Since the late 1970s, the price indices underlying the poverty lines in India have been updated using aggregate indices. Widespread criticism of these indices led to the adoption of a new official methodology in 2011 based on unit values from consumption survey data. We propose an alternative...

Since the late 1970s, the price indices underlying the poverty lines in India have been updated using aggregate indices. Widespread criticism of these indices led to the adoption of a new official methodology in 2011 based on unit values from con- sumption survey data. We propose an alternative...

This paper examines the extent to which income differences across the racial groups can account for observed residential segregation. The authors adopt an approach to the decomposition of segregation measures that combines the method of indirect standardization with the idea that some degree of...

The Indian states have been the standard unit of analysis for research on India that uses official data sources. For many empirical questions, states are a natural starting point because state governments set political agendas and budgets and administer a wide range of services. In addition, the...

The importance of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in explaining output changes is widely accepted, yet its sources are not well understood. We use a proprietary data set on the floor-level operations at the Bhilai Rail and Structural Mill (RSM) in India to understand the determinants of changes...

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 to evaluate the large programs of public good construction that have been central features of...

Most high and middle-income countries showed symptoms of skill-biased technological change in the 1980s. India — a low income country — did not, perhaps because India's traditionally controlled economy may have limited the transfer of technologies from abroad. However the economy underwent a...

Many popular social programs have limited coverage among households at the very bottom of the income and wealth distribution. If a program reaches the poor, but neglects the destitute, the (pre-program) income distribution of participants and non-participants will cross. We are interested in the...

Presidential elections in Korea in the eighties and nineties provide an opportunity to examine the role of political patronage in a newly formed democracy. We examine whether the bureaucratic reshuffling which accompanies presidential changes depends on the political connections of bureaucrats...

Despite the decline in group inequality and the rapid expansion of the black middle class in the United States, major urban centers with significant black populations continue to exhibit extreme levels of racial separation. Using a theoretical framework in which individuals care both about the...