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121. Regional concentration of FDI involves trade-offs in post-reform India

Author:
Peter Nunnenkamp, Wan-Hsin Liu, and Frank Bickenbach
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
P. Chidambaram, India's Minister of Finance, claimed that "FDI worked wonders in China and can do so in India." However, China's example may also point to the limitations of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization in promoting the host country's economic development. FDI in China is heavily concentrated in the coastal areas, and previous studies have suggested that this has contributed to the increasing disparity in regional income and growth since the late 1970s.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
China, South Asia, and India

122. Afghanistan after the Drawdown

Author:
Gerald F. Hyman
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
In his 2013 State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama announced that by the end of 2014 "our war in Afghanistan will be over" and, a month earlier, that "by the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete—Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end." The military transition, successful or not, is in full swing. Of course the war will not come to an end in 2014, responsible or otherwise. Even if the military drawdown goes as planned, "America's commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change," the president said. On the military side, our enduring commitment will focus on training, equipping, and funding the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and "some counterterrorism efforts that allow us to pursue remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates," presumably the Taliban. As the United States draws down, so too will the remaining coalition countries of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) under North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command.
Topic:
Security, Development, Economics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and South Asia

123. The U.S.-India Relationship: Cross-Sector Collaboration To Promote Sustainable Development

Author:
Michael J. Fratantuono, Dr. David M. Sarcone, and John D. Colwell Jr.
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
In August 2012, my colleague, David Sarcone, and I learned that a proposal for a workshop entitled, “The U.S.-India Relationship: Cross-Sector Collaboration to Promote Sustainable Development,” that we had submitted to the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) had been selected for funding under the Academic Engagement Program of SSI. The workshop, which we coordinated and directed in conjunction with SSI, was held at our home institution, Dickinson College, from March 12- 14, 2013. The roster of participants was diverse and impressive: It included leading scholars, military officers, government officials, and representatives from the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors from India and the United States. The purpose of this volume is to share formal contributions made to the workshop by participants, and to convey some of the insights that surfaced during workshop sessions.
Topic:
Development, Treaties and Agreements, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, South Asia, and India

124. The Best of Rules and Discretion: A Case for Nominal GDP Targeting in India

Author:
Pranjul Bhandari and Jeffrey Frankel
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
The recent revival of interest in nominal GDP (NGDP) targeting has come in the context of large advanced economies. We argue that the case for NGDP targeting is even more appealing for mid-sized developing countries, because they tend to be more susceptible to supply shocks and terms of trade shocks. For India, in particular, one major exogenous supply shock is the monsoon rains. NGDP targeting splits the impact of supply shocks automatically between inflation and real GDP growth. In the case of inflation targeting (IT), by contrast, the full impact of an adverse supply shock or terms of trade shock is felt as a loss in real GDP alone. NGDP targeting arguably achieves the best of both worlds: it automatically accommodates supply shocks as most central banks with discretion would do anyway, while retaining the advantage of anchoring expectations as rules are designed to do. We outline a simple theoretical model and derive the conditions under which an NGDP targeting regime would dominate other regimes such as IT for achieving objectives of output and price stability. We go on to estimate for the case of India the main parameters needed to ascertain whether these conditions hold, most notably the slope of the aggregate supply curve. We find that under certain plausible conditions, nominal GDP targeting is indeed better placed than IT, especially in the face of the supply shocks that developing countries tend to experience.
Topic:
Development, Emerging Markets, Monetary Policy, GDP, Inflation, and Central Bank
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

125. Analysis of Population Growth and Urban Development in Lahore-Pakistan using Geospatial Techniques: Suggesting some future Options

Author:
Safdar Ali Shirazi and Syed Jamil H. Kazmi
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Population is the main focus in all studies within the framework of geography because population and basic natural resources are intimately related to each other and with the prospects of urban development and quality of the environment in a region. Therefore, the study and analysis of population growth and distribution in the urban development is the logical starting point for any research of the present nature. Lahore is 2nd largest city of Pakistan in terms of its share in total population of the country. The total population of Lahore was 6,318,745 as per 1998 Census. Systematic monitoring of the urban development, proper management of the City and planned future development would lead to improvement in the living standards and environmental conditions of the millions of people living in the city of Lahore. Remote sensing along with the GIS technology can be used effectively and economically in the analysis and the inventory of urban development and land use and land cover study of the urban settlements. It provides database for the site suitability for further urban development and growth corridors in this fast growing metropolis of the country.
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Urban, Population Growth, and Cities
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia

126. When Women Farm India's Land: How to increase ownership?

Author:
Lucy Dubochet
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Women have long played a crucial role in India's agricultural production, and the trend that sees men shifting to non-farm activities further increases their responsibility. The situation of women cultivators is one of tremendous vulnerability: without land titles, they are not recognised as farmers, and thus are not able to access credits and government benefits. This policy brief outlines avenues to address the gap between the reality for many rural women and their entitlements.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Gender Issues, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

127. Is the Information Technology Agreement Facilitating Latecomer Manufacturing and Innovation? India's Experience

Author:
Dieter Ernst
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
A defining characteristic of today's international trading system is that plurilateral trade agreements like the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) are gaining in importance relative to the gridlocked Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations. These more selective trade agreements pose new and so far little understood challenges for the governance of the international trading system, especially with regard to the distribution of liberalization gains among participants which differ in their stage of development, their institutions, and their resources and capabilities.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
South Asia

128. Complaining to the State: Grievance Redress and India's Social Welfare Programs

Author:
Nicholas Robinson
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
Poor implementation of social welfare programs is a chronic challenge in developing countries such as India. Yet, despite the large number of people affected and the serious consequences of implementation failure, there have been few studies, and even less theorization, of grievance redress in these contexts. Based on fieldwork conducted by the author, this article examines grievance redress for social welfare programs in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. It argues that the idea of accountability regimes, which has been developed in the administrative law literature, provides a more useful framework for understanding grievance redress than commonly invoked alternatives, such as a purely rights-based approach or an ad hoc analysis of the costs and benefits of specific redress mechanisms. While not rejecting either of these alternatives, it claims that an accountability regime approach that focuses on how officials are monitored and controlled through grievances is both more descriptively complete and more likely to generate a wider range of useful policy prescriptions.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, and Developing World
Political Geography:
South Asia

129. The Laboratory and its Double: The Making of the Scientist-Citizen at TIFR

Author:
Indira Chowdhury
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
The first day of Indian independence is popularly identified with Nehru's famous "tryst with destiny" speech delivered at the Red Fort - the symbolc seat of power at New Delhi, the capital of the new nation. At the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, that the physicist Homi Bhabha had set up two years ago, the day was celebrated quietly, though not without its lessons for the scientists who now had to be nurtured into becoming scientist-citizens. The available records of TIFR do not have any reference to the ceremonies that took place on August 15, 1947. However, the oral history interviews of a scientist present on that day bear testimony to the relationship that was being imagined between nationalism and science.
Topic:
Development, Education, Science and Technology, and History
Political Geography:
South Asia

130. Primary Schooling, Student Learning, and School Quality in Rural Bangladesh

Author:
Mohammad Niaz Asadullah and Nazmul Chaudhury
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Using a primary school curricular standard basic mathematics competence test, this paper documents the low level of student achievement amongst 10-18 year old rural children in Bangladesh and tests the extent to which years spent in school increases learning. Our sample includes children currently enrolled in school as well as those out of school. About half of the children failed to pass the written competence test, a finding that also holds for those completing primary schooling. Even after holding constant a wide range of factors such as household income, parental characteristics, current enrollment status, and a direct measure of child ability, there remains a statistically significant correlation between schooling attained and basic mathematics competence above and beyond primary school completion. This pattern is more pronounced for girls who have lower competence compared to boys despite higher grade completion.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Islam, and Poverty
Political Geography:
South Asia