Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are the principal means of financing health care throughout much of Asia. The paper describe the magnitude and distribution of OOP payments for health care in 14 countries and territories accounting for 81% of the Asian population. The focus is on expenditures that...

The budget 2006-07 proposals in health care fell well short of India’s march towards achieving Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), the National Health Policy (NHP) goals and fully operationalising the National Rural Health Mission. Two questions still remain: (a) when will the urban bias...

This paper describes the structure and the distribution of health care financing in 13 territories that account for 55% of the Asian population. Survey data on household payments are combined with Health Accounts data on aggregate expenditures by source to estimate distributions of total health...

Review of 'United Nations Development Aid: A Study in History and Politics' by Digambar Bhouraskar, Academic Foundation, New Delhi.

The record of aid to fragile and poorly-performing states is the real test of aid effectiveness. Rich countries can justify aid to fragile states both through altruism and self-interest. But, with some exceptions, donors have appeared at the wrong times and with the wrong attitudes, even...

Food security policies in developing countries generally focus on calorie intake, which is not sufficient to tackle the triple burden of malnutrition: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and over-nutrition. Consumption of a diverse diet is important to lessen the burden and is...

This study explores the three way linkage between weather variability, agricultural performance and internal migration in India at state and district level using Indian Census data.[MSE].

There are relatively few theoretical models or empirical analyses of clientelism which analyse the sources and consequences of clientelism. Data from household surveys in rural West Bengal are used to analyse the political clientelism. [BREAD working paper no. 369]....

This paper examines whether an individual-level transfer of property rights increases the individual's bargaining power within the household. The question is analyzed in the context of a housing reform that occurred in China that gave existing tenants the opportunity to purchase the homes that...

Recruiting female teachers is frequently suggested as a policy option for improving girls' education outcomes in developing countries, but there is surprisingly little evidence on the effectiveness of such a policy. The gender gaps in learning outcomes are studied, and the effectiveness of...