General to propose, for consideration by the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly, in consultation with Member...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 26 May 2015

A World that Counts: Mobilising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development

New technologies are leading to an exponential increase in the volume and types of data available, creating unprecedented possibilities for informing and transforming society and protecting the enviro...

by Independent Extpert Advisory Group on a Data Revol (UN-IEAG) | On 21 May 2015

Demands for Grants 2015-16 (Demand No. 48) of the Department of Health and Family Welfare

The National Health Policy framed from time to time provides the framework for the implementation of policies and programmes for health care. The Eleventh Five Year Plan had focused on the poor and th...

by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare H & FW | On 28 Apr 2015

Guide on Right to Information Act, 2005

The present guide is an updated and consolidated guide for the use of all stakeholders. This guide contains five parts. Part I of the guide discusses some aspects of the Act which all the stake-holder...

by Government of India GOI | On 27 Apr 2015

Growing through Cities in Developing Countries

This paper examines the effects of urbanization on development and growth. It begins with a labor market perspective and emphasizes the importance of agglomeration economies, both static and dynamic....

by | On 24 Apr 2015

The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.

An Act to provide for allocation of coal mines and vesting of the right, title and interest in and over the land and mine infrastructure together with mining leases to successful bidders and allottees...

by Ministry of Law and Justice GOI | On 20 Apr 2015

Budget for Children in India 2008-09 to 2013-14: A Summary

Budget for children is not a separate budget. It is merely an attempt to disaggregate from the overall allocations made, those made specifically for programmes that benefit children. This enables us t...

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 24 Mar 2015

On Government-Industry Nexus and Indigenous Armed Resistance

This paper proposes a simple game-theoretic framework for analyzing the relationship between the government, industry and indigenous community, especially in the context of mounting violence surroundi...

by Soumyanetra Munshi | On 23 Mar 2015

Electoral Reforms 2015, India

The law Commission of India has submitted its Report No. 255 on “Electoral Reforms” to the Union Law and Justice Ministry. Informing this to the Media persons here in New Delhi Justice Shri A. P. Shah...

by Law Commission India | On 18 Mar 2015

Finance Commission of India’s Assessments: A Political Economy Contention between Expectations and Outcomes

The objective of this study is to examine the structural basis on which Finance Commissions make their awards rather than examining the predictability of the forecasts. The story of Finance Commission...

by | On 12 Mar 2015

Stability and Transitions in Emerging Market Policy Rules

Conditions for stability in an open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model adapted to a dualistic labor market (SOEME) are the same as for a mature economy. But the introduction of mon...

by Ashima Goyal | On 11 Mar 2015

Union Budget 2015-16: Shocking Neglect of Health Care

The budget proposals are premised on the assumption that health care is an individual’s responsibiity. The government appears to be rapidly shedding its responsibilities to provide accessible health...

by Ravi Duggal | On 01 Mar 2015

Indian Railway Budget Speech 2015-16

Speech of Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu introducing the Railway Budget for 2015-16

by Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu | On 26 Feb 2015

Report of the Fourteenth Finance Commission

The Fourteenth Finance Commission (FC-XIV) was constituted by the President under Article 280 of the Constitution on 2 January 2013 to make recommendations for the period 2015- 20. Dr. Y. V. Reddy w...

by Finance Commission | On 24 Feb 2015

Democracy, Inclusion, and Prosperity

People want to live in a safe prosperous country where they enjoy freedom of thought and action, and where they can exercise their democratic rights to choose their government. But how do countries en...

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 24 Feb 2015

The Impacts of Infrastructure in Development: A Selective Survey

Development economists have considered physical infrastructure to be a precondition for industrialization and economic development. Yet, two issues remain to be addressed in the literature. First, whi...

by Yasuyuki Sawada | On 16 Feb 2015

Towards A Pareto Efficient Indian Agricultural Market - with Specific Focus on Rice and Wheat Markets

The paper examines the policies of the central as well as state governments with respect to the agricultural market, specifically in rice and wheat markets, analyses their shortcomings and argues for...

by Anandi Subramanian | On 16 Jan 2015

What are the Headwaters of Formal Savings? Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka

When households increase their deposits in formal bank savings accounts, what is the source of the money? High-frequency surveys are combined with an experiment in which a Sri Lankan bank used mobil...

by Michael Callen | On 13 Nov 2014

Location Identification for Rapid Evacuation from a Disaster Site: A Case Study from KAPS

Robust plans need to be developed for rapidly evacuating victims from a nuclear disaster site. Although nuclear plants are constructed with multiple redundant safety features, the chances of a leak ca...

by Debjit Roy | On 30 Oct 2014

Human Development Progress in South Asia: Achievements and Challenges

Rapid human development progress in India, Bangladesh and other South Asian nations is helping drive a historic shift in global dynamics, with hundreds of millions of people rising from poverty and bi...

by Rameshwar Jat | On 26 Sep 2014

Putting Young People Into National Poverty Reduction Strategies

Many national poverty reduction strategies overlook the needs of young people. Even where national strategies do have a youth focus, the analysis of their situation is limited because little or no ref...

by United Nations Population Fund UNFPA | On 18 Sep 2014

The Political Economy of MGNREGS Spending in Andhra Pradesh

Are ostensibly demand-driven public programs less susceptible to political clientelism even when private goods are allocated? This is examined using expenditure data at the local level from India’s N...

by Megan Sheahan | On 01 Aug 2014

India's Public Distribution System: A National and International Perspective

This study examines the impact of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) on poor households in terms of income gains, reductions in the incidence and severity of poverty, as well as nutritional impr...

by R. Radhakrishna | On 07 Jul 2014

Contractual Solutions for Migrant Labourers: The Case of Domestic Workers in the Middle East

This article discusses domestic and international responses to the issue of abuse of female domestic workers in the Middle East, and concludes that a standard working contract, such as that in use in...

by Gwenann S. Manseau | On 26 May 2014

Banks Competition, Managerial Efficiency and the Interest Rate Pass-through in India.

If banks solve an inter-temporal problem under adverse selection and moral hazard, then bank specific factors, regulatory and supervisory features, market structure, and macroeconomic factors affect ...

by Jugnu Ansari | On 21 Feb 2014

On the Spatial Concentration of Employment in India

This paper seeks to understand what kind of economic activities are concentrated in which regions of India. Spatial concentration of jobs is measured by calculating the location quotient using inform...

by S. Chandrasekhar | On 22 Jan 2014

India’s Regional Security Cooperation: The Nehru Raj Legacy

The paper explores the logic of continuity in independent India’s security policy from where the British Raj had left off. Much like the Raj, Nehru’s India sought to provide security to its smaller ne...

by prashant kumar | On 21 Jan 2014

Emerging Geopolitical Trends and Security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the People’s Republic of China, and India (ACI) Region

The rapid economic growth in the region consisting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and India has begun to change the strategic landscape of...

by C. Raja Mohan | On 21 Jan 2014

The Impact of Fiscal and Political Decentralization on Local Public Investments in Indonesia

The effects of the Indonesian decentralization and democratization process on budget allocation at the sub-national level is analyzed. Based on panel data for 271 Indonesian districts for the years...

by Krisztina Kis Katos | On 17 Jan 2014

When  Ideas Trump Interests :  Preferences, World Views, and Policy  Innovations

The contemporary approach to political economy is built around vested interests -- elites,  lobbies, and rent-seeking groups which get their way at the expense of the general public. The  role of id...

by Dani Rodrik | On 06 Nov 2013

A Study on Fiscal Space

In the study states’ finances is analysed to see whether all states have been able to create a fiscal space and whether their fiscal capacities have increased over time. Then the states’ spending is l...

by Kim Robin | On 23 Sep 2013

Improving Public Financial Management in India: Opportunities to Move Forward

In recent years the role of a sound PFM system to achieve the objectives of fiscal discipline, strategic planning, and improved service delivery has been getting increasing public attention in India....

by Pratap Ranjan Jena | On 12 Sep 2013

Fuel Price Hike and Indonesia’s Energy Insecurity

Fuel price hikes have always been unpopular in Indonesia, largely because of their wide-ranging impact on the population. Yet, it is undeniable that the current high subsidies are unsustainable. To mo...

by Margareth Sembiring | On 26 Jul 2013

Land, Labour and Migrations: Understanding Kerala’s Economic Modernity

This paper seeks to map out the historical trajectory leading to a series of migrations in and from the erstwhile princely state of Travancore during 1900-70 in order to acquire and bring land under c...

by V. J. Varghese | On 26 Jun 2013

Living Rough: Surviving City Streets

This paper records the findings of a small investigation into a fragment of experiences of people living on streets and into the social, economic, nutritional situation of urban homeless men, women, b...

by Harsh Mander | On 10 Apr 2013

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, GOI, 2013-14

This brief gives the idea about the allocations to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan by Government of India in 2013-14 [Accountability Initiative]. URL:[http://www.accountabilityindia.in/sites/default/files/ssa_2...

by Accountability Initiative | On 07 Mar 2013

Empowering the Street Vendors in Changing Indian Cities: A Case Study of Bhubaneswar (Orissa)

The case of Bhubaneswar vending zone perfectly qualifies the theme of making market work for the poor. This is a pioneering lead taken to develop an exclusive market for the vendors which presents a...

by Randhir Kumar | On 01 Mar 2013

No Fireworks Railway Budget

Modernization, encouragement to PPP, integration of MGNREGA, has been given importance in the railway budget.

by IRIS India IRIS | On 27 Feb 2013

Indian Special Economic Zones: The Difficulties of Repeating China’s Triumph

New Delhi launched its SEZ revolution in April 2000 to secure the country a two digit growth rate, copying from China what during the previous two decades proved to be an excellent strategy, this pa...

by Claudia Astarita | On 21 Feb 2013

Vital Stats: Parliament in Winter Session 2012

The first half of the Winter Session of Parliament, 2012 was dominated by disruptions over and discussion on the government's notification to allow 51% FDI in the retail sector. The issue was finally...

by Devika Malik | On 21 Dec 2012

An Assessment of Livelihood and Educational Status of Sanitation Workers in Ahmedabad, Gujarat

This study was conducted in 25 neighborhoods and 5 zones of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). A total of 50 sanitation workers were interviewed and through them the condition of their famil...

by Ashish Mishra | On 05 Dec 2012

It’s a Boy! Women and Non-Monetary Benefits from a Son in India

Son preference is widespread in a number of developing countries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women may contribute to the persistence of this phenomenon because they derive substantial long-run...

by Laura Zimmermann | On 19 Nov 2012

MULTI-MARKET COLLUSION WITH TERRITORIAL ALLOCATION

This paper develops a super game model of collusion between price-setting oligopolists located in different markets separated by trade costs. The firms produce a homogenous good and sustain collusion...

by Aditya Bhattacharjea | On 05 Nov 2012

Diesel Pricing in India: Entangled in Policy Maze

This paper identifies the important economic activities that use diesel and discusses the contribution of those sectors in GDP. Other important petroleum products and, their limited substitution possi...

by Mukesh Kumar Anand | On 17 Oct 2012

The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010

Commonly known as the Whistleblower's Bill, it seeks to establish a mechanism to register complaints on any allegations of corruption or wilful misuse of power against a public servant. The Bill also...

by Parliamentary Research Service PRS | On 17 Aug 2012

Structuring the Dedicated Freight Corridor Project a Lost Opportunity

This paper explores the evolution of two dedicated freight corridors in India (covering a distance of around 3300 kilometers), and critique them from the perspective of delivering the intended rail...

by Sobhesh Kumar Agarwalla | On 31 Jul 2012

Raining problems

Recent history tells us that the growth rate of the economy does not automatically go up and down with good and bad monsoons. [BS Weekend Ruminations]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news...

by T.N. Ninan | On 18 Jul 2012

Political Strongholds and Budget Allocation for Developmental Expenditure: Evidence from Indian States, 1971-2005

This paper examines the effects of political factors on allocation of revenue budget for developmental expenditure by the sub-national governments, using data from 15 major states in India during the...

by Arun Kaushik | On 10 Jul 2012

Priority-Setting in Health: Building Institutions for Smarter Public Spending

Creating and developing fair and evidence-based national and global systems to more rationally set priorities for public spending on health. An interim secretariat should be there to incubate a global...

by Amanda Glassman | On 10 Jul 2012

Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes

Evidence is presented to show that shared codes, religious beliefs, ethnicity - cultural proximity - between lenders and borrowers improves the efficiency of credit allocation. In-group preferential t...

by Raymond Fisman | On 05 Jul 2012

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2007

With the aim of better regulation of traffic systems in cities, this Bill amends the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Among other provisions, it makes way for state governments to allow recognised a...

by Parliamentary Research Service PRS | On 21 May 2012

An Assessment of Inflation Modelling in India

This study analyses India’s inflation using the Phillips curve theory. To estimate an open-economy Phillips curve, we need three variables: (1) inflation (2) the output gap and (3) the real effective...

by Karan Singh | On 26 Apr 2012

Assessment of Community-Based Systems Monitoring Household Welfare

The analysis of micro impacts of macroeconomic adjustment policies (MIMAP) is a relatively new discipline. It has spawned out of the concern that adjustment policies aimed to correct macroeconomic imb...

by Celia M Reyes | On 04 Apr 2012

Political Determinants of the Allocation of Public Expenditures: A Study of the Indian States

This study examines whether the allocation of public expenditures of the Indian states are significantly influenced by government specific political characteristics. Three types of government specif...

by Bharatee Bhusana Dash | On 27 Mar 2012

Budget for Children (BfC) in the Union Budget 2012-13

What the Budget of India, 2012-13 has got for children? [HAQCRC]. URL:[http://www.haqcrc.org/sites/default/files/BfC%202012-13_0.pdf].

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 19 Mar 2012

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, GOI 2012-13

This brief uses Government reported data to analyse Sarva Shiksha Ahiyan performance along the following parameters: a) Overall trends in allocation and expenditures, b) Expenditure performance across...

by Accountability Initiative | On 16 Mar 2012

On the Road: Access to Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth in China

This paper estimates the effect of access to transportation networks on regional economic outcomes in China over a twenty-period of rapid income growth. It addresses the problem of the endogenous pl...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 02 Mar 2012

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, GOI 2011-12

Using government data, this brief reports on SSA performance along the following parameters: a) Overall trends in allocation and expenditure, b) Expenditure performance across key SSA activities...

by Accountability Initiative | On 23 Feb 2012

Foundations of Collective Action in Asia: Theory and Practice of Regional Cooperation

This paper argues that the collective action in Asia by its regional organizations has historically suffered from a “capability–legitimacy gap”: a disjuncture between the capability (in terms of mat...

by Amitav Acharya | On 17 Feb 2012

Violent Conflict and Human Capital Accumulation

This paper reviews and discusses available empirical research on the impact of violent conflict on the level and access to education of civilian and combatant populations affected by violence. Three ...

by Patricia Justino | On 15 Feb 2012

Business and Growth Rate Cycles in India

This paper describes business and growth rate cycles with special reference to the Indian economy. It uses the classical NBER approach to determine the timing of recessions and expansions in the India...

by Pami Dua | On 10 Feb 2012

The Euro Zone Crisis and its Dimensions and Implications

The sovereign debt problems in the peripheral economies of the euro zone has started to pose a serious threat to the main economies of the Europe and perhaps to the future of the 'euro‘ itself. Such a...

by M R Anand | On 06 Feb 2012

Monetary Neutrality in the Nepalese Economy during 1975-2008

One of the methods of measuring the effectiveness of monetary policies is via inspection of monetary neutrality in the economy. It is a concept from classical economics and it suggests that changes...

by Mukesh Khanal | On 16 Dec 2011

Impact of Inter-organizational Relationships on Organizational Learning

The paper explores how inter-organizational relationships foster organizational learning process through experiential and vicarious learning. The paper further explores various factors that impact t...

by Vijayta Doshi | On 08 Dec 2011

Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Presence of Informal Labour Markets

How does informality in emerging economies affect the conduct of monetary and fiscal policy? To answer this question two-sector, formal-informal new Keynesian closed-economy is constructed. The inf...

by Nicoletta Batini | On 02 Dec 2011

National Urban Transport Policy

The objective of this policy is to ensure safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable access for the growing number of city residents to jobs, education, recreation and such other...

by Ministry of Urban Development GOI | On 30 Nov 2011

An Estimated DSGE Model of the Indian Economy

A closed model DSGE model of the Indian economy is developed and it is estimated by Bayesian Maximum Likelihood methods using Dynare. A model is build up in stages to with a number of features impo...

by Vasco Gabriel | On 28 Nov 2011

The Impossible Trinity and Capital Flows in East Asia

The Impossible Trinity doctrine still holds a powerful sway over policymakers, advisors (particularly the International Monetary Fund [IMF]) and academia. In East Asia over the past decade, however,...

by Stephen Grenville | On 15 Nov 2011

Financing Infrastructure for Connectivity: Policy Implications for Asia

This paper discusses Asia’s infrastructure needs and its corresponding financing needs and challenges. It proposes ways to address financing gaps by identifying potential financing sources and instr...

by Biswa Nath Bhattacharyay | On 09 Nov 2011

The Financial Accelerator: An Emerging Market Story

In support of the financial-accelerator theory, evidence is found on countercyclical price-cost banking margins possibly explaining the amplifications of business cycles in Pakistan. [WP 41]. URL:[ht...

by Shah Hussein | On 03 Nov 2011

Gender, Governance and Women’s Rights in South Asia

This study focuses on gender equality and democratic governance in the five largest states of the South Asian region, namely, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Beginning with a general...

by Seema Kazi | On 20 Oct 2011

Voice and Accountability: The Role of Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Committee

The study aims to explore how the MNCH committee encouraged community participation and how its communication activities empowered the community people to ensure the healthcare needs of the poor and...

by Margaret Leppard | On 17 Oct 2011

Knowledge Flows and Capability Building in the Indian IT Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Cluster and Non-Cluster Locations

In this study, a comparative analysis of the role of knowledge flows in capability formation among firms in the Indian Information Technology sector (IT sector) across cluster and non-cluster location...

by Rakesh Basant | On 13 Oct 2011

Urban Transport Sustainability Indicators – Application of Multi-view Black-box (MVBB) Framework

In a recent work Nathan and Reddy (2011a) have proposed a Multi-view Black-box (MVBB) framework for development of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) for an urban setup. The framework is flex...

by Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan | On 10 Oct 2011

One Hundred years of Economic Change in Bengal: Re-visiting the Economic Life of a Bengal District

Through the use of secondary data, field visits and focus group discussions, this study explores the dynamics of the evolution of the economic life in Greater Faridpur over the last 100d years (1910-2...

by Selim Raihan | On 04 Oct 2011

What Causes Agglomeration? – Policy or Infrastructure – A Study of Indian Manufacturing Industry

This paper investigates whether industrial dispersal policy is more potent or the natural and agglomeration cost advantages are important in influencing locational choice of a firm. To carry out the a...

by Vinish Kathuria | On 22 Sep 2011

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

How does innovation impact on development? How, and under what conditions, do entrepreneurs in developing countries innovate? And what can be done to support innovation by entrepreneurs in develo...

by Wim Naude | On 16 Sep 2011

Productivity Dynamics in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Evidences from Plant-level Panel Data

This paper investigates the effects of plants' dynamics on productivity growth in the Indian pharmaceutical industry across five regions: north, north-west, west, south and the rest of India, during t...

by Atsuko Kamiike | On 06 Sep 2011

Determinants of Primary Yield Spreads of States in India: An Econometric Analysis

An attempt is made to identify the determinants of yield spreads between the State and Central government securities in a panel data framework as has been used in several cross-country studies. This...

by Dhritidyuti Bose | On 08 Aug 2011

Draft National Competition Policy for India

National Competition Policy is necessitated, as an overarching Policy framework, in continuation of the 1991-reforms, to infuse greater competition across sectors, and unleash fuller growth potential...

by Ministry of Corporte Affairs GOI | On 01 Aug 2011

Understanding Foreign Direct Investment in East Asia

The authors recount East Asia's experience with foreign direct investment (FDI). They document that, contrary to the Rybczynski theorem, capital flows in the region cause the host country's labor-inte...

by Willem Thorbecke | On 04 Jul 2011

Public Infrastructure Investment and Non-Market Work in India: Selective Evidence from Time Use Data

Theory of allocation of time revealed that historically market-time has never consistently been greater than the non-market time and therefore the allocation and efficiency of latter may be equally...

by Lekha S. Chakraborty | On 29 Jun 2011

Revenue Potential of Panchayats in Kerala

How much more taxes would it be possible for Panchayats in Kerala to collect? This question is important in deciding the financial allocations to such local governments. Information regarding this m...

by Centre for Development Studies | On 17 Jun 2011

Deregulation of Savings Bank Deposit Interest Rate: A Discussion Paper

The paper is an attempt to deal with pros and cons of deregulating savings deposit interest rate and take on board the suggestions of various stakeholders for either maintaining the status quo or dere...

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 02 May 2011

Find Me the Money: Financing Climate and Other Global Public Goods

In this paper, four categories of existing resource-mobilization options are examined, including (1) transportation levies; (2) currency and financial transaction taxes; (3) capitalization of IMF S...

by Nancy Birdsall | On 21 Apr 2011

Did the Indian Capital Controls Work as a Tool of Macroeconomic Policy?

In 2010 and 2011, there has been a fresh wave of interest in cap- ital controls. India is one of the few large countries with a complex system of capital controls, and hence others an opportunity to...

by Ila Patnaik | On 21 Apr 2011

Targeting and Distribution of Post-Tsunami Aid in Sri Lanka : A Critical Appraisal

In this study, two types of aid transfers - boats and houses are examined- that were made to rehabilitate tsunami-affected fishery households in Sri Lanka. The goal is to investigate the distributio...

by Asha Gunawardena | On 20 Apr 2011

Macroeconomic Uncertainty and Corporate Liquidity: The Indian Case

Interest in the uncertainties prevailing at the macroeconomic level has always been well known in economic literature. This paper analyses the effect of firm level and macroeconomic uncertainty on t...

by Mrinal Kanti | On 22 Mar 2011

Trends in Diversion of PDS Grain

This article estimates the proportion of grain "diverted" from the Public Distribution System (PDS) to the open market, using the well-established method of matching state offtake figures published by...

by Reetika Khera | On 21 Mar 2011

Overview of PRC in East Asian Trade

PRC’s economic emergence over the last two decades, and in particular its recent WTO accession initiative, portend a dramatically changed landscape of East Asian trade. This has aroused concern arou...

by David Roland Holst | On 15 Mar 2011

Private Sector in the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme: A Study of the Implementation of Private-public Stragegy in Tamil Nadu and Kerala (India)

During the past one decade, the concept of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has gained much prominence in healthcare sector in India. The foremost objective of such partnerships has been to improve th...

by Muraleedharan VR | On 09 Mar 2011

Gender Responsive Budgeting: The Case of Kerala

This paper we make an attempt to understand and analyze the budget from a gender perspective. The paper looks into the different areas of allocations, how far it is ‘pro woman’ budget or a ‘gender re...

by Aleyamma Vijayan | On 08 Mar 2011

The (mis)allocation of Capital

Is capital allocated so that its marginal product is equated to the market interest rate? Is the marginal product of capital equalized across its alternative uses. This paper attempts to answer both...

by Abhijit V. Banerjee | On 08 Mar 2011

Budget 2011-12 High Growth Not Reflected in Public Spending

With shrinking public spending, State’s health care concerns are specious. The rise in allocations on the health sector will only have limited impact on its efficiency and availability.

by Ravi Duggal | On 06 Mar 2011

Central Bank Lessons from the Global Crisis

Nine preliminary lessons from the Great Recession for monetary and financial policies are presented. [3rd P. R. Brahmananda Memorial Lecture].

by Stanley Fischer | On 18 Feb 2011

On the Economics of Regional Powers: Comparing China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of differ...

by Robert KAppel | On 28 Jan 2011

Impact of Food Price Rise on School Enrolment and Dropout in the Poor and Vulnerable Households in Selected Areas of Bangladesh

This study has explored the impact of the rise in food prices on the education of children in the poor and vulnerable households in Bangladesh. A survey was conducted on these households in five di...

by Selim Raihan | On 17 Jan 2011

The Disinterested Government: An Interpretation of China’s Economic Success in the Reform Era

In the last 30 years, China has achieved high economic growth and successfully transformed its economy from a planned economy to a market-based system. The country, to a large extent, has attaine...

by Yang Yao | On 10 Jan 2011

Dynamics of Urban Mobility: A Comparative Analysis of Megacities of India

This paper aims to analyse urban mobility patterns and consequent impacts on energy and environment in India. We investigate the quantity of energy use in 23 metropolitan regions for the period 1981–...

by B. Sudhakara Reddy | On 03 Jan 2011

Response of Health System to Sexual Violence: An exploratory study of six health facilities in two districts of Maharashtra

Sexual violence is a highly stigmatising form of violence. Precisely because of this it is invisible to the public, policy makers and agencies that need to respond to it. The public health system is...

by Amita Pitre | On 20 Dec 2010

A Technical Paper on “Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs)"

This technical paper sets out the benefits and downsides of issuing IIBs along with explaining its structure comprising of indexation (principal or interest), inflation index lag, issuance method, met...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 17 Dec 2010

Aid and Development Policy in the 1990s

The 1990s will be the first decade after the revolutionary upheavals in the world economic and political system following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Democracy ha...

by Arjun Sengupta | On 13 Dec 2010

How Can Indian Railways Service the Steel Sector Better?

The focus of this paper is on how Indian Railways can service the steel sector better. The steel sector is a core sector, with railways playing a critical role in its logistics. The paper examines t...

by G. Raghuram | On 30 Nov 2010

How Can Donors Create Incentives for Results and Flexibility for Fragile States? A Proposal for IDA

International Development Association (IDA) donors and others operating a country performance-based allocation system face two difficult problems: how to strengthen incentives to produce and document...

by Alan Gelb | On 29 Nov 2010

Partnerships with the Private Sector in Health: What the International Community Can Do to Strengthen Health Systems in Developing Countries

The private sector plays a significant role in delivering health care to people in developing countries. By some estimates, more than one-half of all health care—even to the poorest people—is provided...

by (Centre for Global Development) Advisory Faculty | On 26 Nov 2010

Determinants of Trade Misinvoicing

Traditional explanations for trade misinvoicing -- high custom duties and weak domestic economies — are less persuasive in a world of high growth emerging markets who have low trade barriers. A 35- ...

by Ila Patnaik | On 22 Nov 2010

Frontline pay-off

The general assumption in New Delhi’s “strategic community” is that it is in India’s interest for Americans troops to stay on in Kabul. The theory is that the US is doing the hard work that is beyond...

by T.N. Ninan | On 11 Nov 2010

Fiscal Developments and Outlook in India

The paper identifies those elements in the configuration of fiscal parameters confronting the country that give cause for concern, and examines whether the fiscal reform measures taken address these...

by Indira Rajaraman | On 20 Oct 2010

Do Donors Target Aid in Line with the Millennium Development Goals? A Sector Perspective of Aid Allocation

They analyse the aid portfolio of various bilateral and multilateral donors, testing whether they have prioritized aid in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Employing Tobit models...

by Rainer Thiele | On 13 Oct 2010

Resettlement in Action

This report studies the ongoing resettlement for the middle route of the South-North Water Transfer Project at Danjiangkou in Hubei Province, China. The Water Transfer Project is China’s biggest wat...

by International Rivers Network IRN | On 30 Sep 2010

Quantifying Spatial Mislocation in Centrally Provided Public Goods

In this paper they show how an optimization algorithm can be used to approximately quantify the costs to users of spatial misallocation in centrally provided public goods. This method can be employed...

by Siva Athreya | On 23 Sep 2010

Evasion at the top

The government gave out some interesting numbers on Monday. The revenue secretary told a news conference that nearly 96 per cent of the 32.5 million who pay income tax reported a taxable income of und...

by T.N. Ninan | On 14 Sep 2010

Determinants of Weekly Yields on Government Securities in India

This paper examines the determinants of the Government yields in India using weekly data from April 2001 through March 2009. The analysis covers Treasury Bills with residual maturity of 15-91 day...

by Pami Dua | On 13 Sep 2010

An Eye for an Eye: Impact of Sequelization and Comparison in Advertisements on Consumer’s Perception of Brands

In this paper we demonstrate that the positive effects of comparative advertising are significantly diluted when a compared-to brand retaliates. Retaliation introduces sequencing in advertisements....

by Patrali Chakrabarty | On 24 Aug 2010

Moving to Goods and Services Tax in India: Impact on India’s Growth and International Trade

The differential multiple tax regime across sectors of production leads to distortions in allocation of resources thus introducing inefficiencies in the sectors of domestic production. With regard t...

by Rajesh Chadha | On 12 Aug 2010

Monetary Policy in an Uncertain World: Probability Models and the Design of Robust Monetary Rules

The past forty years or so has seen a remarkable transformation in macro-models used by central banks, policymakers and forecasting bodies.This papers describes this trans formation from reduced-for...

by Paul Levine | On 11 Aug 2010

Leveraging the Integration of Sales Career Cycle with Brand Life Cycle in Indian Pharmaceutical Firms

Indian pharmaceutical sector is currently witnessing faster introduction of new drugs, with shorter life cycles, given the intense competition. Often, pharma companies fail to strategically align th...

by Basant Kumar Purohit | On 02 Aug 2010

Technological Capability as a Determinant of FDI Inflows: Evidence from Developing Asia & India

During 2006-07, FDI inflows into India were more than double than those in 2005-06. Indeed, during April-January 2006-07, inward FDI into India at US$16.4 billion, was far higher than the annual ave...

by Amitendu Palit | On 29 Jul 2010

The Japanese Economy and Economic Policy in Light of the East Asian Financial Crisis

The depth and breadth of the East Asian financial crisis has added a sense of acute urgency for some concrete and credible measures by policy-makers to revitalise the Japanese economy. While steps...

by Ramkishen Rajan | On 23 Jul 2010

Strategic Orientation of Outsourcing Firms: Demystifying Key Differentiators

Despite the importance of outsourcing firms and the highly competitive nature of the outsourcing industry, there has been minimal examination of outsourcing firm strategy. This paper investigates...

by Kirti Sharda | On 16 Jul 2010

Assessing the Economic Vulnerability of Small Island Developing States and the Least Developed Countries

Macro vulnerability of the small island developing states (SIDS) as well as of least developed countries (LDCs) has been an increasing concern for the international community. This concern has led...

by Patrick Guillaumont | On 30 Jun 2010

Board seat, anyone?

This editorial is about the difficulty of finding suitable candidates for board seats.

by T.N. Ninan | On 28 Jun 2010

Theun-Hinboun: Expanding Failure

The Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project – a dam and diversion project under construction in Central Laos – violates the Equator Principles and Lao law, according to this report. It documents how Lao villa...

by Ikuko Matsumoto | On 17 Jun 2010

Instability at the Gate: India’s Troubled Northeast and its External Connections

This paper intends first to give a brief overview of the rise and growth of some of those separatist groups, with a special focus on the Nagas, the Mizos and the Assam movement. An analysis of the de...

by Renaud Egreteau | On 10 Jun 2010

Civil Conflict and Human Capital Accumulation: The Long Term Effects of Political Violence in Perú

This paper provides empirical evidence of the long- and short-term effects of political violence exposure on human capital accumulation. Using a novel data set that registers all the violent acts an...

by Gianmarco Leon | On 27 May 2010

The Shape of Temptation: Implications for the Economic Lives of the Poor

This paper argues that the relation between temptations and the level of consumption plays a key role in explaining the observed behaviors of the poor. Temptation goods are defined to be the set of...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 13 May 2010

Tourism Department: In Search of Tourists

Delhi is believed to be dil of India. It features historic attractions tracing our evolution from the past to the present. The legacy includes architecture of every description, which never ceases to...

by Shiva Mishra | On 01 Apr 2010

Kerala Budget 2010-11

Budget speech by finance minister Dr. Thomas Issac

by Government of Kerala Govt | On 05 Mar 2010

Karnataka Budget 2010-11

Budget speech by finance minister of Karnataka

by Government of Karnataka GoK | On 05 Mar 2010

Analysis of Non Suburban Passenger Coaching Stock Utilization

The utilization of coaches on the parameters per cent of runtime, kilometers per day, and average speed of rakes servicing express per mails and passenger trains in the South Central Railway (SCR), t...

by G. Raghuram | On 04 Feb 2010

Urban Issues, Reforms and Way Forward in India

The Government has launched a reform-linked urban investment programme, JNNURM. The paper has analysed urban trends, projected population, service delivery, institutional arrangements, municipal finan...

by Chetan Vaidya | On 26 Nov 2009

Access and Mobility for the Urban Poor in India: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Needs

Indian cities are characterised by rapid growth in human as well as motor vehicle populations. Although the poor benefit the least from motor vehicle activity, they bear the brunt of its impacts. The...

by Madhav Badami | On 26 Nov 2009

Sustainable Urban Development In India: Some Issues

This paper aims at discussing some of the important issues relating to sustainable urban form that would lead to sustainable urban development with possible references to India. The paper is based on...

by Basudha Chattopadhyay | On 17 Nov 2009

Delegation and Emission Tax in a Differentiated Oligopoly

How product differentiation as well as strategic managerial delegation affects optimal emission tax rate, environmental damage and social welfare, under alternative modes of product market competiti...

by Rupayan Pal | On 04 Nov 2009

Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2009 -10

The repo rate has been kept unchanged at 4.75%. The reverse repo rate left steady at 3.25%. The bank rate has been retained unchanged at 6.0%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks has been...

by D Subbarao | On 27 Oct 2009

Do Remittances Impact the Economy? Some Empirical Evidences from A Developing Economy

The study attempts to examine the impact of remittances on macroeconomic activities (private consumption and investment) and its implications on economic growth in India for the period from 1966-67 to...

by Hrushikesh Mallick | On 01 Sep 2009

Workbook on Life Skills

RGNIYD planned to develop a workbook on Life Skills which would help adolescents to both understand the concepts of the ten core Life Skills and practice them. The workbook has been carefully designed...

by Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Developme RGNIYD | On 19 Aug 2009

Understanding the Relationship between Government and BRAC in Implementing WASH Programme

To explore the relationship between government and BRAC in the implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme this qualitative research was undertaken. This involved purposive samp...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 06 Aug 2009

Determinants of Fuelwood Use in Rural Orissa: Implications for Energy Transition

This study examines household behaviour related to fuelwood collection and use. The focus is on identifying the behavioral transition of fuelwood-using households from collection to purchase. The st...

by ARABINDA MISHRA | On 29 Jul 2009

Union Budget-First Cut Analysis 2009-2010

The thrust of this budget on the expenditure side is twofold. Continue with the fiscal stimulus measures and extend these for another six months or one years as the case maybe. Significant among these...

by IRIS India IRIS | On 09 Jul 2009

Budget 2009-2010

Budget 2009-2010 by Pranab Mukherjee

by Pranab Mukherjee | On 09 Jul 2009

Report of the Internal Working Group on Debt Management

Establishing a debt management office would consolidate all debt management functions in a single agency, and be the catalyst for wider institutional reform and transparency about public debt. It is i...

by Ministry of Finance | On 04 Jul 2009

Emerging Contours of Financial Regulation: Challenges and Dynamics

The paper attempts to analyse the emerging contours of regulation of financial institutions with an emphasis on the emerging challenges and dynamics. [Paper prepared for Financial Stability Review of...

by Rakesh Mohan | On 29 Jun 2009

Employment Promoting Growth in Bangladesh: Monetary and Financial Sector Issues

Although economic growth has improved in recent years in Bangladesh, the better economic performance has not translated into satisfactory poverty reduction. The type of growth that matters Bangladesh...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 15 Jun 2009

Construction and Validation of ‘Science Culture Index’ Results from Comparative Analysis of Engagement, Knowledge and Attitudes to Science: India and Europe

Countries world-wide routinely collate statistics on STS performance indicators such as R&D expenditure, science publications, citations and impact, high-tech employment, and penetration of hightech g...

by Rajesh Shukla | On 12 Jun 2009

The Relationship Between Socio-Economic Status and Malaria: A Review of the Literature

Malaria is frequently referred to as a disease of the poor or a disease of poverty. A better understanding of the linkages between malaria and poverty is needed to guide the design of coherent and eff...

by Eve Worrall | On 03 Jun 2009

Assessing Policy Choices For Managing SO2 Emisions From Indian Power Sector

The production, transportation and consumption of energy resources, especially of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, generate negative environmental externalities including air pollution....

by Deepa Menon Choudhary | On 18 May 2009

China’s Socialist Market Economy: Lessons for Democratic Developing Countries

The paper’s focus is on successful Chinese policies that can be emulated by other countries to an extent (within certain bounds) which mentined in the article. The author is not trying to draw lesson...

by Arvind Virmani | On 22 Apr 2009

Sri Lanka Budget 2009

2009 Budget speech

by Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka | On 20 Apr 2009

Karnataka Budget 2009-10

Budget speech by finance minister of Karnataka

by Government of Karnataka GoK | On 24 Feb 2009

Environmental Standards as Strategic Outcomes: A Simple Model

This paper examines the strategic nature of choice of environmental standards under different degrees of openness of countries. It also compares and contrasts equilibrium environmental standards and...

by Rabindra N Bhattacharya | On 23 Dec 2008

Contemporary International and Domestic Banking Developments and the Emerging Challenges

A broad overview, from the Indian perspective, of the factors underlying the credit market crisis in the west, the implications of the crisis for the financial sector, lessons learnt from it, the var...

by Leeladhar V | On 25 Nov 2008

Issues Before the Thirteenth Finance Commission

The paper argues that irrespective of the wording of the Terms of Reference (ToR), the Commission would do well to focus on its primary task of recommending transfers to serve the objective of equit...

by M.Govinda Rao | On 06 Oct 2008

WCD Thematic Review 1.3:Social Aspects: Contributing Paper: Displacement, Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Reparation and Development

This paper seeks primarily to establish some benchmarks for policy and law for displacement and rehabilitation in India. It will do this by looking briefly at the actual experience of displacement due...

by Ravi Hemadri | On 14 Aug 2008

The Indian Banking Industry – A Retrospect of Select Aspects

A broad overview of the achievements and progress made by the Indian banking sector in the last two decades and the emerging frontiers of the Indian banking system, in the post-reform era. [Address d...

by Leeladhar V | On 11 Aug 2008

Who is Worried about the National Interest?

Given the strategic long run character of the nuclear deal, the decision on it should nor be hurried. Nor is it one that can be taken without seeking wider public consensus than is available to the...

by Arun Kumar | On 21 Jul 2008

Changing Paradigm of Indo-Japan Relations: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper presents an overview of Indo-Japan cooperation since late 18th and early 19th century till date. In the light of the changing paradigm in India-Japan relations over the past several years,...

by PG Rajamohan | On 23 Jun 2008

Interest Rate Modeling and Forecasting in India

The interest rate is a key financial variable that affects decision of consumers, businesses, financial institutions, professional investors and policymakers. Timely forecast of interest rates can the...

by Pami Dua | On 13 Jun 2008

Sins of Omission

The question today is whether all the issues that were neglected when things were going well, will now get due attention when we can see even more clearly what needs to get done.

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Apr 2008

Sins of Omission

The question today is whether all the issues that were neglected when things were going well, will now get due attention when we can see even more clearly what needs to get done.

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Apr 2008

Budget 2008-09 and Children A First Glance

Budget for Children (BfC) is not a separate budget. It is merely an attempt to disaggregate from the overall budget, the allocations made specifically for programmes that benefit children. From 2000-0...

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 04 Mar 2008

‘Inclusive Citizenship’ for the Chronically Poor: Exploring the Inclusion-Exclusion Nexus in Collective Struggles

The promotion of ‘inclusive citizenship’, through which the disadvantaged engage in collective struggles for justice and recognition, has been attracting growing attention as a solution to chronic p...

by Katsuhiko Masaki | On 19 Dec 2007

Monetary Conditions Index for India

The authors attempt to construct a monetary conditions index (MCI) for India in order to take both interest rate and exchange rate channels simultaneously into consideration while evaluating the stanc...

by Kannan R | On 08 Nov 2007

Position Paper of National Focus Group on Teaching of English

The goals for a language curriculum (Sec. II) are twofold: attainment of a basic proficiency, such as is acquired in natural language learning, and the development of language into an instrument for a...

by R. Amritavalli | On 25 Oct 2007

What Can Economists Explain by Taking into Account People’s Perceptions of Fairness: Punishing Cheats, Bargaining Impasse, and Self-Perpetuating Inequalities

Evidence abounds that individuals have preferences for being fairly treated and treating others fairly. These preferences do not affect economic outcomes in competitive markets with standardized prod...

by Karla Hoff | On 03 Oct 2007

Interactive Workshop on Qualitative Research: From Data Collection to Data Presentation

Hands-on training in qualitative research in the context of health, nutrition and development. The training included all major steps in qualitative research: deciding objectives, designing tools, data...

by Shubhada Kanani | On 28 Sep 2007

Consultation Paper on Issues Relating to Mobile Television Service

The key to making mobile TV a reality lies in combining traditional broadcast standards with features specific to handheld devices: mobility, smaller screens and antennas, indoor coverage, and relianc...

by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI | On 24 Sep 2007

Can Horticulture be a Success Story for India?

In spite of being one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world, the export competitiveness among the Indian producers remains low. But with new marketing initiatives, the post-ha...

by Surabhi Mittal | On 24 Aug 2007

Discussions Among the Poor: Exploring Poverty Dynamics With Focus Groups in Bangladesh

Findings from 116 focus group discussions are presented, which took place in eleven districts in Bangladesh in mid-2006. It forms the first part of three phases of research in an integrated qualitativ...

by Peter Davis | On 01 Aug 2007

Think Productivity

Export growth and rate of increase in bank credit have slowed down, oil prices are very high, becasuse of the interest rate hike, housing demand has reduced. Even though Sensex has crossed 15000, GDP...

by T.N. Ninan | On 10 Jul 2007

Impact of U.S. Federal Interest Rate and Movement of MSCI on Indian Capital Markets

The relationship between Indian macro-economic factors and economic growth has been analyzed by a number of empirical studies. This paper re-examines the sources of variability in the Indian economy f...

by Bharat Chadha | On 26 Jun 2007

Building an International Financial Centre in Mumbai

Earlier this year, the Indian government’s High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) put forward its recommendations on how Mumbai could be made into an International Financial Center. The HPEC’s report co...

by Sanjeev Sanyal | On 19 Jun 2007

Child Labor

The essay is to provides a detailed overview of the state of the recent empirical literature on why and how children work as well as the consequences of that work. It provides a descriptive overview o...

by Eric Edmonds | On 01 Jun 2007

Union Budget 2007-08: A Touch of ‘Magic Realism’

The Budget is ‘exciting’ precisely because it has at least decided to pay a little more than lip service to the so-called social sector. And Finance Ministers then tend to increase allocations for the...

by S Srinivasan | On 08 Mar 2007

What Drives Forward Premia in Indian Forex Market?

This paper explores the behaviour of the forward premia for US$ vis-à-vis INR during the five-year period of September 2000 to September 2005. Indian forex market experienced a peculiar phenomenon i...

by Anil Kumar Sharma | On 10 Jan 2007

Pro-Poor Targeting and Accountability of Local Governments in West Bengal

A commonly alleged pitfall of decentralization is that poverty, socio-economic inequality and lack of political competition allow local elites to capture local governments. This hypothesis is empirica...

by Pranab Bardhan | On 27 Dec 2006

India’s Rising Role in Asia

This paper strongly suggests that India has been far more intricately integrated with the rest of Asia than has commonly been perceived or acknowledged. This is particularly the case if overall value...

by Mukul Asher | On 12 Dec 2006

Mahatma Gandhi and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Strategic Civil Disobedience and Great Britain’s Great Loss of Empire in India

This paper examines the relationship between statutory monopoly and collective action as a multi-person assurance game culminating in an end to British Empire in India. In a simple theoretical model,...

by Chowdhury Irad Ahmed Siddiky | On 27 Nov 2006

Gender Critiques of Budgets: How Useful?

While critical perspectives on the budget are certainly necessary and are useful, they are not sufficient to produce the change necessary. For that we need to encourage civil society initiatives on en...

by Maithreyi Krishnaraj | On 07 Apr 2006

Sri Lanka: Budget Speech by Finance Minister in Parliament

'Mahinda Chintana' : Towards a New Sri Lanka

by Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka | On 05 Mar 2006

Sri Lanka: Budget Brief, 2006: Towards a New Sri Lanka

Tax Proposals and Administration Summary of Budget 2006

by Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka | On 05 Mar 2006

Editorial: Union Budget: Securing its Legacy

Union Budget 2006-07 breaks new ground in many areas, and continues on the path of modernizing the tax system. It also gives deserved recognition to key allocation priorities. But its legacy will be...

by Mukul Asher | On 05 Mar 2006

Economic Survey 2005-06, chapter 3

Monetary and Banking Developments

by Ministry of Finance | On 27 Feb 2006

Real Sector Shocks and Monetary Policy Responses in a in a financially vulnerable Emerging Economy

When analyzing the appropriate response for monetary policy during a currency crisis it is important to keep in mind two distinct channels: (a) the impact of raising interest rates on exchange rates...

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 27 Jan 2006

Uncertainity And Discrimination: Family Structure And Declining Sex Ratios In Rural India

This article builds upon the recognition that the declining child sex ratios are a result of an ongoing process of societal change. Looking at areas both in the north and in the south which have shown...

by Mattias Larsen | On 03 Sep 2005

Why Do Governments Lack “Political Will”? An Explanation

This paper proposes “lack of political will” as the most important reason why a ruling political party is unable to commit itself to economically efficient choices or policies. The notion of political...

by Ajit Karnik | On 19 Aug 2005