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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Halil Ibrahim Aydin |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0705&r=cwa |
| By: | Erdem Basci; Ozgur Ozel; Cagri Sarikaya |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:0704&r=cwa |
| By: | GARRY PURSELL |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:asarcc:2007-05&r=cwa |
| By: | Raghbendra Jha |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an update on the recent performance of the Indian economy. It reviews India’s growth performance, and the supporting performance of savings and investment, productivity and international trade. It highlights the performance of a dynamic sector (automobiles) and a laggard sector (agriculture) and comments on the structure of income growth in recent times. It also points out emerging constraints on rapid economic growth, e.g., increasing regional and personal inequality, rising unemployment, infrastructural constraints and the fiscal deficit. It assesses the prospects for economic growth in the near term. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth, India, Leading Sectors |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:asarcc:2007-04&r=cwa |
| By: | Agarwal Anurag K |
| Abstract: | Business disputes are like cancer which should be stopped from spreading as soon as possible. Litigation is the least favoured method of resolution for a variety of reasons – delay being the foremost. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods like negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration are currently in vogue. Unfortunately, there is a strong feeling in India that extra-legal methods provide timely solutions for business disputes. This does not augur well for the business environment. The paper examines the business dispute resolution scenario in India and provides suggestions for making it more speedy and effective in a legal manner. |
| Keywords: | ADR, Business disputes, Courts, India |
| Date: | 2006–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-06-05&r=cwa |
| By: | Wanchoo, Rajat |
| Abstract: | Micro-Finance is emerging as a powerful instrument for poverty alleviation in the new economy. In India, micro-Finance scene is dominated by Self Help Groups (SHGs) - Banks linkage Programme, aimed at providing a cost effective mechanism for providing financial services to the 'unreached poor'. In the Indian context terms like "small and marginal farmers", " rural artisans" and "economically weaker sections" have been used to broadly define micro-finance customers. Research across the globe has shown that, over time, microfinance clients increase their income and assets, increase the number of years of schooling their children receive, and improve the health and nutrition of their families A more refined model of micro-credit delivery has evolved lately, which emphasizes the combined delivery of financial services along with technical assistance, and agricultural business development services. When compared to the wider SHG bank linkage movement in India, private MFIs have had limited outreach. However, we have seen a recent trend of larger microfinance institutions transforming into Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFCs). This changing face of microfinance in India appears to be positive in terms of the ability of microfinance to attract more funds and therefore increase outreach. In overall terms an organizational structure will help them achieve more transparence and efficiency |
| Keywords: | Microfinance; Microcredit; India; |
| JEL: | D02 |
| Date: | 2007–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3675&r=cwa |
| By: | Mathur Ajeet N. |
| Abstract: | Finland-India Economic Relations were researched for the first time in a study that analysed mutual trade and investment potential through the lens of revealed comparative advantage and identified profitably tradable goods at 4-digit and 8-digit disaggregated levels in the standard international trade classification (Mathur, 1998). This study was made freely available on the world wide web for five years through http:// www.uta.fi/kati as part of longitudinal action research to study how small and large players would take advantage of this freebie. This paper provides initial results of a sequel study initiated in 2005 to understand what happened thereafter, whether trade grew, and to analyse how trade could diversify from identification of new opportunities for product-services linkages after the expiry of the transitional period that brought GATS into effect in 2005. Finland's share in Indian imports and exports has grown rapidly and exponentially and the prospects are vast but the potential realised by 2007 remains considerably untapped and far below comparable figures for other EU countries. This study emphasises the need for policy research on institutional barriers to design new gateways beyond an increased frequency of contact between people from the two countries. The conclusion that robust bridges could be built through tripartite fora comprising business, government and academia points to the need for new institutionalities and deepening research studies, some of which initiated as part of the Finland-India Economic Relations project, are at various stages of progress and expected to be completed during 2007-2010. |
| Date: | 2007–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-03-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Jain Rekha; Raghuram G.; Gangwar Rachna |
| Abstract: | Modernization of Delhi and Mumbai airports had been considered as early as 1996 by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). In June 2003, the AAI board approved a modernization proposal. These airports accounted for 47% of the passenger traffic, 58% of cargo traffic and 38% of aircraft movement in 2003-04. They generated one third of all revenues earned by the AAI. Both Delhi and Mumbai airports handled twice as many aircraft movements as they were originally designed for, resulting in congestion for both aircrafts and passengers. The bidding process began in May 2004 with an original completion date of September 2004. However, due to a variety of reasons, the process got delayed and the bids were finally received by September 2005. The evaluation process of the bids was questioned at various levels. There were many reviews of this with inputs from experts. The final decision was made in January 2006 by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) after compromising on some of its own set parameters for one of the airports. One of the losing bidders called this an arbitrary decision making process and challenged the decision in court. After two stages of legal battle, the bidder finally lost the case in November 2006 and the original awardees retained their position. Work is now progressing at these airports. This paper focuses on the bidding process and brings out the lessons learnt. |
| Date: | 2007–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-05-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Congdon Fors, Heather (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | There are several factors that may contribute to the decision to send a child to work, such as poverty, market imperfections and parental preferences. The aim of this paper is to determine empirically the relative importance of these diverse factors on the incidence of child labor in rural India. In order to examine several potentially influential factors separately, we outline a theoretical model of child labor in a peasant household based on the model presented in Bhalotra and Heady (2003) with modifications to allow for the child to participate in different types of labor. We then use the theoretical model to specify and estimate an empirical model of rural child labor participation. Our results indicate that parental education and household income appear to play the most important role in determining whether a child works, attends school or is idle. Market imperfections, on the other hand, only play an important role in determining whether the child participates in family labor. <p> |
| Keywords: | child labor; school attendance; market imperfections; India |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0256&r=cwa |
| By: | Datta Samar K; Nilakantan Rahul |
| Abstract: | Because of its narrow and negative perspective of safeguarding the interests of only poor consumers against unethical practices of the private traders, consumer cooperation in India seems to have failed, except probably in some isolated pockets. A number of social welfare functions like poverty alleviation and public distribution of essential items of consumption have been imposed on them at the cost of their basic economics. With the basic micro and macro-economic rationale for consumer cooperatives as a positive form of economic organization being lost sight of, they seem to be facing enormous problems both historically as well as currently in a era of economic liberalization. Their worries seem to have been compounded with the threat of impending competition from large private enterpriss - both domestic and foreign, which highlights the need for evolving strategies to rectivy their systemic weaknesses and tackling the competition head on. This case has attempted to document just such an initiative through a round table conference with several doyens of the consumer cooperative movement in India such as Warana Bazar and Amalsad Mandali as well as some fledging consumer cooperatives from West Bengal which are already in existence for some time or contemplating entry into this field. The roundtable conference organized in the spirit of Cooperation among Cooperatives attempted to evolve strategies to capture economies of scale and scope in order to take on the competition, as well as to facilitate dissemination of ideas and information across the country. |
| Date: | 2006–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-11-04&r=cwa |
| By: | Basant Rakesh; Chandra Pankaj |
| Abstract: | Education has been recognized as the most important source of competitive advantage for a nation. It is the key determinant of firm level productivity which in turn drives business growth and profitability. Technical knowledge, in particular, is required both for industrial as well as service development. Technical institutions contribute to the growth of business and industry in a variety of ways. The most influential and direct impact is through their graduates who bring in new skills and perspectives to firms. Industries also seek advanced training on specific topics as well as consultancy from technical institutions. Often these institutions collaborate with academics to design and develop new technologies. In this paper we have argued that technical education plays a crucial role in building these capabilities and consequently in the growth of industry. We use the case study of the Indian technical education system to explore the nature of this system, mechanisms used to govern it, linkages between the education regime and the industry, and the roles that different stakeholders play in ensuring that such a regime delivers sustained advantage to the society. We study the business growth in a few select sectors and the changing needs of technical skills therein. These sectors are agricultural implements, auto-components, chemicals, construction, garments and machine tools. We also illustrate the link between technological innovation and technical skills thereby pointing towards the trajectory of developing industrial competitiveness. |
| Date: | 2007–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-03-08&r=cwa |
| By: | Pages, Carmen; Ahsan, Ahmad |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the economic effects of legal amendments on different types of labor laws. It examines the effects of amendments to labor dispute laws and amendments to job security legislation. It also identifies the effects of legal amendments related to the most contentious regulation of all-Chapter Vb of the Industrial Disputes Act-which stipulates that firms with 100 or mor e employees cannot retrench workers without government authorization. The analysis finds that laws that increase job security or increase the cost of labor disputes substantially reduce registered sector employment and output but do not increase the labor share. Labor-intensive industries, such as textiles, are the hardest hit by laws that increase job security while capital-intensive industries are most affected by higher labor dispute resolution costs. The paper concludes that widespread and increasing use of contract labor may have brought some output and employment gains but did not make up for the adverse effects of job security and dispute resolution laws. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Standards,Labor Management and Relations,Public Sector Regulation,Legal Products |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4259&r=cwa |
| By: | Ahmad, Alia (Department of Economics, Lund University); Bose, Manik (World Fish Center); Persson, Therése Hindman (Econ Analys) |
| Abstract: | Bangladesh has made significant progress in health indicators in recent years in spite of her low level of income. This is mainly due to the commitment of the state supported by donors in providing preventive care with respect to child health and family planning. However, there are serious problems related to both access and quality of curative care that hurt the poor most. Infrastructures for service delivery exist at local level in rural areas but they function inefficiently. This paper deals with the systemic weaknesses of decentralized service provision of primary healthcare in Bangladesh and focuses on accountability links between different actors and functions of delegation, finance, performance, information and enforcement. The study is based on facility- and household-based data collected during 2005 in Khulna Division. The main findings of the study are: the health system in rural areas represents deconcentration rather than decentralization of central government functions where inter-sectoral discipline works poorly; local health providers are not accountable to local government, and poor citizens/clients are neither aware of their rights nor are capable of expressing their needs as effective channels do not exist. |
| Keywords: | decentralization; accountability; governance; primary healthcare |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2007–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2007_011&r=cwa |
| By: | Krishnan Sandeep K; Singh Manjari |
| Abstract: | The paper looks at the issues and concerns faced by nine Indian organisations in implementing and managing HRIS. The organisations are diverse in terms of size and sector that they belong. The critical success factors and weaknesses in various stages of implementing an HRIS are explored in the paper. The problems are rooted in mainly two factors. One is the fact that HR department lacks knowledge about HRIS and hence is not able to clearly elucidate the requirements of the system. Poor need assessment is a continuation of this problem. Second is the lack of importance given to HR department in the organisations. The spectrum of cases covered shows the clear variation in terms of the success of implementation. In poorly managed implementations, the potential of HRIS has been under-utilised. Only a few modules have been implemented and at best HRIS’s role is that of a centralised database. Very high dependence is placed on the vendors without having a clear idea about how to select vendors or a proper process or contract to ensure vendors’ accountability. Another area of concern is that level of cooperation needed across various functions and divisions of the organisation for proper implementation of HRIS is also lacking. User satisfaction is low because there is minimal user involvement in the implementation project and the implemented package is not user-friendly. |
| Keywords: | HRIS, Implementation |
| Date: | 2006–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-07-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Kaul Asha; Nandan Debmalya |
| Abstract: | Multiple research studies on grammar and syntax used by men and women stress disparities stemming from gender specific styles of “talk”. Borrowing from the existing literature, we analyzed transcripts of 107 employees in an Indian organization to study variations, if any, in grammar and syntax across genders at the middle management level. Our study was based on an analysis of reported speech of a critical incident of upward influence in the organization. We classified the transcripts into two clusters, viz., male and female. A frequency count for some grammatical and syntactical forms was taken. Frequency count of the grammatical forms revealed no significant disparity in language used by males and females in same and mixed sex groups. The reasons for this finding are as follows: 1. Use of language is not gender specific. More specifically, sentential constructs are not governed by gender. 2. The content and context, if similar, yield similar results. 3. Evolution of a language pattern that is “organizationally fit” rather than gender governed. Significant variations in use of tags and hedges were identified. Based on the above findings, we attribute the variations in syntactical forms to aspects other than those related to “male” or “female” concepts of style, proposed by earlier researchers – for a study of the concept of style will require a framework which studies the linguistic form and the social functions in sync. |
| Date: | 2007–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-06-03&r=cwa |
| By: | Grüner, Hans Peter |
| Abstract: | Should privately informed agents with diverging interests act independently or should they commit to a mechanism? This paper analyzes different communication and decision protocols when communication involves delay. It studies under which conditions agents should (i) choose their actions immediately and non-cooperatively, (ii) communicate and act independently or (iii) contract before receiving their information. Well informed agents with similar preferences do not contract or communicate. Communication is desirable when preferences are similar and individual signals are of intermediate quality. Contracting on a Bayesian mechanism only pays when agents' preferences are not too strongly correlated, when information quality is high, and when the cost of delay is sufficiently low. When the correlation is negative and large enough, the optimal contract does not involve any communication. |
| Keywords: | decentralization; EU; mechanism design; Protocol design; Turkey |
| JEL: | D23 D71 D74 D86 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6357&r=cwa |