We analyze the impact of the Hindu Succession Amendment Act (HSAA) that mandated equal inheritance rights for women, on their fertility choices in the context of son-preference in rural India. We use the NFHS-3 data and exploit the variation in timing of the introduction of the HSAA across...

The paper demonstrates that the standard policy for controlling child labor by imposing a fine on firms caught employing children can cause child labor to rise. This 'pathological' reaction is, however, reversed as the size of the fine increases

American Indian communities are the poorest in the United States. They suffer from poverty, unemployment, and inadequate housing rates not seen elsewhere in the U.S. Yet any discussion of economic development in Indian Country is always conditioned and constrained by concerns about possible...

This paper is a short history of the Indian economy since 1968. India today is a changed country from what it was half a century ago, when Myrdal published his Asian Drama. The stranglehold of low growth has been broken, its population below the poverty line has fallen markedly, and India has...

Son preference in countries like India results in higher female infant mortality rates and differentially lower access to health care and education for girls than for boys. We use a nationally representative survey of Indian households (NFHS-3) to conduct the first study that analyzes whether...

Recent years have seen a sustained progress in the fight against child labour. The current global economic and financial crisis can potentially reverse the positive trends observed in several countries and further aggravate the problem in regions such as Sub Saharan Africa where the phenomenon...

This paper purports to examine the validity of the common belief that in a developing economy the backward agricultural sector should be subsidized as poorer group of the working population are employed in this sector that send their children out to work out of sheer poverty. A three-sector...

Do the short and medium term adjustment costs associated with trade liberalization influence schooling and child labor decisions? We examine this question in the context of India's 1991 tariff reforms. Overall, in the 1990s, rural India experienced a dramatic increase in schooling and decline in...

How does future income uncertainty affect child labour and human capital accumulation? Using a unique panel dataset, we examine the effect of changes in climate variability on the allocation of time among child labour activities (the intensive margin) as well as participation in education and...