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Poverty Inequality
Universal basic income and the Indian macroeconomy
In this article, Shiv Hastawala discusses how, given the macroeconomic framework of India, a universal basic income could potentially have a positive impact on the economy in terms of output, employment, and inflation. Tweet using: #basicincome
Draft social security code: Will it help informal workers?
Labour law reform is considered as a key requirement for creation of new jobs as well as greater formalisation of existing jobs in India. In March this year, the Ministry of Labour and Employment brought out the draft social security code to amalgamate several Central labour laws and extend employment security to all workers. In this article, Sharmila Kantha discusses the positive features and practical aspects of the legislation.
Unleashing the forgotten billion of India
About 1.7% of India's 400 million workforce learns skills on their own. In this article, Yuvaraj Galada, former Vice President of National Skill Development Corporation, shares experiences from his travels to India's hinterland to meet these ustaads - individuals with extraordinary motivation to self-learn. In his view, supporting and catalysing ustaads to train others can be a rapidly scalable, grassroots approach to closing India's skills gap.
Straw men in the debate on basic income versus targeting
A universal basic income as a poverty-reduction policy is often contrasted unfavourably with targeted transfers. In this article, Martin Ravallion argues that five of the common arguments employed against basic income are really straw men that overstate the relative effectiveness of targeted transfers. While a universal basic income is not yet feasible in many countries, more universality and less fine targeting would create better social policies.
Estimating intergenerational income mobility in rural India
For developing countries, it is difficult to find income mobility studies that rely on datasets linking parents with their children. Using a panel dataset spanning 1994-2012, this column presents improved estimates of intergenerational income mobility in rural India, which is found to be higher than analogous evidence from other developing countries. While India is progressing towards cross-caste equality, it is at a disappointingly slow rate.
A proposal for universal basic services
In the context of the ongoing debate on the idea of a universal basic income for India, Prof. Himanshu of Jawaharlal Nehru University argues that we first need to ensure that all citizens have access to basic services such as health and education, provided by the government.
Price risk and poverty
There is an ongoing policy debate in India on whether grain entitlements under PDS should be converted into cash transfers. This column shows that in the face of high price variability, in-kind transfers such as the PDS can be superior to cash transfers as they could significantly reduce the strength of the relationship between prices and caloric intake, hence, shielding households from price risk.
Two views on fighting world poverty
In the previous article, Lant Pritchett critiqued Chris Blattman’s proposal to compare interventions that provide chickens rather than cash, and the view that the answer is the best investment we could make to fight world poverty. In this article, Blattman contends that he agrees that we need to focus on the big picture and growth as a society, but that there is a strong argument for directly tackling the worst poverty now.
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