This paper contributes to two strands of literature on empirical models of trade flows and trade policy. The first and the older strand is that of gravity models of bilateral trade flows going back to Hans Linneman (1966) and Tinbergen (1962) and its recent applications, particularly by Adams et...

This paper studies the impact of taxation on poverty and ex ante vulnerability of households in rural China based on national household survey data in 1988, 1995 and 2002. It has been confirmed that i) poverty and vulnerability have reduced significantly with a great deal of geographical...

Measuring well-being of an Individual based on his/her levels of functionings raises the following problem; Two vectors representing two individuals' achieved levels of functionings cannot be ranked unless one vector dominates the other, One solution is to combine the elements of vector into...

Labour inspections could, in theory, improve labour standards and help countries move towards decent work goals and the elimination of chronic poverty. But, in practice, inspections are either not conducted or do not result in penalties for those who break the law. Using the case of India, and...

In this paper they show how an optimization algorithm can be used to approximately quantify the costs to users of spatial misallocation in centrally provided public goods. This method can be employed to evaluate the large programs of public good construction that have been central features of...

This paper focuses on comparisons of productivity, (unit) labor cost and industry-level competitiveness for the manufacturing sector of China and India. They first provide a comparison between India and China using a broad international perspective. [ICRIER Working Paper No. 228]

This paper undertakes structural estimation of asymmetric auction models in a market for basmati, and detects the presence of a cartel consisting of a large (in market share) local miller and commission agents purchasing for large distant millers. The contracts between the distant millers and...

The notion that the backwardness of Indian Agriculture may be explained in terms of the institutional, and more particularly, the market structure within its functions, is not wholly novel one, elements of such an explanation being found in a number of 19th century writings on the subject. This...

Using a structural dynamic programming model, we investigate the relative importance of family background variables and individual specific abilities in explaining cross-sectional differences in schooling attainments and wages. Given scholastic ability, household background variables (especially...

Development within the framework of economic reforms is often equated to growth rates which are highlighted as the only solution to all problems – be it poverty, unemployment or inequalities based on gender, class and caste. Higher economic growth, apart from having its trickle down...