In this paper a particular market failure that may lead to inefficiently low equilibrium fertility and therefore to a need for government intervention are analysed. The friction which is investigated is related to the ownership of children. If parents have no claim on their children’s...

In this paper, we analyze the extent to which market forces create an incentive for cloning human beings. We show that a market for cloning arises if a large enough fraction of the clone’s income can be appropriated by its model. Only people with the highest ability are cloned, while...

In this paper debt policy in a two-period, two-sector overlapping generations model with Leontief technologies has been analysed. It has been found that debt, issued to transfer resources to the initially old, could be welfare improving in the new steady state for an economy which satisfies the...

The study is based on an extensive survey carried out in the Indian cities of Chennai, Trichy, Thiruvananthapuram, Tuticorin, Mumbai and Rameshwaram. Informal trade between India and Sri Lanka is largely a one way trade from India to Sri Lanka and is almost a third of the total value of trade...

This paper provides an empirical basis for the perceived link between rural infrastructure and agricultural productivity. It validates the hypothesis that deficiencies in rural infrastructure e.g., transportation, energy, and related infrastructure have an adverse impact on agricultural...

It is attempted to understand the implications of equality in water distribution on social welfare with a simple abstract analysis using Leontief-type fixed production function.

This paper proposes “lack of political will†as the most important reason why a ruling political party is unable to commit itself to economically efficient choices or policies. The notion of political will is explicated using concepts from the transactioncosts perspective. The paper...

Freshwater community-based aquaculture was introduce to village irrigation tanks in the dry zones of Sri Lanka in order to off-set the limited supply of animal protein available to residents in inland areas. This paper examines transaction costs associated with the management of community-based...

This paper examines the possibility of using economic instruments, especially pollution taxes and bargaining approaches, as a means to encourage or improve people’s participation in environmental management in India. It provides an intuitive description of methods for designing economic...

In the run-up to Rio+20, this Asia-Pacific Human Development Report takes a bold look at climate change and what can be done about it. Tackling head-on the issue of poverty reduction and human development, the Report argues that the option to grow now, clean up later no longer exists for...