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...

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...

Until very recently and despite human capital’s pre-eminent and empirically established contribution to economic growth, Indian policymakers planning for economic development concentrated largely on issues of capital, labour and, to a lesser extent, technology. This paper argues that India’s...

In Is corruption influenced by economic growth? Are legal institutions such as the 'Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005' in India effective in curbing corruption? Using a novel panel dataset covering 20 Indian states and the periods 2005 and 2008 we estimate the causal effects of economic growth...

This paper provides an overview of the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the Indian economy. It identifies the channels through which the GFC has impacted the Indian economy and evaluates the stimulus packages that have been put in place by the government of India. Finally, the...