Why next-generation economic reforms are crucial for reviving investment

Macroeconomics

Covid-19: Are we ready for the long haul? - Part II
In Part I of this piece, the authors made broad recommendations to guide the government’s response to Covid-19 in India. In this part, they identify five salient population groups that are particularly vulnerable to the economic and health shocks arising from the current crisis, and regions where relief effort needs to be concentrated.

Covid-19: Are we ready for the long haul? - Part I
As this may be the first of many future lockdowns to stamp out possible repeated outbreaks of Covid-19, policymakers must be prepared to provide relief to adversely affected individuals. With this in mind, the authors propose a comprehensive approach that argues for a combination of in-kind transfers and cash support to be provided to all households with ration cards during any lockdown that takes place over the next 24 months.

How did demonetisation affect household consumption?
‘Demonetisation’ announced in India in 2016 made 86% of cash in circulation illegal tender overnight. This article finds that it led to a decline in household consumption in the initial months after demonetisation. The decline in consumption was the highest for the richest households, while the poorest households had the least impact on consumption. However, poor households had to rely on informal credit to maintain their consumption.

Covid-19: Is there a reasonable alternative to a comprehensive lockdown?
In India’s battle against Covid-19, we are inevitably confronted by the choice between social distancing on the one hand, and denying people their livelihood on the other. Recognising the unsustainability of a general, mandatory lockdown, Ray and Subramanian put forth a proposal whereby the young are legally permitted to work and the locus of measures to avoid intergenerational transmission is shifted to the household.

Covid-19: Dealing with the economic consequences
In the last two weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world economy upside down, and all indicators point to one of the sharpest economic contractions in modern times. In this post, Ram Singh discusses the hard choices that lie ahead for India, and what government interventions are required to prevent the shock from turning a slowdown into a depression.
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