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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Fatih Ozatay; Guven Sak |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0308&r=cwa |
| By: | Ashima Goyal (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the division of tasks required between politicians and bureaucrats to run an effective rural employment guarantee scheme (EGS) in India, in the context of Indian history and habits. There are still weaknesses in the incentive structure of the new nationwide EGS. First, there is no guarantee that high quality durable assets will be produced. Second, the role of the bureaucrat in the EGS is not clearly defined. A number of analytical results are obtained. A major one is giving the bureaucrat a long-term task (durable assets) as his objective will ensure the completion of both tasks, since effort must be allocated to the short-term task (employment) in order to achieve the long-term task. More power to the local populace and politicians will ensure that local needs, including employment are met. The results, together with an examination of the interactions between politicians and bureaucrats, village self-government, and the water economy in India, imply that an EGS with good incentive properties has the potential to reverse corruption of the executive, and vitalize village self-government. Lower level politicians are more accountable to the public. The tradition of voluntary labour associated with cooperative village management of the water economy, can make local resources available to extend the cyclical EGS. Higher own resources at stake will improve the efficiency of resource utilization and the quality of work done. |
| Keywords: | Politician, bureaucrat, incentives, employment guarantee |
| JEL: | O10 O53 H11 D72 D73 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2005-008&r=cwa |
| By: | Ilker Domac |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0306&r=cwa |
| By: | K. Azim Ozdemir |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0411&r=cwa |
| By: | Ferhan Salman |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0408&r=cwa |
| By: | Hakan Kara; Hande Kucuk Tuger |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0512&r=cwa |
| By: | Melike Altinkemer |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0305&r=cwa |
| By: | Fatih Ozatay |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0511&r=cwa |
| By: | Badri Narayanan G (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, employment has fallen in the organised textile sector despite an aggregate rise in output and capital. This paper analyses the role of various factors that influence employment using 3-digit classification of Indian textile industry from 1973-74 to 1997-98. Our results document that the fall in employment can be explained in terms of rise in wages, output shocks, lack of capital utilisation and trade restrictiveness pertaining to Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA). Environmental regulations enhance employment in the sub-sectors that are most likely to be influenced by them. The results are robust to dierent measures of capital, its utilisation and disaggregation to statelevel. We also illustrate that in a post-MFA regime, employment in the sector is bound to increase owing to absence of trade restrictions and prospects of huge investment in general and in complying with environmental regulations, though the labour regulations might affect the magnitude of that increase. |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2005-005&r=cwa |
| By: | Hande Kucuk; Burc Tuger |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0402&r=cwa |
| By: | Ali Culha; Cihan Yalcin |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0515&r=cwa |
| By: | Mehtap Kesriyeli; Erdal Ozmen; Serkan Yigit |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0516&r=cwa |
| By: | Suparna Chakraborty (Baruch College, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | After decades of slow growth since Independence from the British Raj, Indian economy registered its own small miracle, when growth rate of GDP per capita surpassed the long term growth rate of many advanced economies. What caused this miracle? In this paper, we search for an answer in the neoclassical growth model. We use productivity as measured by Solow residual as our exogenous shock. Our idea is to quantitatively measure to what extent ‡fluctuations in productivity can account for observed ‡uctuations in macro economic aggregates in India. We find that exogenous fl‡uctuations in productivity can well account for fl‡uctuations in output during the boom periods of 1982 to 1988 and 1993 to 2002. However, fluctuations in productivity alone results in a much worse drop in ouput during 1988 to 1993 than observed in the economy. |
| Keywords: | technology, growth accounting, neoclassical growth, calibration, transition dynamics, India |
| JEL: | E |
| Date: | 2005–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0512013&r=cwa |
| By: | K. Azim Ozdemir; Paul Turner |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0412&r=cwa |
| By: | Hakan Kara; Fethi Ogunc |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0510&r=cwa |
| By: | K. Azim Ozdemir |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0410&r=cwa |
| By: | Ertunc Alioglu; Can Erbil; Ferhan Salman |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0413&r=cwa |
| By: | Olcay Yucel Emir; Fatih Ozatay; Gulbin Sahinbeyoglu |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0508&r=cwa |
| By: | Alka Chadha (Department of Economics, National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds light on the product cycle and neotechnology theories of trade in the context of generic pharmaceuticals. The paper studies the export performance of 177 Indian pharmaceutical firms for the post- liberalization period 1991-2004. The results indicate that technology proxied by foreign patent rights has a positive impact on exports. This suggests that developing countries with innovation skills for process innovations are capable of penetrating international markets in the later stages of the product cycle by using patents, which were the barriers to trade in the early stages of the product cycle. Thus, Indian pharmaceutical firms adept at reverse-engineering of brandname drugs have an opportunity to enter the global generic market for off-patent drugs. |
| Keywords: | Product cycle, Exports, Foreign patents, Pharmaceuticals |
| JEL: | L65 O34 F1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nus:nusewp:wp0511&r=cwa |
| By: | K. Azim Ozdemir |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0507&r=cwa |
| By: | Abhijit Banerjee; Shawn Cole; Esther Duflo; Leigh Linden |
| Abstract: | Many efforts to improve school quality by adding school resources have proven to be ineffective. This paper presents the results of two experiments conducted in Mumbai and Vadodara, India, designed to evaluate ways to improve the quality of education in urban slums. A remedial education program hired young women from the community to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children lagging behind in government schools. We find the program to be very effective: it increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.14 standard deviations in the first year, and 0.28 in the second year, relative to comparison schools. A computer-assisted learning program provided each child in the fourth grade with two hours of shared computer time per week, in which students played educational games that reinforced mathematics skills. The program was also very effective, increasing math scores by 0.35 standard deviations the first year, and 0.47 the second year. These results were not limited to the period in which students received assistance, but persisted for at least one year after leaving the program. Two instrumental variable strategies suggest that while remedial education benefited the children who attended the remedial classes, their classmates, who did not attend the remedial courses but did experience smaller classes, did not post gains, confirming that resources alone may not be sufficient to improve outcomes. |
| JEL: | O11 I21 |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11904&r=cwa |
| By: | Jayati Sarkar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); Subrata Sarkar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the role of debt in corporate governance with respect to a large emerging economy, India, where debt has been an important source of external finance. First, we examine the extent to which debt acts as a disciplining device in those corporations where potential for over investment is present. We undertake a comparative evaluation of group-affiliated and non-affiliated companies to see if the governance role of debt is sensitive to ownership and control structures. Second, we examine the role of institutional change in strengthening the disciplining effect or mitigating the expropriating effect of debt. In doing so, we estimate, simultaneously, the relation between Tobin's Q and leverage using a large cross-section of listed manufacturing firms in India for three years, 1996, 2000, and 2003. Our analyses indicate that while in the early years of institutional change, debt did not have any disciplinary effect on either standalone or group affiliated firms, the disciplinary effect appeared in the later years as institutions become more market oriented. We also find limited evidence of debt being used as an expropriation mechanism in group firms that are more vulnerable to such expropriation. However, the disciplining effect of debt is found to persist even after controlling for such expropriation possibilities. In general, our results highlight the role of ownership structures and institutions in debt governance. |
| Keywords: | Debt, ownership structure, corporate governance, institutional change |
| JEL: | G32 G34 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2005-007&r=cwa |
| By: | Girja Sharan; Beysens D; Milimouk I |
| Abstract: | In order to determine what amount of dew water can be collected without much investment during the dry season (October –May) in north - west India, a study was performed on plain, un-insulated, corrugated galvanized iron roofs that are common in this rural region. Between October 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005, the cumulative dew yield on a 18 m2 double - sloped (30°) test roof was 113.5 L. The west side gave 35 % higher water yield than the east side. The use of thermal insulation and more IR radiative materials would have increased this yield by 40 % (160 L). An analysis of dew events is made with meteorological data. It shows that the variable relative humidity is the most important parameter, which in turn is strongly correlated with the average wind direction with respect to monsoon direction. The cumulative dew water yield (6.3 mm) remains modest when compared with the average rain fall (300 mm). But dew occurs far more frequently than rain and it forms precisely during the dry season when water is most scarce. |
| Date: | 2005–12–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2005-12-05&r=cwa |
| By: | Raja Kali (Sam M. Walton College of Business); Jayati Sarkar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | The industrial landscape of many emerging economies is characterized by diversified business groups. Given the well-known costs of diversification, their prevalence in emerging economies is a puzzle that has not been completely resolved. While there is evidence that business groups in emerging economies confer diversification benefits on group affiliated firms by substituting for missing institutions and markets, whether such benefits persist over the economic transition as institutions and markets develop is unclear. We investigate this issue in the context of the wide-ranging transformation of the Indian economy over the past decade. We find that business group affiliation continues to generate higher market valuation vis-…-vis standalone firms ten years into the transition, but diversification is not the source of these benefits. Instead, we find that propping through profit transfers among firms within a group and better monitoring through group level directorial interlocks explains the higher market valuation of business group affiliated firms. The effect of propping and directorial interlocks on firm value depends on the equity stakes of the controlling shareholders. Propping appears to be the source of group affiliation benefits in firms with below median cash flow rights of the controlling shareholders, while director interlocks are the primary source of the group effect for firms where the controlling shareholders have above median cash flow rights. |
| Keywords: | business groups, diversification, propping, monitoring, concentrated ownership |
| JEL: | G15 G34 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2005-006&r=cwa |
| By: | Das Gupta, Monica |
| Abstract: | Public health services, which reduce a population ' s exposure to disease through such measures as sanitation and vector control, are an essential part of a country ' s development infrastructure. In the industrial world and East Asia, systematic public health efforts raised labor productivity and life expectancies well before modern curative technologies became widely available, and helped set the stage for rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. The enormous business and other costs of the breakdown of these services are illustrated by the current global epidemic of avian flu, emanating from poor poultry-keeping practices in a few Chinese villages. For various reasons, mostly of political economy, public funds for health services in India have been focused largely on medical services, and public health services have been neglected. This is reflected in a virtual absence of modern public heal th regulations and of systematic planning and delivery of public health services. Various organizational issues also militate against the rational deployment of personnel and funds for disease control. There is strong capacity for dealing with outbreaks when they occur, but not to prevent them from occurring. Impressive capacity also exists for conducting intensive campaigns, but not for sustaining these gains on a continuing basis after the campaign. This is illustrated by the near eradication of malaria through highly organized efforts in the 1950s, and its resurgence when attention shifted to other priorities such as family planning. This paper reviews the fundamental obstacles to effective disease control in India and indicates new policy thrusts that can help overcome these obstacles. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring & Evaluation,Health Economics & Finance,Brown Issues and Health,Public Sector Management and Reform,Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems |
| Date: | 2005–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3787&r=cwa |
| By: | Hakan Kara; Hande Kucuk Tuger; Umit Ozlale; Burc Tuger; Devrim Yavuz; Eray M. Yucel |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0504&r=cwa |
| By: | Zelal Aktas; Neslihan Kaya; Umit Ozlale |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0502&r=cwa |
| By: | Desai Tejas A |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that the demand for services at many if not all hospitals is variable over a given year such that the demand is significantly higher in some months compared to the rest of the months in any given year. This is especially true for surgical departments at many hospitals. Therefore, it is a challenge to staff the surgical departments in such a way that the demand for surgeries throughout a year is met without creating significant over- or under-staffing at any point in a given year. In other words, an optimal level of staffing is sought so that the staff is not significantly over- or under- utilized at any point in a given year. In this paper, we consider an algorithmic approach of arriving at such an optimal level of staffing given some practical constraints. We apply this approach to the surgery department of the paying section of the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India. |
| Date: | 2005–12–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2005-12-06&r=cwa |
| By: | Alka Chadha (Department of Economics, National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of the strict patent regime on the patenting activity of Indian pharmaceutical firms and finds that patenting activity of these firms has increased after the signing of TRIPs. The study is conducted for 65 pharmaceutical firms for the period 1991 to 2004 using different parametric and semiparametric count panel data models. Results across different count data models indicate a positive and significant impact of the introduction of stronger patents on patenting activity. Further, the results show a gestation lag of two years between R&D spending and patent applications. |
| Keywords: | Pharmaceuticals, Patents |
| JEL: | L65 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nus:nusewp:wp0512&r=cwa |
| By: | Esther Duflo; Rema Hanna |
| Abstract: | In the rural areas of developing countries, teacher absence is a widespread problem. This paper tests whether a simple incentive program based on teacher presence can reduce teacher absence, and whether it has the potential to lead to more teaching activities and better learning. In 60 informal one-teacher schools in rural India, randomly chosen out of 120 (the treatment schools), a financial incentive program was initiated to reduce absenteeism. Teachers were given a camera with a tamper-proof date and time function, along with instructions to have one of the children photograph the teacher and other students at the beginning and end of the school day. The time and date stamps on the photographs were used to track teacher attendance. A teacher's salary was a direct function of his attendance. The remaining 60 schools served as comparison schools. The introduction of the program resulted in an immediate decline in teacher absence. The absence rate (measured using unannounced visits both in treatment and comparison schools) changed from an average of 42 percent in the comparison schools to 22 percent in the treatment schools. When the schools were open, teachers were as likely to be teaching in both types of schools, and the number of students present was roughly the same. The program positively affected child achievement levels: a year after the start of the program, test scores in program schools were 0.17 standard deviations higher than in the comparison schools and children were 40 percent more likely to be admitted into regular schools. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J13 J30 |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11880&r=cwa |
| By: | Yuksel Gormez; Christopher Houghton Budd |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0303&r=cwa |
| By: | Ilker Domac; Kyle Peters; Yevgeny Yuzefovichî |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0304&r=cwa |
| By: | M. Faruk Aydin; Ugur Ciplak; Eray M. Yucel |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0409&r=cwa |
| By: | Cagri Sarikaya; Fethi Ogunc; Dilara Ece; Hakan Kara; Umit Ozlale |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0503&r=cwa |
| By: | Ozge Akinci; Olcay Yucel Culha; Umit Ozlale; Gulbin Sahinbeyoglu |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0506&r=cwa |
| By: | Ilker Domac; Eray M. Yucel |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0307&r=cwa |
| By: | Ozge Akinci; Olcay Yucel Culha; Umit Ozlale; Gulbin Sahinbeyoglu |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0505&r=cwa |
| By: | Debapriya Bhattacharya |
| Keywords: | PRSP, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Delivering PRSP, Implementation Challenges PRSP, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | I32 O20 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdb:opaper:54&r=cwa |
| By: | Hutton, Craig; Hornby, Duncan; Falkingham, Jane; Baschieri, Angela |
| Abstract: | " Poverty maps " -that is, graphic representations of spatially disaggregated estimates of welfare-are being increasingly used to geographically target scarce resources. But the development of detailed poverty maps in many low resource settings is hampered because of data constraints. Data on income or consumption are often unavailable and, where they are, direct survey estimates for small areas are likely to yield unacceptably large standard errors due to limited sample sizes. Census data offer the required level of coverage but do not generally contain the appropriate information. This has led to the development of a range of alternative methods aimed either at combining survey data with unit record data from the census to produce estimates of income or expenditure for small areas or at developing alternative welfare rankings, such as asset indices, using existing census data. This paper develops a set of poverty maps for Azerbaijan that can be used by different users. Two alternative approaches to the measurement and mapping of welfare are adopted. First, a map is derived using imputed household consumption. This involves combining information from the 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS) with 1999 census data. Second, an alternative map is constructed using an asset index based on data from the 1999 census to produce estimates of welfare at the rayon level. This provides a unique opportunity to compare the welfare rankings obtained at the regional level under the two alternative approaches. I n order to visually present the spatially disgaggregated estimates of welfare in Azerbaijan, this paper has also produced a digital census map of Azerbaijan. This involved matching the census enumeration areas to a digital settlement map of Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is now possible for the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan to display graphically the results of the 1999 census of Azerbaijan along with other data. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Economic Theory & Research,Poverty Lines,Poverty Diagnostics,Technology Industry |
| Date: | 2005–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3793&r=cwa |
| By: | Z. Ernur Demir Abaan |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0405&r=cwa |
| By: | Ozge Akinci; Yasemin Barlas Ozer; Bulent Usta |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0517&r=cwa |