Developments in the financial sector have led to an expansion in its ability to spread risks. The increase in the risk bearing capacity of economies, as well as in actual risk taking, has led to a range of financial transactions that hitherto were not possible, and has created much greater...

Why is underdevelopment so persistent? One explanation is that poor countries do not have institutions that can support growth. Because institutions (both good and bad) are persistent, underdevelopment is persistent. An alternative view is that underdevelopment comes from poor education. Neither...

This paper aims to demonstrate that the economic behaviour of ordinary men and women in the pre-colonial Deccan was as much ‘capitalistic’ as that of similar agents in contemporary Europe. The difference in the economic trajectories of the two societies can be reduced to different...

The paper is an analysis of food aid, rising food prices and its implications.

There are several themes which emerge from the comparative analysis of social security systems in Southeast Asia. Each country will need to address the limitations of their respective system in relation to each of the themes outlined. The first theme concerns the need for a multi-tier social...

People in poor countries live shorter lives than people in rich countries so that, if we scale income by some index of health, there is more inequality in the world than if we consider income alone. Such international inequalities in life expectancy decreased for many years after 1945, and the...

This study examines the consequences of a) a domestic carbon tax policy, and, b) participation in a global tradable emission permits regime on carbon emissions, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and poverty, in India. The results, based a computable general equilibrium model of the Indian economy,...

The formulation of appropriate criteria for origin determination is crucial for any country or regional trading block interested in ensuring growth and economic. Perhaps this is the single most important reason that explains the aggressive negotiating stance adopted by various member countries...

The commonly held belief that the Central government pension bill has the potential to reach an unsustainable level does not appear to be based on any realistic assessment of such liabilities in the future years. The future pension liabilities of the Central Government would be primarily driven...

What exactly is 'economic marginalization'? How should one conceptualize it, and what are the implications of such conceptualization? Economic marginalization can be conceptualized as outcome or as process (or structure). On outcomes, marginalization can be a static description, or a dynamic...