Do value-added taxes benefit firms? Evidence from the adoption of state-specific value-added taxes
Value-added tax (VAT) systems have grown popular in the last 30 years, especially among developing countries looking for ways to raise tax revenue efficiently. Using 2000-2012 data on product, state-s...
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David Agrawal
Laura Zimmermann
25 May, 2022
- Articles
Does going cashless make you tax-rich? Evidence from India’s demonetisation
During 2014-2017, the share of adults using electronic payments in the developing world increased by over a third, and policymakers have expressed optimism regarding the role of this trend in promotin...
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Lucie Gadenne
Tushar Nandi
Ross Warwick
28 March, 2022
- Articles
Fixing incentives for power plants to reduce outages
Consumers in India face frequent power outages despite relatively high-quality infrastructure and ample supply of power plants. This article identifies a novel explanation for India’s blackouts: whe...
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Fiona Burlig
Akshaya Jha
Louis Preonas
08 April, 2022
- Articles
Economic growth versus social development: The spatial dimension
In the context of the economic growth versus social development debate sparked off by Bhagwati and Sen, this column argues for a more nuanced approach to assessing progress. Combining nationally repre...
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Ranjan Ray
31 July, 2013
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Turn Right or Left? Or is there a middle way?
Dilip Mookherjee shares his perspective on the recent Bhagwati versus Sen debate. While Sen represents the pro-state-led assistance stand and Bhagwati is seen as pro-market, what India requires is th...
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Dilip Mookherjee
25 July, 2013
- Perspectives
Food Bill: Neither populist nor unaffordable
Criticism of the National Food Security Bill has led to the government dropping the idea of issuing an Ordinance and instead, saying it would try to get the Bill passed in a special session of Parlia...
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Ashok Kotwal
Milind Murugkar
Bharat Ramaswami
19 June, 2013
- Perspectives
Cash Transfer versus In-Kind Transfers: A conceptual framework and preliminary evidence
This project studied the performance of a conditional cash transfer scheme called Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana, which provides money to purchase a bicycle to every student who is enrolled in standard nin...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
Sandip Mitra
01 June, 2013
- IGC Research on India
Bihar's malnutrition crisis and potential solutions
The prevalence of underweight children in Bihar is higher than in any country in the world, and the provision of public services to address malnutrition is poor. Based on an assessment of the governm...
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Ronald Abraham
Andrew Fraker
24 May, 2013
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The role of informal caste networks in public service delivery
Large public programmes designed at the national level are often undermined by corruption at the local level. This column proposes local level monitoring and enforcement through informal networks as ...
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Sriniketh Nagavarapu
Sheetal Sekhri
06 May, 2013
- Articles
IAP improving lives in Maoist-affected areas
In this Note from the Field, a PMRDF working in the Left Wing Extremism affected Purulia district in West Bengal, narrates how the Maoist movement disrupted livelihoods, revenue generation and public...
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Animesh Ghosh
05 April, 2013
- Notes from the Field
Adoption of Water-Saving Infrastructure in Agriculture: The Case of Laser Levellers
Water tables are falling rapidly, in large part due to the fact that individuals do not bear the social marginal cost of the water they use; free water extraction is a property right attached to land ...
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Nathan Larson
Sheetal Sekhri
Rajinder Sidhu
31 March, 2013
- IGC Research on India
Should bribe-givers be let off?
In 2011, Economist Kaushik Basu argued that for a class of bribes, the law should not punish the bribe-giver. This column presents results of experiments conducted to test this idea and provides insi...
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Tarun Jain
28 March, 2013
- Articles
Two questions about the 2G scandal
The scandal involving corruption in the allocation of 2G licenses left the nation stunned. This column presents estimates of the revenue loss to the government, and says that while the common man was...
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Sandip Sukhtankar
25 March, 2013
- Articles
Is the District Innovation Fund being utilised?
The 13th Finance Commission has recommended the creation of a District Innovation Fund in each district. The objective of the fund is to increase the efficiency of existing capital assets by filling v...
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Ajit Nayak
08 February, 2013
- Notes from the Field
Use of technology to improve public service delivery
How is technology being used to improve public service delivery at the grass root level? In this Note from the Field, the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows that are working with district ad...
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Chandrasekhar Bhuyan
Animesh Ghosh
Kshovan Guha
Dipti Paridhi Kindo
Priyanka Kumari
Ankush Singh
Sushma Taywade
Sweta Trayambak
06 February, 2013
- Notes from the Field
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Unique Health Identification and Aadhaar: A case for mandatory linkage
As part of the Digital India initiative, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issues a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number to each patient, which documents their entire journey in th...
Mudit Kapoor
23 December, 2016
- Perspectives
Caste dominance in rural India: Cause and effect
Rural India remains a caste-based society. This column explores why caste continues to play such an important role and what the effects are. It argues that trade and agricultural productivity suffer, ...
Siwan Anderson
16 August, 2012
- Articles
Rethinking cadre allocation procedures in civil services
The allocation procedure of All-India Services’ officers to states is an important aspect of personnel administration in the public sector. This article shows that a change in allocation policy in 2...
Ashutosh Thakur
18 March, 2019
- Articles