| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
Innovative
Scamsters |
|
| Aug
20th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
recent emergence of a set of financial instruments, by the
name of 'auction rate securities' or ARS, signifies another
symbol of the malfunctioning global financial markets. The
ARS system apparently follows a transparent and market efficient
principle, but in reality results in a lowering of the notional
value of securities held by investors in the absence of an
active market. |
|
| Mid-Course
Deviation |
|
| Aug
11th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
withdrawal of support for the UPA government by the Left parties
on the Indo-US nuclear deal is justified since they had always
opposed any attempt to forge a strategic relationship with
the US, since there remains an inherent contradiction between
US imperialism and the interests of developing countries like
India. This problem was compounded by the fact that the UPA
had in any case been deviating widely from the CMP agreed
on by the UPA and the Left, especially in implementing the
pro-poor programmes. |
| |
 |
|
| Gender
Inequality in Banking Services in India A Note |
|
| Aug
2nd 2008, Pallavi Chavan |
|
|
This
brief note is a preliminary attempt to understand the
extent and nature of gender inequality in the provision
of banking services in India. It addresses the largely
unanswered question of whether the increasing spread
of micro finance has indeed resulted in financial inclusion
of women at large and whether it has been able to counteract
the existing gender inequality in the provision of banking
services. |
|
| Balance
of Payments: Do We Need to Worry? |
|
| Aug
1st
2008, C. P. Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Despite
the apparent public complacency regarding the balance
of payments, there are reasons to be concerned about
recent trends. In this artilce the authors specifically
examine tendencies in the current account and assess
their significance for the immediate future. |
| |
 |
|
| The
Impact of Macroeconomic Change on Employment in the Retail
Sector in India: Policy Implications for Growth, Sectoral
Change and Employment
|
|
May
15th 2008, Jayati Ghosh, Amitayu Sengupta &
Anamitra Roychoudhury
|
|
| This
study is concerned with the employment situation in
India's retail sector. High economic growth in India
has not produced satisfactory outcomes of job growth,
both in terms of quantity and quality. Concern has arisen
that many of the working poor engaged in small-scale
retailing and street vending are crowded by entries
of large-scale domestic as well as foreign retailers.
Share of workers' income in manufacturing has also seen
a decline, despite labour productivity growth, during
the last decade. This paper argues that economic policy
in India needs to be made more inclusive and equitable.
The only sure way of doing so would be making it more
pro-job and pro-poor, through examining employment implications
of macro policies that accompany economic liberalization. |
|
| Farmers'
Suicides in India: Magnitudes, Trends and Spatial Patterns
|
|
|
Mar 3rd 2008, K. Nagaraj |
|
| Given
the very large number of suicides by farmers in various
parts of India over the last decade, there is a need
to probe the issue by utilizing a data source which
would provide a comprehensive, nation-wide picture.
This paper is a modest attempt to fill that gap. Its
basic objective is to put together, and carry out a
preliminary analysis on, the secondary data that are
available on farmers' suicides in the country. The paper
studies, first, the magnitude and trends in farmers'
suicides in India over 1997-2006; and second, the regional
patterns, if any, in the incidence and trends in these
suicides. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28th 2007. |
|
| Economic
Research Foundation (ERF) is looking for researchers
for appointment at the Junior Economist and Economist
levels. |
|
|
 |
|
|
Budgetary
Policy in the Context of Inflation |
|
| Mar
30th 2007, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
| Negating
the impact of the current inflationary episode in India
on the poor requires both the ensuring of appropriate
supplies through imports, and a transfer of purchasing
power from the profit earners to the workers. Hence,
even if augmentation of supplies through resorting to
imports, as the government is doing now in the case
of foodgrains, succeeds in ending inflation, there is
still the need to put additional purchasing power in
the hands of the poor so that they regain their earlier
real income. The author argues that the basic problem
with the 2007-08 budget is that it is oblivious of these
social demands of a situation of profit inflation. |
|
|
Singur and the
Political Economy of Structural Change |
|
|
Feb 17th 2007, Mritiunjoy Mohanty |
|
| The
paper explores the controversy that has surrounded the
West Bengal Government's land acquisition programme
in Singur and situates it within the overall context
of economic growth and transformation. It argues one
of the most adversely affected groups as a result of
the acquisition is relatively large farmers for whom
agriculture is a source of accumulation and not livelihood
and subsistence. This might explain in part why the
resistance has been so strong. The paper argues that
equitable and sustained growth is possible only by reducing
the share of agriculture in the labour force and therefore
that the West Bengal Government's strategy has to focus
on maximising the generation of non-farm rural employment. |
|
|
 |
| |
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
