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The latest wealth index by New World Wealth that looks at multimillionaires has ranked India eighth in the global rich list. This article contends that looking at absolute numbers may be misleading. Accounting for population and economic differences across countries, it shows that while India does ...
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Debraj Ray Maitreesh Ghatak 
05 September, 2014
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Poverty & Inequality
Year: 2014
Economics of public pension: Analysing India's old-age pension scheme
India’s older population aged 60 or above, is the second largest in the world. This column analyses the effects of India’s National Old Age Pension Scheme on the wellbeing of the elderly. It recommends that the Indian government should increase the pension amount to lower the risk of poverty am...
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Neeraj Kaushal
- 03 September, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2014
What impedes SMEs from joining Asian supply chains?
While Small and Medium Enterprises play a significant role in job creation at the country level in Asia, they are underrepresented in Asian supply chains. This column analyses data from 5,900 manufacturing enterprises from five Southeast Asian economies - Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippi...
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Ganeshan Wignaraja
- 01 September, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2014
Can MNREGA buffer negative shocks in early childhood?
Exposure to negative shocks such as drought during early childhood is known to have lasting, detrimental effects on human development outcomes. This column examines whether a household’s access to MNREGA, later in the life of the child, can offset the impact of early childhood shocks. It finds th...
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Aparajita Dasgupta
- 29 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2014
Is the rupee fairly valued?
Is the rupee fairly valued, and should the RBI allow it to appreciate beyond its current rate? This column analyses new World Bank data and finds that the rupee is persistently undervalued by 30% or more. Given the undervaluation, it is puzzling to note that India runs large, structural current acc...
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Arvind Subramanian Martin Kessler
- 27 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2014
Goods and Services Tax in India: Challenges and prospects
The Finance Ministry recently announced that the Goods and Services Tax will soon be a reality. In this article, M. Govinda Rao – member of the 14th Finance Commission – discusses the challenges and prospects of transitioning to GST. He contends that given the multitude of stakeholders and cont...
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M. Govinda Rao
- 25 August, 2014
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2014
The new plan body must have a certain oomph
PM Modi has announced that his government plans to scrap the six-decade old Planning Commission and replace it with a more contemporary think tank. In this article, Abhijit Banerjee outlines the various functions that the Planning Commission has served over the years, and presents his view on the t...
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Abhijit Banerjee
- 21 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2014
Left, right, and toilets
Eliminating open defecation in India is a policy priority. This column contends that successful strategies for reducing open defecation may not fit policy stereotypes of the left or the right. While rural sanitation policy in states where this practice is most concentrated has been focused on latri...
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Dean Spears
- 19 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2014
What the Muslim mortality paradox reveals about importance of sanitation for all children in India
It has long been noted that in India, Hindu children face substantially higher mortality rates than Muslim children, despite being relatively richer on average. This column shows that differences in latrine use by religion can fully explain this pattern. This phenomenon sheds new light on how the o...
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Michael Geruso
- 18 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2014
Culture, religion and open defecation in rural north India
Open defecation in rural India is a human development emergency that is causing infant deaths, child stunting, and widespread infectious diseases. This column presents surprising qualitative and quantitative research about why so many people in rural India defecate in the open, even when latrines a...
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Diane Coffey
- 14 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2014
Do private tuitions improve learning outcomes?
About a fourth of the students enrolled in elementary schools in rural India attend private tuitions. This column analyses the impact of private tuition on learning outcomes, and finds that it has a large, positive effect on math and language test scores. The impact is greater for those who are mor...
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Ambrish Dongre Vibhu Tewary
- 13 August, 2014
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Human Development
Year: 2014
Protectionism under the guise of food security
India has backed out of the commitment it made at the WTO negotiations in Bali in November 2013. The implicit explanation is that the government needs to accumulate food grain stocks to provide subsidised grain to the poor and ensure food security. In this article, Kotwal, Murugkar and Ramaswami cri...
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Ashok Kotwal Bharat Ramaswami Milind Murugkar
- 10 August, 2014
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Trade
Year: 2014