This paper tests for market integration in 55 wholesale rice markets in India using monthly data over the period January 1970 - December 1999. The technique of Gonzalez-Rivera and Helfand (2001) is used to identify common factors across various markets. It is discovered that market integration...

We extend the analysis of Jha and Murthy (2003) to relate consumption to environmental degradation (conceived of as a composite) within a cross-country framework. We use the method of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to construct an Environmental Degradation Index (EDI) for each country and...

Using official data this paper evaluates India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) according to four criteria a) average number of days of employment per household, b) percentage of households completing 100 days of employment under NREGS, c) percentage of expenditure against...

Using NSS data for 1993-94 and 2004-05 this paper highlights the impact of growing incomes, social and household decisions of households, and regional and ethnic factors on patterns of household level fertility in India. These have helped determine the composition of India's young (aged 9 to 34)...

This paper underscores the substantial spatial disparities across India and evaluates the case for putting together (various versions) of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) and also indicates the risks involved in the process. This paper argues that, on balance, there is a case for an appropriately...

ndia's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has been hailed as one of the country's most creative social initiatives. Since the program was begun only recently (in 2004-05) there is a need to assess household access to this program and persistence of benefits to households not just...

This paper has two main objectives. First, it computes capital flight (CF) through trade misinvoicing from India using data from UNCOMTRADE, MIT Observatory of Economic Complexity and IMF E-library. India's trade with 17 countries over the period 1988-2012 is considered. We find that CF has...

This paper provides a broad overview of welfare schemes in India and their impact on social protection during a period of high economic growth. It summarizes India's performance with respect to select economic and social indicators relative to select low and middle income countries in the Asia...

In the context of rural India this paper focuses on six questions. a) Does gender of the elected representatives’ matter; specifically do political reservations help in reducing vulnerability? b) What will be the impact of regime changes on resource re-allocation and on household consumption?...

Partly as a result of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (passed in 2003) the gross fiscal deficits of both central and state governments were in good order. Indeed, both central and state governments were running primary surpluses in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Partly as result of the stimulus enacted to...