We show that the effect of eviction threats on unobservable investment effort can be positive. Wedemonstrate this apparently counter-intuitive result in a model of tenancy where investment by atenant in the current period raises the chances of doing well in the next period, and...

The well-known inverse relationship between farm size and productivity is usually explained in terms ofdiminishing returns with respect to land and other inputs coupled with various types of market frictions thatprevent the efficient allocation of land across farms. We show that even in the...

During the last two decades West Bengal has led the rest of the country with regard to agricultural performance andimplementation of panchayat institutions. But these developments have begun to level out. At the same time the state hasfallen behind in other sectors – industry, higher education...

We analyze a simple and tractable model of occupational choice in the presence of credit marketimperfections. We examine the effect of parameters governing technology and transaction costs, andhistory, in terms of the initial wealth distribution, in determining the long-term wealth...

The experience of West Bengal under the panchayat system stands in sharp contrast withthat of other states and, together with land reform, it has been credited for playing animportant role in the impressive economic turnaround of the state since the mid 1980s. WestBengal is the first and the...

There has been a dramatic change in the division of responsibility betweenthe state and the private sector for the delivery of public goods and services inrecent years with an increasing trend toward contracting out to the private sectorand “public-private partnerships.” This paper analyzes...

This paper explores the consequences of creating and improvingproperty rights so that …xed assets can be used as collateral. Thishas become a cause célèbre of Hernando de Soto whose views areinfluential in debates about policy reform concerning property rights.Hence, we refer to the economic...

We re-examine the labor donation theory of not-for-profits and show that these organizations may exist notnecessarily because motivated workers prefer to work in them, or that they dominate for-profits in terms ofwelfare, but because the excess supply of motivated workers makes the non-profit...

Pricing policy for any experience good faces a key tradeoff. On one hand, a price reduction increases immediate demand and hence more people learn about the product. On the other hand, lower prices may serve as price anchors and, through a comparison effect, decrease subsequent demand. This...