This study attempts to quantify the links between infrastructure investment and poverty reduction using a multi-region general equilibrium model, supplemented with household survey data for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Infrastructure investment is an important step in economic...

This paper examines three software and/or information technology enabled services (ITES) industries—two in the early stages of development (in the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and the Philippines) and one mature one (in India). Being latecomers to offshoring work, the PRC and...

This paper estimates respective roles of private investments in irrigation and local government programs (land reforms, extension services, and infrastructure investments) in the growth of farm productivity in West Bengal, India between 1981-95. A farm panel from a stratified random sample of...

International trade has played an essential role in Asia’s remarkable growth, development, and integration in recent decades. Infrastructure, both hard and soft, has played an integral part in facilitating that trade, primarily through reducing the associated transaction costs. Regional...

The study attempts to examine the impact of remittances on macroeconomic activities (private consumption and investment) and its implications on economic growth in India for the period from 1966-67 to 2003-04. Estimating a general consumption model, the results indicate that remittances along...

Research Studies on Rice/Paddy initiated by Hivos in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and The Netherlands looked at several aspects related to ecological/environmental, economic, institutional, social/gender dimensions of rice production, trade and consumption. The sharing of findings from these...

Despite the general consensus that microfinance does not reach the poorest; recent evidence suggests that nearly 15% of microfinance clients in Bangladesh are among the poorest. It is from the realization that even within the existing microfinance membership of BRAC, there is a significant...

A review of the progress and impact of the overall strategy for scaling up the SHG Bank Linkage Programme over the last decade. [Paper presented at the Seminar on SHG-bank Linkage Programme at New Delhi on 25th and 26th November 2002]

This paper uses a large panel database to investigate the determinants of forest clearing in Indonesian kabupatens since 2005. The study incorporates short-run changes in prices and demand for palm oil and wood products, as well as the exchange rate, the real interest rate, land-use zoning,...

West Bengal is not among the best performing states with regard to NREGA. The performance of all districts in the state is not equally discouraging. Some districts, in fact, have done well in generating good number of average person-days per household or in distributing the benefits of work in...