| Centre for Development Economics: Annual Report 2000-2001 |
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CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS at
the
Centre
for Development Economics THE
COUNCIL ADVISORS
The Centre for Development Economics (CDE) was set up with a grant from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India as a research adjunct of the Delhi School of Economics (Department of Economics). It is a non-profit organization that supports research in all areas of Economics. It came into existence in August 1992 and began effectively functioning from early 1993, with the full range of activities picking up only in late 1993 after it received its grants from the Government of India and the Ford Foundation. Aims to promote and disseminate research; to sponsor economists from all over Delhi and abroad to visit the Delhi School of Economics; to conduct regular conferences and workshops; to upgrade research infrastructure, including communication and computing facilities. Computer Unit The Centre has a well equipped computer unit with software and hardware for meeting the research and training needs of Post-Graduate, M.Phil and Research Scholars and has acquired several data sets. The Centre has a wide range of statistical and econometric software packages. In addition E-Mail facility is also available in the Centre, as is access to the Internet.
An important activity of the Centre is the holding of Conferences, Seminars, public lectures and workshops.
The Centre's research output is available in the form of books, occasional papers and working papers. The publications of the Centre are currently being exchanged with about thirty research institutes in India and abroad.
The
Centre also houses research projects. Currently six projects are housed
in the Centre. The Centre maintains a mini library. It gets working/discussion papers from about thirty research institutes from around the world.
The Centre has also started organising short term refresher courses on request from Government. ACTIVITIES DURING 2000-2001 Infrastructure at the CDE: With the co-operation of Information Technologies (India) Ltd. Internet connectivity of 64 kbps through leased line was made available in the Centre, providing access to the faculty and research scholars. The Centre also acquired this year around 8 Pentium - III & IV computers, one HP Laser Jet Printer 2100M and one HP DeskJet 840. Work is in progress to convert room no. #35 into a modern air-conditioned seminar room with multimedia facilities. The renovation is being financed out of a gift of Rs. 500,000 from Mrs. Santosh Bakshi. Conference to Honour Professor K. L. Krishna The CDE organized an international Conference on "Industrialization in a Reforming Economy: A Quantitative Assessment" to honour Prof. K.L. Krishna, who retired from the Delhi School of Economics on August 14, 2000 after 42 years of teaching and research. The Conference was held at the Delhi School of Economics during December 20-22, 2000. The proceedings of the Conference began with an inaugural address by Dr. C. Rangarajan, Honourable Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Prof. Robert E. Evenson, Director, Economic Research Centre, Yale University, USA gave the keynote lecture on "Technology Capital and Productivity Convergence : international Evidence from Agriculture and Industry". Prof. Deepak Nayyar, vice-chancellor, University of Delhi presided over the inaugural session. The Conference had twelve sub-themes, viz., Themes in Industrial Organization; Multinationals, Technology Transfer and Industrialization; Industry Environment Linkage from a Developing Country Perspective; Trade Liberalisation and Industrial Performance; Industrial Finance; Infrastructure and Industrial Development; Industry Agriculture Linkage; Industry Urban Nexus, Employment and Poverty; Issues in Applied Econometries; Specific Industry Studies inclusive of Small Scale Sector; Yardsticks of Industrial Performance: Total Factor Productivity Growth and Technical Efficiency and Institutions; Laws and Industry. In each of the sub-theme, established scholars in the field were invited to present a theme paper. Moreover, scholars from within the country as well as from abroad also presented about sixty papers covering these sub-themes. Professor Kaushik Basu, Comell University, U.S.A. gave the valedictory address for the Conference Professor K. L. Krishna was appointed Honorary Research Adviser to the CDE Seminars: On Thursday, 3rd August 2000, Dr. Gurbachan Singh, ISI Delhi and Hindu College DU presented a seminar on "Liquidity, Capital Adequacy and Bank Runs". On Friday, 18th August 2000, Dr. P. K. Pattanaik, University of California, Riverside delivered a lecture on "Measuring Multidimensional Deprivation". On Thursday, 7th September 2000, Dr. Parkash Chander, ISI Delhi & The National University of Singapore spoke on "A Simple Measure of Risk Aversion in the Large and an Application". On Thursday, 14th December 2000, Prof. Thomas Weisskopf, University of Michigan, Arm Arbor, presented a seminar on "Perspectives on Affirmative Action in U.S. Higher Education". On Wednesday, 27th December 2001, Prof. Philippe vas Parijs, University of Louvain spoke on "Economic Justice as REAL Freedom for All". On Tuesday, 9th January 2001, Prof. Paul Klemperer, Nuffield College, Oxford University presented a talk on "Learn Some Auction Theory". On Thursday, 18th January 2001, Dr. Mausumi Das, Delhi School of Economics gave a seminar on "Why Income Inequalities Persist Across Nations: Effect of Endogenous Discounting on Human Capital Formation and Growth". On Thursday, 25th January 2001, Mr. Samiran Chakraborty, Delhi School of Economics gave a talk on "Financial- Liberalization in Imperfectly Competitive Markets". On Thursday, 8th February 2001, Prof. P K. Mathew Tharakan, University of Antwerp presented a seminar on "Cumulation and Injury Determination in Anti-Dumping Cases". On Wednesday, 14th February 2001, Dr. Mark Lindley, Gandhi National Museum spoke on "Gandhi's Economist: Toward a Critical Appraisal of J. C. Kumarappa". On Tuesday, 13th March 2001, Dr. Mike Toman, Resources for the Future, Washington D. C. spoke on "Optimal Investment in Clean Production Capacity". On Thursday, 15th March 2001, Dr. Rainanan Laxm inarayail, Resources for the Future, Washington D, C. presented a seminar on "The Rise of Antibiotic Resistance: Depletion of a Public Resource". On Tuesday, 3rd April 2001, Dr. Satya Paul, University of Western Sydney, Australia gave a talk on "Income Sources Effects on Inequality". On Thursday, 12th April 2001, Dr. Albert Jodhimani, Indian Revenue Service presented a seminar on "A Learning by Trading Model of Economic Development". On Thursday, 26th July 2001, Prof. Ravi Kanbur, Comell University gave a seminar on" The Race to the Bottom from the Bottom". On Thursday, 2nd August 2001, Dr. James E. Foster, Vanderbilt University presented a talk on "Measuring Health Inequal@ Using Qualitative Data". On Tuesday, 7th August 2001, Prof. Kaushik Basu, Cornell University spoke on "Gender and Say: A Model of Decision-making in the Household". On Friday, 10th August 2001, Dr. Padmanabhan Srinagesh, Palo Alto, California gave a seminar on "Anti-trust Issues Raised by Mergers of Internet Backbone Providers". Summer Travel Fellowship & Field Trip This year one summer travel fellowship was awarded jointly to two students of Delhi School of Economics. The theme of the project was "Change in Marriage Proceedings - A comparative study between Haryana and outer Delhi villages". Field trip to a village Murthal, Haryana was also organised for students of course 805: Markets, Institutions and Technology in Indian Agriculture. The main purpose of the trip was to study informal and formal sources of rural credit. Research Projects The research projects currently housed at CDE are as the follows: (1) Assessing the Impact of the National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA) on Agricultural Production. Principal
Investigate: J. V. Meenakshi The NYMPRA, launched in 1990-91, is based on the twin concepts of integrated watershed management and sustainable farming systems development. Thus far nearly 5.9 million hectares have been treated, and it is proposed that over the next quarter century over 60 million hectares will come under the NWDPPA. This project attempts to quantify the likely increase in foodgrain production as a result of successful NYMPRA interventions, at a more aggregated level than that of the watershed. The analysis pertains to two states where the NMTPRA coverage is relatively high. (2) Price Formation in Grain Markets in Northern India: Auctions and Strategic Behaviour. Principal
Investigators: A. Banerji and J. V. Meenakshi This study examines whether prices in regulated grain markets are determined efficiently; and whether traders in such markets are able to collude successfully. The project entailed primary data collection in the paddy and wheat markets of Panipat and Narcla. Apart from compiling a rich data set on prices and quality, interviews with a wide variety of players including commission agents, millers, fanners and market committee officials were conducted. The final phase of this project was coi-npleted in 2000. Two working papers analysing these issues have thus far been completed. (3)
Poverty and Environmental Deoradation in India: An Exploratory Study
This research project is being implemented jointly by researchers at Resources for the Future (RFF), a Washington DC based research institute, University of Michigan and the Centre for Development Economics (CDE). It considers to what extent the stock of natural resources (forests, grazing lands, and groundwater) available to rural households affects their income from agriculture and other productive activities. Much of the literature on poverty environment interactions has focused on the link from poverty to the environment, investigating for example whether poor households tend to place greater pressure on natural resources, leading to their degradation. In contrast, this project focuses on the reverse link from environment to poverty, asking to what extent interventions in the natural resource sector may help reduce the incidence of poverty". The study will consider three major resource stocks, namely forest, fodder, and groundwater, and will consider the simultaneous impact of changes in these stocks on profits from four income-generating activities of rural households, namely, agriculture, livestock rearing, home enterprises, and direct resource extraction. The data for this project will be collected through a household survey in Jhabua district in western Madhya Pradesh during August-November 2001. The survey instrument is near completion after extensive protesting. A considerable amount of primary andsecondary village level data has already been collected through field visits. Model estimation and dissemination will be completed by March 2002. (4) Market Based Instruments for Regional Environmental Management Principal
Investigator: Shreekant Gupta This study is being conducted in the Kawas-Hazira industrial region of Gujarat in partnership with the Indian Institute of Environment Management (IIEM) Mumbai, and the Environment Management Division (EMD) of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The objective of the study is to design and implement market based instruments (MB1s) such as pollution taxes and/or tradable emission permits for the Kawas-Hazira region. In particular, CDE will estimate marginal abatement costs (MACS) for the firms located in the region by collecting panel data on emissions and effluent discharge, abatement costs and other firm level data. These, in turn will be used to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of MBIs as compared to traditional command and control approaches to regulate pollution. (5) International Econometric (LINK) India Model Principal
Investigator: V. Pandit Work on this project has hit a major landmark during the year 2000-01. An economy- wide model dealing with GDP, capital formation, price movements, trade flows and balance of payments, fiscal operations and monetary and financial developments has been completed and is fully operational. Major characteristics and implications of the model which were highlighted as part of a two day seminar on Policy Modelling for India were eventually published in a longish paper edited: Policies for Stability and Growth : Experiments with a Comprehensive Structural Modelfor India in a special issue of the Journal of Quantitative Economics entitled by Professor V. Pandit and K. Krishnamurty. Six other papers presented at the seminar on May 8-9 2000 were also published in the same issue, As before, the biannual reports INDIA: Economic Outlook, 2000-03 were brought out in October 2000 and April 2001. A paper Interest Rate Determination in India: The Role of Domestic and External Factors jointly prepared by Dr. Pami Dua and B. L Pandit under the project was presented to the 37th Annual Conference of the Indian Econometric Society at Surat, April 13-15. Two other papers: Modelling the Money Multiplier for India" and, "A Monetary Policy Model prepared by V. Pandit, K. Krishnaniurty, and G. Mahanty were presented to the Third IGIDR workshop on Money and Finance and to the 37th Annual conference of the Indian Econometric Society at Surat. The latter was also presented to a seminar at the Department of Economics, Jadhavpur University on March 13. Selected forecasts and policy issues arising from the work were reported (by V. Pandit) at the Fall Meeting of the World Project LINK at Oslo, Norway, Nov 01-05, 2000 (6) India's Sustainable Development Framework Principle
Investigator: V. Pandit The
main task of the project involves Macroeconomic A Preliminary Report on the project work was presented by Prof. V. Pandit to an International Seminar on Sustainable Development organised by the Institute of Advances Studies, United National University Tokyo in late May, 2000. The Final Report was completed in early June 2001 and sent to the sponsoring agency. Final discussion on the entire project are due to be held in India in November 2001. Publications of the Members of the Centre 2000-2001 G. Balachandran 1. India and the International Economy (ed.), Oxford University Press, forthcoming. 2. "Circulation and Seafaring", in Claude Markovits et al, eds. Circulations from South Asia, forthcoming 3. "Crisis of the Periphery in the Depression" in T. Balderston, ed. The World Economy and National Economies in the InterwarSlump, forthcoming. 4. "Gold Exchange Standard and Empire, 1890-1940" in John Mcguire, et al, eds, The World Economy, Precious Metals, and Indila_ Oxford University Press, 2001 A. Banerji 1. "Sequencing Strategically: Wage Negotiations under Oligopoly", forthcoming, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 200 1. 2. "Price Formation in Grain Markets in North India",. Reserve Bank of India project report Aditya Bbattacharjea 1. "Predation, Protection and the Public Interest", Economic and Political Weekly, 2 December 2000. 2. "Foreign Entry and Domestic. Welfare: 1,essons for Developing Countries", Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, forthcoming. 3. "Trade, Foreign Investment and Competition Policy: Lessons from Economic Theory and Recent Indian Experience", forthcoming in a volume on India and the WTO, edited by A. Mattoo and R. Stem. Ashwini Deshpande 1. Boundaries of Clan and Colour, jointly edited with Williain Darity Jr., forthcoming, Routledge, London 2. Edited a special issue of the Review of Social Economy, jointly with William Darity Jr, vol 58, no.3, October 2000 3. "Recasting Economic Inequality", in Review of Social Ecoroiiiv, mentioned above 4. "Caste at Birth?", Review of Development Economics, January 2001 Jean Dreze 1. "War and Peace in the Gulf.. Testimonies of the Gulf Peace Team", (co-edited with Bela Bhatia and Kathy Kelly), Spokesman, London 2001. 2. India: Development and Participation, jointly with Amartya Sen) Oxford University Press, forthcoming. 3. "Crime, Gender and Society in India", (with Reetika Khera), Population and development Review, 26 (June 2000); reprinted in S. Mahendra Dev et al. (eds.) (2001), Social and Economic Security in India (New Delhi: Institute for Human Development). 4. "School Participation in Rural India", (with Geeta Gandhi Kingdon), Review of Development Economics, 5(1) (February 2001). 5. "Fertility, Education and Development: Evidence from India", (with Mamta Murthi), Population and Development Review, 27(1) (March 200].). 6. "Militarism, Development and Democracy", Economic and Political Weekly, 1 April 2001. 7. "Commodity Taxation and Social Welfare: The Generalised Ramsgy Rule", (with David Coady),forthcoming in International Tax and Public Finance. 8. "Human Rights Education and the Right to Education", in Pal, R.M., and Chakraborty, S. (eds.) (2000), Human Rights Education in India (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute). 9. "Patterns of Literacy and their Social Context", in Veena Das et al. (eds,) (forthcoming) Encyclopedia of Sociology and Social Anthropology (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). 10. "War and Fainines", to be published in the Amold Companion to Develoi)ment Studies, edited by Vandana Peters et al. (London: Edward Amold). Pami Dua 1. "A Leading Index for India's Exports", (with A. Banerji), Develoi)ment Research Group Study No. 23, Reserve Bank of India, January 2001. 2. "Effects of Monetary Variables on Real Output: Sensitivity Analysis", (with H. Ahmed), Applied..Economics Letters, 8, 2001 65-69 3. "An Index of Coincident Economic Indicators for the Indian Economy", (with A. Banerji), Journal of Quantitative Economics, 1999, 15, 177 - 201. 4. "Monthly Report on Forecasting and Tracking the Indian Economy Using Leading and Coincident Indexes", (with A. Banerji), ICICI Research Centre (http:// www.iciciresearchcentre.org), October 2000 onwards and Economic Times (Economy Watch), May 2001 onwards. Shreekant Gupta 1. Environmental Policy in India: The Political Econorny of Social Choices (with John Adains)", Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming (2002) 2. "Climate Change Program Study: India Country Review", report prepared for Global Environment Facility, Washington D.C., 200 1. Sunil Kanwar 1. "Does the Dog wag the Tail or the Tail the Dog? Cointegration of Indian Agriculture with Nonagriculture", Journal of Policy Modeling, 2000, 22(5), 533-556. 2. "Does Intellectual Property Protection Spur Technological Change?", Economics Growth Center Discussion Paper No. 83 1, Department of Economics, Yale University, June 2001. J.V. Meenakshi 1 . "The PDS in the Context of Changing Food Consumption Patterns: A Review of the Evidence". Paper prepared for the Planning Commiss ion, July 2001 2. "Regional Aspects of Food Consumption Behaviour" in P. R Brahmanda and V. R. Panchmukhi, editors, Development Experiences in the Indian Economy: Inter-State Persl2ectives (Bookwell, Delhi) 3. "Estimates of Poverty for SC, S'r and Female-lleaded Households", in Economic and Political Weekly, July 29-August 4, 2000 with Ran an Ray and Souvik Gupta V. Pandit 1. "Macroeconomic Policy Modelling for India : A Review of Some Analytical Issues", Journal of Quantitative Economics, Special Issue on Policy Modelling, July 1999. 2. "Policies for Stability and Growth : Experiments with a Comprehensive Structural Model for India", (with TEG-DSE Research Team) Journal of Quantitative Economics, Special Issue on Policy Modelling, July 1999. 3. "INDIA : Economic Outlook, 2000-03", October 2000 and April 2001. 4. "Data Relating to Prices in India", Indian Economic Review vol.30, No.1, July 2000, reprinted in C.P. Chandrasekhar and J.B.G. Tilak (eds.) India's Socioeconomic Data Base, Tulika, New Delhi, 2001. 5. "Structural Modelling Under Challenge", manuscript of Invited Lecture delivered at the 37 h Annual Conference of the Indian Econometric Conference, Surat. 6. "Modelling Money Multiplier" manuscript of the paper presented (with G. Mahanty) to the Third Conference on Money & Finance, IGIDR, Bombay. 7. "A Monetary Policy Model". Manuscript of the paper presented (with G. Maliaiity) to the 37hAnnual Conference of TIES R. N. Pradban Manuscript 1. India's External Debt 2. Review of Athukorata, P. C. & Rajpatirana, S (2000) Liberalization and Industrial Transformation: Srilanka in International Perspective, New Delhi, CUP. The Book Review, vol. xxiv, No. 10, Oct. 2000 46-47. Om Prakash 1. "European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India", Cambridge University Press, Paperback edition, 2000 2. "The Portuguese in the Far East, 1540-1640" in A. R. Disney (ed.), Vasco da Gama and the Linking of Europe and Asia, Oxfo rd University Press, Delhi, 2000 3. "India in the Indian Ocean Trading Network on the Eve of the Europeans' Arrival in the Asian Seas" in Hennann Kulke et al (ed.), Explorations in the History of South Asia, Delhi, 2001 4. "Globat Precious Metal Flows and India, 1500-1750" in John McGuire, Patrick Bertola and Peter Reeves (ed.), Evolution of the World Economy, Precious Metals and India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001 Sudhir A. Shah 1 . "An economic theory of emission cap determination by an international agreement", forthcoming in S. Gupta and M. Tonian (eds.) Climate change, economics and policy: An Indian perspective", published by Resources for the Future, Washington, DC Ram Singh 1. "Efficient Liability Rules: Complete Characterization", (with Satish K. Jain) in Journal of Economics ZeitSchrift Fur Nationalokonomie, forthcoming S.D. Tendulkar 1. "Determinants of Firm-level Export Performance : A Case Study of Indian Textile Garment Industry", (with T.A. Bhavani), forthcoming in 2001 in Journal of International Trade and Develo-pment 2, "NAS-NSS Estimates of Private Consumption for Poverty Estimation: A Disaggregated Comparison for 1993-94" (with K.Sundaram), Economic and Political Weekly Vol. XXXVI, No. 2 (January 13, 2001) 3. "Economic Liberalisation and Challenges, Opportunities and Pitfalls", Ch. 1, in V.S. Jafa (Ed.): Liberalisation in India, Road Ahead, New Century Publications, Delhi (2001) Manuscripts Completed 1. Reducing Poverty : A framework for the Bank's Country Economic Strategy in India :Part 1. Poverty in India : An Assessment and Analysis, Part 11 : Country Economic Strategy for India (with K.Sundaram) for Asian Development Bank, Manila (Completed May 2000). 2. "Markets and Long Term Economic Growth in South Asia", 195097 (with Binayak Sen) Paper prepared for the Global Research Project of the World Bank and South Asian Network of Economic Institutes (May 2000). 3. "Indian Export and Economic Growth Performance in Asian Perspective": Working Paper No. 54, Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations, New Delhi (December 2000). Also Occasional Paper No. 81, Export-Import Bank of India, published by Quest Publications, Mumbai (December 2000). 4. "India in the World Economy" (with T.N.Srinivasan) Draft finalised for publication by the Institute of International Economics, Washington D.C. and Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relation (March 2001). 5. "Has Po verty in India declined in the 1990s? An Analysis of Problems of Comparability Over Tii-ne", paper prepared for International Seminar on Understanding Socio-Economic Changes Through National Surveys organised by the National Sample Survey Organisation, Government of India, New Delhi, 12-13 May, 200 1. Working
Papers 2000-2001 86.
Renuka Pillai An Analysis of Paddy Productive Growth in West Bengal
and Orissa. (August, 2000) Office Staff, August 2001 Jai
Mohan Pandit, Manager Administration & Finance |