Building on a recent important contribution by Deaton and Dreze (2009), our analysis sheds new light on why the calorie Engel curve shifted down-especially in rural India- over the period 1993–2004. The puzzle for the longer period analysed by Deaton and Dreze (2009) is that despite higher...

The impoverishment during 1991-93 was largely a result of policy reforms. In the absence of income switching, the impoverishment would have been greater. The patterns of income switching differed among the three Indian states, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Confining the...

Contrary to a widely held view, the targeting of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in the Indian state of Maharashtra was unsatisfactory and worsened over the period 1979-89. Among the participants, from a large group the non-poor became the majority. Some of them were in fact (moderately)...