The paper associates inequality of opportunities with outcome differences that can be accounted by pre-determined circumstances which lie beyond the control of an individual, such as parental education, parental occupation, caste, religion and place of birth. The overall opportunity share...

Growing number of studies accentuated enigmas in PDS system, many of them provided evidences based on National Sample Survey (NSS) and other official statistics, more particularly by major states. Many of them also highlighted theoretical and operational difficulties in existing policy...

Financial inclusion is crucial for the inclusive and sustainable economic growth of developing countries. Access to financial services to all citizens, particularly to low income and poor people is a key to promote inclusive growth. While rural financial inclusion assumes importance from policy...

In the Gangetic flood plain of West Bengal, wetlands are used for multiple purposes, and have significant role in the livelihoods of the local people. Over the years, these Multiple Use Systems (MUSs) are getting converted to single use systems due to economic and social pressure from dominant...

The introduction of the National Rural Health Mission has increased the demand for micro-level data on population and health for use in monitoring, planning and programme implementation. This calls for the introduction of a Health Management Information System (HMIS). The launching of a national...

Increasing inequality and associated egalitarian sentiments have again put redistribution on the political agenda. Other-regarding preferences may also affect support for redistribution, but knowledge about their distribution in the broader population and how they are associated with political...

The recent inflation in India is special both because of its peaks as also for its persistence. While couple of years back the rising inflation was blamed on global factors, this time around there is no denying the fact that it is due to structural problems of our economy, especially those...

The paper explores the factors influencing banking outreach. Using time series data on Indian states for 1973-2004, the analysis indicates a divergence across states in terms of the outreach of formal finance over time, ceteris paribus. The findings also uncover an important role of literacy and...

In the factors that affect income and poverty outcomes, there are some features unique to India. Caste, ethnicity, religion and even regional origins all influence income outcomes. Therefore while examining individual poverty, the influence of social belongings on the level and the nature of...

We analyze distributional preferences in games in which a decider chooses the provision of a good that benefits a receiver and creates costs for a group of payers. The average decider takes into account the welfare of all parties and has concerns for efficiency. However, she attaches similar...