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Matching keywords : Microfinance, dynamic effects, Bangladesh, microcredit programs, female autonomy within households,

Who’s Afraid of Naomi Osaka?

As an extraordinarily powerful individual, Naomi Osaka presents challenges to institutional power most of us can only imagine. If she worked in coordination with other top athletes across different sp...

by Jeffrey Montez de Oca | On 29 Jun 2021

Weekend Rumniations: Don't bet just yet on Bangladesh as South Asia's economic champion

Bangladesh might overtake India this year by per capita income in nominal dollars, but it is not yet close to becoming South Asia's economic powerhouse anytime soon.

by T.N. Ninan | On 17 Oct 2020

Inequality in a Global Perspective

The basic story of global inequality in the last three decades has been an overall decline, but one which is composed of quite intricate patterns. There has been a decline in between country inequalit...

by Ravi Kanbur | On 08 Jun 2020

Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science

This article explores the psychological, social, and neuroscientific effects of COVID-19 and set out the immediate priorities and longer-term strategies for mental health science research. These prior...

by | On 21 May 2020

Containment Strategies and Support for Vulnerable Households

Policymakers across the developing world are facing the need to make rapid decisions on their COVID-19 response with little available data or guidance. Policies that help deal with the economic cri...

by Jonathan Leape | On 18 May 2020

News, Noise and Indian Business Cycle

New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models with various specifications of technology, markup and interest rate shocks are estimated with Indian data using Kalman filter based p...

by Ashima Goyal | On 25 Apr 2019

The Anomaly of Women’s Work and Education in India

This paper utilizes a large cross-section of data sets such as the ILOSTAT, NSSO Quinquennial Employment and Unemployment Survey, Labour Bureau Annual Employment and Unemployment Survey, National Fami...

by Surbhi Ghai | On 03 Feb 2019

Bangladesh Goes to the Polls: A Street-side View

An informal but informed Indian professional on assignment in Dhaka sends this engaging commentary on the general elections in Bangladesh.

by Srikanth S | On 05 Jan 2019

Identifying the Costs of a Public Health Success: Arsenic Well Water Contamination and Productivity in Bangladesh

This paper exploits the recent molecular genetics evidence on the genetic basis of arsenic excretion and unique information on family links among respondents living in different environments from a la...

by Mark M. Pitt | On 22 Nov 2018

Skewed Credit and Growth Dynamics after the Global Financial Crisis

A large empirical literature finds that financial development is beneficial for economic growth, although some recent evidence suggests otherwise. The paper contributes to the finance–growth literatur...

by Gemma Estrada | On 19 Oct 2018

Role of Bank Lending in Financing Green Projects: A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Approach

This paper develops an environmental dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (E-DSGE) model with heterogeneous production sectors. In particular, the model comprises some low-carbon emission firms that...

by Maria Teresa Punzi | On 19 Oct 2018

Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh

Lack of access to reliable information on environmental exposure limits opportunities for risk avoiding behavior, particularly in developing countries. Private markets could potentially play a role in...

by Ricardo Maertens | On 04 Oct 2018

An Assessment of the Fiscal Features of the PDP Laban Model of Philippine Federalism 1.0 and the Gonzales-De Vera Federal Model

The paper highlights the importance of the design of the fiscal features of the federal system of government in ensuring that the potential benefits from its adoption are realized. The economic litera...

by Rosario G. Manasan | On 03 Oct 2018

Infrastructure Financing in South Asia

This paper discusses public and private sector financing of infrastructure, and examines the factors driving infrastructure investment in this subregion. Using a panel of three large South Asian count...

by Shikha Jha | On 26 Sep 2018

Women’s Land Title Ownership and Empowerment: Evidence from India

This paper examines how women’s participation in family decision-making is affected by land rights in rural areas in India. The 2005 Hindu Succession Act was legislated to protect women’s rights to an...

by Harold Glenn A. Valera | On 26 Sep 2018

Rationale and Institution for Public – Private Partnerships

Private–public partnership (PPP) methods are considered to be an effective way to narrow the gap between demand and supply of social infrastructure. If successfully pursued, PPP can deliver benefits t...

by Jungwook Kim | On 19 Sep 2018

Bride Price and Female Education

The paper examines how the effects of school construction on girls’ education vary with a widely-practiced marriage custom called bride price, which is a payment made by the husband and/or his family...

by Nava Ashraf | On 17 Sep 2018

Aging and Implications for Elderly Care Services in the People’s Republic of China

Aging can be harmful to an economy over the long run, as an increase in the share of the elderly population reduces both the labor force and output per adult, and increases the social security burden....

by Hiroko Uchimura-Shiroshi | On 10 Sep 2018

The Spread of Deposit Insurance and the Global Rise in Bank Asset Risk since the 1970s

The paper constructs a new measure of the changing generosity of deposit insurance for many countries, empirically model the international influences on the adoption and generosity of deposit insuranc...

by Charles W. Calomiris | On 03 Sep 2018

Vulnerability to Poverty in the Philippines: An Examination of Trends from 2003 to 2015

The reduction of poverty is at the heart of the development agenda both nationally and globally. This is reflected in the Philippine Development Plan, and the worldwide commitment toward the Sustainab...

by Jose Ramon G. Albert | On 27 Aug 2018

Short-term Migration in Rural India: The Impact of Nature and Extent of Participation in Agriculture

The paper analyses a nationally representative data set from India for the year 2013 in order to provide evidence on how short term migration is affected by household's ownership of land, and particip...

by S. Chandrasekhar | On 25 Jul 2018

Portfolio Composition and Valuation Effects in Emerging Market Economies

Gross capital inflows and outflows to and from emerging market economies (EMEs) have witnessed a significant increase since early 2000s. This rapid increase in these flows accompanied by sharp rise in...

by Ashima Goyal | On 25 Jul 2018

Mainstreaming SMEs: Promoting Inclusive Growth in APEC

SME development as a major domestic policy objective that is consistent and reinforced within APEC would not only engender inclusive growth, but also enable SMEs to become drivers of growth for the do...

by Erlinda M. Medalla | On 06 Jul 2018

Countering the Discriminatory Impact of Minimum Wages Against Disadvantaged Workers: Literature Review and Experimental Design Development

This research reviews the global experience on initiatives to counter the discriminatory impact of LMW and related labor regulations. It also summarizes the analyses done to date for similar programs...

by Aniceto C. Orbeta Jr. | On 03 Jul 2018

Designing the Fiscal Features of a Federal Form of Government: Autonomy, Accountability, and Equity Considerations

The paper provides estimates of the cost of shifting to a federal form of government under different scenarios in terms of the number of regions. Finally, it concludes with the discussion of why adopt...

by Rosario G. Manasan | On 03 Jul 2018

Federalism, Fiscal Asymmetries and Economic Convergence: Evidence from Indian States

This paper tests economic convergence across States in India by incorporating federal fiscal asymmetries and differentials in gross fixed capital formation at the state level. Using dynamic panel mode...

by Lekha Chakraborty | On 15 Jun 2018

Assessing the Effectiveness of IMF Programs Following the Global Financial Crisis: How Did It Change Since the Asian Crisis?

The paper identifies key features of International Monetary Fund (IMF)–supported programs following the 2008 global financial crisis. The statistical analysis of a large sample of countries that borro...

by Carlos De Resende | On 09 Jun 2018

Do Information and Communication Technologies Empower Female Workers? Firm-Level Evidence from Viet Nam

This paper studies the effects of firms’ investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) on their demand for female and skilled workers. Using the gradual liberalization of the broadba...

by Natalie Chun | On 31 May 2018

Gender and Intersecting Inequalities in Local Government in South Asia

This paper is an evidence review of how intersecting forms of inequalities influence women’s political participation and representation at the local level in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The r...

by | On 11 May 2018

Forward Guidance

The paper assesses the power of forward guidance—promises about future interest rates—as a monetary tool in a liquidity trap using a quantitative incomplete-markets model. The results suggest the effe...

by Marcus Hagedorn | On 24 Apr 2018

Understanding Well-Being: An Indian Experience

Book Review of Sociology of Well-Being: Lession from India. by Steve Derne Sage India, 2017, Rs.850 INR, (Harcover) Pp.xv+327, ISBN: 9789385985720

by Kishor Podh | On 24 Apr 2018

Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale: A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers

Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges such progr...

by Steve Hodgins | On 12 Apr 2018

Agricultural Productivity Shocks, Labor Reallocation, and Rural-Urban Migration in China

This paper analyses the way households in rural China use rural-urban migration and off-farm work as a response to negative productivity shocks in agriculture. I employ various waves of a longitudin...

by Luigi Minale | On 04 Apr 2018

Trends and Patterns in Labour Quality in India at Sectoral Level

In this paper aggregate labour quality and the first order quality indices of education, age and gender have been estimated using the JGF (1987) methodology for the Indian economy, its broad sectors,...

by K L Krishna | On 04 Apr 2018

Climate Policy under Cooperation and Competition between Regions with Spatial Heat Transport

The paper builds a novel stochastic dynamic regional integrated assessment model (IAM) of the climate and economic system including a number of important climate science elements that are missing in m...

by Yongyang Cai | On 04 Apr 2018

Trade Facilitation Measures to Enhance Women’s Participation in Cross-border Trade in BBIN

Trade facilitation measures improve the trading environment by reducing transaction costs and thereby increasing the gains from trade. Although the use of trade facilitation measures for tackling tr...

by Sanjana Joshi | On 28 Mar 2018

Triggers and Barriers for ‘Exclusion’ To ‘Inclusion’ in the Financial Sector: A Country-Wise Scrutiny

There have been very few works focusing on the determinants and barriers of financial inclusion. The objective of this study is two folded. Firstly, to measure a efficient composite multi-dimensiona...

by | On 27 Mar 2018

Measuring the Equilibrium Impacts of Credit: Evidence from the Indian Microfinance Crisis

In October 2010, the state government of Andhra Pradesh, India issued an emergency ordinance, bringing microfinance activities in the state to a complete halt and causing a nation-wide shock to the li...

by Emily Breza | On 10 Mar 2018

Prenatal Exposure to Shocks and Early-Life Health: Impact of Terrorism and Flood on Birth Outcomes in Pakistan

The current paper tries to fill this gap by investigating the impact of floods on pregnancy and birth outcomes across conflict-affected and unaffected districts in Pakistan.

by Baishali Goswami | On 08 Mar 2018

Female Labour Force Participation in India and Beyond

The participation of women in the labour market varies greatly across countries, reflecting differences in economic development, education levels, fertility rates, access to childcare and other suppo...

by | On 07 Mar 2018

Trade, Financial Flows and Stock Market Interdependence: Evidence from Asian Markets

Liberalization and globalization of Newly Industrialized Economies have contributed to increased integration of capital markets. This study tests whether convergence of macroeconomic variables and e...

by | On 27 Feb 2018

Microfinance and Women EmpowermentEmpirical Evidence from the Indian States

Microcredit is essentially utilised as the source of empowerment among the poor women in both rural and urban areas of the Indian states. Based on a panel of the Indian states for the period 2007 to...

by | On 27 Feb 2018

Labour Dynamics and Social Security in Leather-based Enterprises in Mumbai and ShanghaiA Preliminary Background Study

The advent of Globalization has led to profound transformation in the global economy in terms of policy paradigms, growth trajectories and developmental strategies of governance, in the advanced eco...

by | On 26 Feb 2018

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: A Cross-National Comparison of Circumstances Related to State Forces’ Use of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts

This study aims to explore and identify circumstances related to the use of sexual violence by armed groups, and by state forces in particular. The overall purpose is to contribute to an understandi...

by Matilda Carlsson | On 20 Feb 2018

Labour Market and Household Behaviour: A Case of Unorganised Sales women

The paper says that women constitute only a quarter of the total labour force in India though they form nearly half of the Indian population.

by Martin Patrick | On 14 Feb 2018

What Explains Current Account Surplus in Korea?

The paper says that this idiosyncrasy of Korea’s current account surplus seems to be related to increasing saving propensity of households especially among aged people.

by Han Chirok | On 01 Feb 2018

Economic Survey 2017: Volume I, Chapter 3: Investment and Saving Slowdowns and Recoveries: Cross-Country Insights for India

This chapter draws on cross-country experience to study the pattern of investment and saving slowdowns as well as recoveries in order to obtain policy lessons for India. One finding is that investme...

by Arun Jaitley | On 31 Jan 2018

Northeast India: The Emerging Scenarios

The paper narrates that in today’s age of globalization and trans-border connectivity, the Northeast is fast emerging as the potential gateway for India to Southeast and East Asia through Myanmar.

by Namrata Goswami | On 17 Jan 2018

WTO Negotiating Strategy on Environmental Goods and Services for Asian Developing Countries

The paper advocates carefully tailoring EGS liberalisation so that it can deliver meaningful trade and development benefits while responding to environmental priorities in Asian developing countries.

by Vicente Yu III | On 01 Jan 2018

Dispute Settlement in the WTO and the Least Developed Countries: The Case of India’s Anti-Dumping Duties on Lead Acid Battery Import from Bangladesh

This paper looks at the case where India contested the tariff concessions granted by the members of the European Communities (EC) to twelve developing countries under its Generalised System of Prefere...

by M. Taslim | On 29 Dec 2017

How Regulation and Standards Can Support Social and Environmental Dynamics in Global Value Chains

This paper explores the policy measures that will best lead to the most positive outcomes as standards diffuse through global value chains.

by Raphael Kaplinsky | On 26 Dec 2017

International Trade Governance and Sustainable Transport: The Expansion of Electric Vehicles

This paper has been conceived as an exploratory scoping exercise intended to identify and better understand trade-related issues and knowledge gaps, including how various types of trade measures and p...

by International Centre for Development (ICTSD) | On 22 Dec 2017

Consumption- and Productivity-Adjusted Dependency Ratio with Household Structure Heterogeneity

This study constructs a new dependency ratio measure by taking into account the consumption needs of the young and elderly people, and the productivity of middle-aged people. Different from the way th...

by Xuehui Han | On 21 Dec 2017

Prospects of India–Bangladesh Economic Cooperation: Implications for South Asian Regional Cooperation

In recent years, South Asia has received growing attention as a region that is integrating successfully into the global economy. To maximize the benefits in terms of faster growth and poverty reductio...

by Prabir De | On 19 Dec 2017

Outlook for the Philippine Economy and Agro-Industry to 2030: The Role of Productivity Growth

This study provides growth projections for the Philippine agriculture based on growth in productivity differentiated by basic sector, using a computable general equilibrium model.

by Roehlano M. Briones | On 14 Dec 2017

Characterization Of Agricultural Workers In The Philippines

The paper narrates that the inclusive growth requires boosting incomes of workers currently in agriculture, either by shifting them to better-paying jobs outside agriculture or raising wages within ag...

by Roehlano M. Briones | On 13 Dec 2017

Intersecting Weather Variability And Chronic Food Poverty

The report says that despite the government’s various poverty reduction and social protection programs, poverty remains a social problem the country needs to hurdle.

by Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy | On 13 Dec 2017

Filipino Women In Leadership: Government And Industry

This Policy Note presents current statistics on female representation in key leadership positions in the Philippine government and industry.

by Clarissa C. David | On 12 Dec 2017

PIDS Calls For ‘Intelligent’ Discourse On Federalism

The study says that the policymakers should see merit in examining whether federalism can indeed address the sociopolitical and economic problems that hamper the country’s growth.

by PIDS Information Staff | On 11 Dec 2017

Patterns and Determinants of Female Migration in India: Insights from Census

By treating females as associational migrants, migration research in India undermines the significance of various factors, specifically the economic ones, which determine migration behaviour. However,...

by Sandhya Rani Mahapatro | On 07 Dec 2017

Temperature Effects on Productivity and Factor Reallocation: Evidence from a Half Million Chinese Manufacturing Plants

This paper uses detailed production data from a half million Chinese manufacturing plants over 1998-2007 to estimate the effects of temperature on firm-level total factor productivity (TFP), factor in...

by Peng Zhang | On 28 Nov 2017

Severe Air Pollution and School Absences: Longitudinal Data on Expatriates in North China

The paper uses a six-year panel of 6,500 students at three international schools in a major city in north China to estimate how fluctuation in ambient PM2.5 over the preceding fortnight impacts daily...

by Haoming Liu | On 20 Nov 2017

Electronic filing System, Bureaucratic Efficiency and Public Service Delivery: Evidence from Bangladesh

A look into the effect of an e-Governance initiative in Bangladesh is on efficiency in the public sector. The electronic Filing (e-Filing) system was introduced to all the Deputy Commissioners' (DC)...

by Wahid Abdallah | On 15 Nov 2017

Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Micro-finance in India

About two-thirds of microfinance clients in India are reported to be in Self-Help Groups (SHGs). These mostly women’s groups have been promoted by nationalized banks since the early nineties to improv...

by Jean-Marie Baland | On 06 Nov 2017

Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Companies & PC&PNDT Act

Female foeticide because of preference for boys over girls for a host of reasons is gigantic in India. According to the estimates of Asian Centre for Human Rights, during 1991 to 2011, a total of 25,4...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) | On 26 Oct 2017

Living Wages Around the World.

This approach helps to publish timely, reasonably accurate and globally comparable estimates.

by Wage Indicator | On 23 Oct 2017

The puzzles and contradictions of the Indian labour market: What will the future of work look like ?

Analysing the Indian labour market poses inherent challenges given the country’s size and diversity. Rather than a case of “jobless growth”, India has experienced concentrated employment growth, mainl...

by Sher Verick | On 04 Oct 2017

The Macroeconomic Benefits of Tax Enforcement in Pakistan

The benefits of improved tax enforcement in Pakistan through simulations of a model of the Pakistani economy is studied. We begin by documenting that the effective tax rate facing firms is increasin...

by Ethan Ilzetzki | On 04 Oct 2017

An Assessment of the Community Mortgage Program Implementation Strategy

The study also provides recommendations on how the identified issues can be addressed.

by Marife M. Ballesteros | On 29 Sep 2017

The Effects of Energy Price Changes: Heterogeneous Welfare Impacts, Energy Poverty, and CO2 Emissions in Indonesia

The empirical context of our study is Indonesia, a country with a long tradition of regulating consumer energy prices and a recent change in subsidy policies, facilitated by dramatically falling oil p...

by Sebastian Renner | On 29 Sep 2017

The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws on Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Benefit Claiming

The authors study the effect of state medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Workers' Compensation (WC) claiming. The paper uses data on benefit claiming draw...

by Johanna Catherine Maclean | On 25 Sep 2017

Financial Inclusion, Information and Communication Technology Diffusion and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis

The present study has first examined whether ICT development can be an important determinant of Financial Inclusion by using a fixed effect panel data model. The results show that ICT is indeed an i...

by Amrita Chatterjee | On 25 Sep 2017

Augmenting Small Farmers Income Through Rural Non-Farm Sector: Role of Information and Institutions

The paper discusses the nature and extent of non-farm activities in India using India Human Development Survey unit record data. An exercise carried out to understand the determinants of income from n...

by Meenakshi Rajeev | On 11 Sep 2017

Chronic and Transient Poverty and Weather Variability in the Philippines: Evidence Using Components Approach

The paper narrates that the weather is an integral part of our life and weather shocks can have severe implications on income and on household consumption.

by Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy | On 06 Sep 2017

Chronic Food Poverty in the Philippines

This paper finds that deviation of rainfall from its normal values and other key variables such as education, employment, assets, and armed conflict affect chronic food poverty.

by Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy | On 05 Sep 2017

Embodied Engagements: Filmmaking and Viewing Practices and the Habitus of Telugu Cinema

Viewers of South Indian devotional films, female viewers in particular, have been known to offer prayers to the gods on screen and even moved to a state of possession while watching a film. Filmmaking...

by Uma Bhrugubanda | On 31 Aug 2017

U.S. Immigration Reform and the Dynamics of Mexican Migration

The 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was directed at tackling the problem of growing unauthorized migration through legalization of unauthorized immigrants, increasing border security...

by Jan van Ours | On 17 Aug 2017

Corporate Leverage in EMEs: Has the Global Financial Crisis Changed the Determinants?

Has the global financial crisis changed the pivotal determinants of corporate leverage in EMEs? This paper attempts to address this issue using a panel-GMM framework and quantile-analysis for 10 maj...

by Snehal S. Herwadkar | On 04 Aug 2017

Can Social Protection and Labour Programmes Contribute to Social Inclusion? Evidence from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal

Discussions around the post-2015 development goals and the proposed ‘leave no-one behind’ principle have revived global interest in inequality and the role of social protection in promoting social...

by | On 04 Aug 2017

Gender, Islam, and law

This paper considers arguments about Islam and women’s welfare, and, at greater length, how legal systems with Islamic elements treat women, with a focus on how women fare in Islamic family courts. Ke...

by John R. Bowen | On 02 Aug 2017

Can Bihar Break the Clientelist Trap? The Political Effects of Programmatic Development Policy

It is widely recognized that politics affects policy-making, but there is little knowledge about how politics can be made more conducive to effective governance. This study reverses the relationship...

by Jonathan Phillips | On 02 Aug 2017

Jati, Local Public Goods and Village Governance: Private Actions and Public Outcomes

This paper purports to understand whether voting along narrow parochial lines in socially and ethnically fragmented societies has measurable gains. Using data from rural India, we establish that ident...

by Raghbendra Jha | On 31 Jul 2017

Cooking Contests for Healthier Recipes: Impacts on Nutrition Knowledge and Behaviors in Bangladesh

Many poverty alleviation programs aiming to enhance nutrition include behavior change communication (BCC). This study uses a field experiment in Bangladesh to assess the impacts of BCC, focusing on...

by Berber Kramer | On 31 Jul 2017

Technology Options for the Sanitation Value Chain

The compendium details the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the different technology options, and also describes the different types of systems formed as a combination of the technolog...

by Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy CSTEP | On 28 Jul 2017

Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review

The article reviews the recent evaluation evidence on financial services and training interventions designed to increase the productivity and income of the poor; it includes the subset of evaluation...

by Mayra Buvinic | On 28 Jul 2017

Valuation of Subsoil Minerals: Application of SEEA for Bangladesh

The present paper is an attempt to conduct a valuation of the three most important exhaustible natural resources, viz., natural gas, coal and hard rock, via the System of Environmental-Economic Accou...

by Mahfuz Kabir | On 27 Jul 2017

Are Mobile Financial Services Promoting Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh? An Assessment Study

Despite rapid progress of the financial sector in Bangladesh, there are concerns that banks have not been able to include a vast segment of the population, especially the underprivileged sections and...

by Bilkis Sultana | On 26 Jul 2017

Can Leaders Promote Better Health Behavior? Learning from a Sanitation and Hygiene Communication Experiment in Rural Bangladesh

This study looks at the roles that local women leaders can play in addressing the important environmental health issue of sanitation and hand hygiene by improving access to quality sanitation and hygi...

by Atonu Rabbani | On 25 Jul 2017

East Asia Department Knowledge Management Initiatives in 2014

This annual publication showcases the results of knowledge management initiatives of the East Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank in 2014.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 24 Jul 2017

The Effect of Oil Shocks and Cyclicality in Hiding Indian Twin Deficits

The paper estimates the relationship between the current account and fiscal deficit, and the real exchange rate, in a structural vector auto regression, with Indian data for the managed float period 1...

by Ashima Goyal | On 22 Jul 2017

Households' Inflation Expectations in India: Role of Economic Policy Uncertainty and Global Financial Uncertainty Spill-over

Inflation expectations are an important marker for the conduct of monetary policy. Using a Bayesian structural VAR-X model that includes the inflation expectations of general public based on the Infla...

by Taniya Ghosh | On 21 Jul 2017

Sustainable Energy for All Status Report: Tracking Progress in Asia and the Pacific - A Summary Report

This report summarizes the initial activities of the Regional Hub, and contextualizes the challenges in Asia and the Pacific with the global efforts to reach the 2030 targets.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 06 Jul 2017

Gender Mainstreaming Case Study: Sri Lanka - North East Coastal Community Development Project and Tsunami-Affected Areas Rebuilding Project

This case study looks at the gender dimensions of two projects that focus on the community development component that advocated community participation, social inclusion, and gender equality in commun...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 05 Jul 2017

Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Indonesia: Trends, Impacts, and Reforms

This study measures the size of fossil fuel subsidies such as underpricing of petroleum products and electricity, tax exemptions, and subsidized credit; examines the potential economic, energy, and en...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 04 Jul 2017

Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Thailand: Trends, Impacts, and Reforms

This study measures the size of fossil fuel subsidies such as tax breaks for diesel and natural gas, market price support for natural gas for vehicles, and free electricity for low-income consumers as...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 04 Jul 2017

Asian Economic Integration Report 2015: How Can Special Economic Zones Catalyze Economic Development?

The report is an annual review of Asia’s regional economic cooperation and integration. It covers the 48 regional members of the Asian Development Bank. This issue includes Special Chapter: How Can Sp...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 23 Jun 2017

Economic Vision of Lord Mahaveera: Building Blocks of Relative Economics

The central themes of Jainism are ahimsa (non-violence), anekant (nonabsolutism) and aprigraha (non-possession). Non-violence strengthens the autonomy of life of every being and if one believes that e...

by MC Singhi | On 22 Jun 2017

Addressing Climate Change Risks, Disasters, and Adaptation in the People’s Republic of China

This study informs decision makers regarding major climate change risks to development and provides feasible policy recommendations for consideration to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability in...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 22 Jun 2017

Innovative Strategies in Higher Education for Accelerated Human Resource Development in South Asia: Bangladesh

The report also includes critical analyses to determine key issues, challenges, and opportunities for innovative strategies toward global competitiveness, increased productivity, and inclusive growth.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 20 Jun 2017

Disaster-Resilient Microfinance: Learning from Communities Affected by Typhoon Haiyan

The report sets out the experience, analysis and conclusions of VisionFund International and their Philippine microfinance operation Community Economic Ventures Incorporated (CEVI). This analysis foll...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 09 Jun 2017

Papua New Guinea: Development Effectiveness Brief

This report narrates that ADB has scaled up its assistance to Papua New Guinea for power infrastructure, with an emphasis on clean energy solutions, in line with the government’s prioritization of pow...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 08 Jun 2017

2015 Clean Energy Investments: Project Summaries

This report summarizes the investments in clean energy made by ADB in 2015, condensing information from project databases and formal reports in an easy-to-reference format. This report was prepared by...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 08 Jun 2017

An Automatic Leading Indicator Based Growth Forecast For 2016-17 and The Outlook Beyond

Building on the early work of Mitchell and Burns (1938,1946), the automatic leading indicator (ALI) approach has been developed over the last few decades by Geweke (1977), Sargent and Sims (1977), Sto...

by Parma Chakravartti | On 26 May 2017

Risk Financing for Rural Climate Resilience in the Greater Mekong Subregion

This report presents the findings of a climate risk financing study conducted by the GMS Core Environment Program in 28 rural communities in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Viet Na...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 22 May 2017

Study Report on Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Across Indian States and UTs

An important reason for this dichotomy between agriculture and non agricultural sectors is that the former is a state subject under the Indian Constitution placing the burden of implementation of refo...

by Ramesh Chand | On 18 May 2017

Bangladesh: Development Effectiveness Brief 2017

The project has dramatically changed the life of Rabeya Sultana, chair of the women-led slum improvement committee formed under the project in Cox's Bazar. "Managing people and money gave me more co...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 08 May 2017

Income Generation and Inequality in India's Agricultural Sector: The Consequences of Land Fragmentation

This paper is a contribution to understanding income generation and inequality in India's agricultural sector. The paper analyses the National Sample Surveys of agriculture in 2003 and 2013 using desc...

by Sanjoy Chakravorty | On 02 May 2017

Analysis of Women Participation in Indian Agriculture

Agriculture sector as a whole has developed and emerged immensely with the infusion of science and technology. But this latest emergence is not capable of plummeting the ignorance of women labour as...

by Mun Mun Ghosh | On 01 Mar 2017

Caste Connections and Government Transfers: The Mahadalits of Bihar

The category of Scheduled Castes, created for the purpose of affirmative action in India, is large, heterogeneous and unequal. In 2007, the state of Bihar classified the most disadvantaged among thi...

by Hemanshu Kumar | On 16 Feb 2017

Economic Survey 2016-17

This year has been marked by several historic economic policy developments. On the domestic side, a constitutional amendment paved the way for the long-awaited and transformational goods and services...

by Arun Jaitley | On 31 Jan 2017

Study of Environment can lead to Human Development

Reveiw of ‘Population, Health and Environment’ Edited by Sayeed Unisa, T.V. Sekher, Chander Shekhar, Abhishek Singh, L.K.Dwivedi and M.R. Pradhan by Rawat Pubslishers.

by Manisha Karne | On 30 Jan 2017

Missing from the Market: Purdah Norm and Women’s Paid Work Participation in Bangladesh

Despite significant improvement in female schooling over the last two decades, only a small proportion of women in South Asia are in wage employment. We revisit this puzzle using a nationally represen...

by | On 24 Jan 2017

Strategic Review of Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh

The battle against the challenges with food security and nutrition will have to be fought on many fronts at the same time. In general, anything that promotes broad-based or inclusive growth, thereby r...

by | On 18 Jan 2017

Demographic Transformation in South Asia: Implications for Rice Research and Development

The demographic structure of South Asian countries are rapidly transforming, which can greatly influence future rice production and consumption in the region. Literature on the impact of demographic t...

by | On 11 Jan 2017

Household Expenditure on Higher Education in India: What Do we Know and What do Recent Data Have to say?

Data from two recent NSSO surveys are analysed to provide estimates of expenditure on higher education and loans availed for higher education. The average share of expenditure on higher education out...

by S. Chandrasekhar | On 03 Jan 2017

India’s Sanitation for All: How to Make It Happen

This discussion paper examines the current state of sanitation services in India in relation to two goals—Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls on countries to halve, by 2015,...

by Asian Bank | On 27 Dec 2016

The State of India's Pulses Sector

Pulses in India have recently become a topic of concern among policymakers. Members of the Opposition, for instance, have pointed to the 'exceptionally high' cost of certain pulses as an indication of...

by | On 15 Dec 2016

Identity, Household Work, and Subjective Well-Being among Rural Women in Bangladesh

Despite increases in women’s employment, significant gender disparity exists in the time men and women spend on household and care work. Understanding how social expectations govern gender roles and c...

by Greg Seymour | On 15 Dec 2016

E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India

In collaboration with the Government of Bihar, India, a large-scale experiment is conducted to evaluate whether transparency in fiscal transfer systems can increase accountability and reduce corrupt...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 02 Dec 2016

The "Discouraged Worker Effect" in Public Works Programs:Evidence from the MGNREGA in India

This study investigates the consequences of poor implementation in public workfare programs, focusing on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India. Using national...

by Sudha Narayanan | On 29 Nov 2016

Internal Migration and the Condition of Female Construction Workers: A Study in Chittagong City

Women workers are found in certain activities traditionally falling within the male domain. This is particularly the case for landless women who largely belong to the hardcore poor group. It indicates...

by | On 22 Nov 2016

China’s Rural-Urban Migration: Structure and Gender Attributes of the Floating Rural Labor Force

This article focuses on Chinese female rural migrant workers. Based on the survey data collected in Anhui and Sichuan provinces of China, the article investigates gender aspects of Chinese rural-urban...

by | On 22 Nov 2016

Cross-country Econometric Study on the Impact of Fiscal Incentives on FDI

The increasing level of competition for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the ‘90s triggered many countries to offer various fiscal incentives. Specifically, many Asian countries persistently keep...

by Ma. Laarni D. Revilla | On 11 Nov 2016

Female Labour Force Participation Rate

Female Labour Force Participation (FLFR) is a driver of growth and economic development and therefore, participation rates indicate the potential for a country to grow more rapidly. However, women’s e...

by sarabjit kaur | On 11 Nov 2016

Green Jobs Assessment

The study focuses on four industries, which were identified by the Government as the growth poles of Mauritius’ economy: sugar agriculture, textiles, tourism (hotels) and financial services.3 The empl...

by International Labour Organization [ILO] | On 08 Nov 2016

Female Labor Force Participation in Asia: Key Trends, Constraints, and Opportunities

This brief reports on findings from four country studies and a companion macroeconomic study calibrated using an average Asian economy. Almost 28% of the world’s working-age women are accounted for in...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 04 Nov 2016

The Impact of Arranged Marital Customs on Women 's Autonomy in Rural India

It will be argued that while modernization in India has allowed for small improvements to women's autonomy, in rural India today the little autonomy women do have is constricted through traditional no...

by | On 02 Nov 2016

The Causes and Consequences of Increased Female Education and Labor Force Participation in Developing Countries

This article describes recent trends in female education and labor force participation in developing countries. It also reviews the literature on the causes and effects of the recent changes in fema...

by Rachel Heath | On 21 Oct 2016

World Population Data Sheet 2016

The Population Reference Bureau informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and futu...

by | On 21 Oct 2016

Decline in Rural Female Labour Force Participation in India: A Relook into the Causes

As an economy transforms from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, a decline in participation of female labour force is observed. This is attributed to the shift from family-based product...

by | On 19 Oct 2016

Women Workforce Participation in India- A Study

India has experienced rapid economic growth, a decline in fertility rate, introduction of employment generation programs and policy shifts towards women empowerment in recent years. Yet, a striking fe...

by | On 19 Oct 2016

Less Work is More Work: Female Labour Force Participation and Reproduction in India

The puzzling decline in female labour force participation in India in the context of high economic growth has recently generated considerable academic interest. Increasing educational enrolment by wom...

by | On 19 Oct 2016

Protecting Women’s and Children’s Health From a Changing Climate

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report notes that up to 2050, the main impact of climate change on health will be an increase in illness and deaths related to the env...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 13 Oct 2016

Intellectual Autonomy, Intellectual Property and the New Enclosures

If the public institution is committed to public interest, then privatization of research and teaching cannot be allowed. Work done should be seen, heard and critiqued. Innovation in knowledge can com...

by Pramod K. Nayar | On 13 Oct 2016

Gender Quotas: Challenging the Boards, Performance, and the Stock Market

Comparing before and after the reform within firms, we find that quotas are associated with a higher share of female board directors, higher levels of education of board members, and a lower share of...

by | On 12 Oct 2016

Does Classroom Gender Composition Affect School Dropout?

Measuring the gender peer effects on student achievement has recently attracted a lot of attention in the literature. Yet, the results are inconclusive. A substantial amount of research shows that hav...

by | On 12 Oct 2016

Will China’s Demographic Transition Exacerbate Its Income Inequality? A CGE Modeling with Top-down Microsimulation

Demographic transition due to population aging is an emerging trend throughout the developing world, and it is especially acute in China, which has undergone demographic transition more rapidly than...

by Xinxin Wang | On 10 Oct 2016

Concerns of Food Security, Role of Gender, and Intrahousehold Dynamics in Pakistan

The available literature in Pakistan is generally lacking in a critical examination of the issues related to intrahousehold resource allocation. This black box is due largely to the lack of individua...

by Hina Nazli | On 10 Oct 2016

Autonomous Colleges in Kerala: An Evaluative Study

Kerala has ushered a new paradigm in higher education sector by granting autonomy to a few colleges in the recent times. Though it has been in the practice only for the last two years, CPPR finds it i...

by Nikhitha Mary Mathew | On 07 Oct 2016

Spillovers from FDI and Decision to Export by the Domestic Firms: The case of select Indian industries

Objectives of this paper are to empirically examine the roles of three channels of FDI liked spillovers in enabling domestic firms (DFs) to take decision to export (DTE). The findings suggest that c...

by Pradeep Kumar Keshari | On 03 Oct 2016

Stories of Harassment, Violence and Discrimination: Migrant Experiences between India, Nepal and Bangladesh

This Project Briefing explores the experiences of these people as they migrate, drawing on findings from a baseline study on their vulnerabilities, particularly to HIV and AIDS, as they move between t...

by | On 29 Sep 2016

Do Men Matter to Female Competition Even When They Don’t?

A large literature attempts to identify factors that contribute to gender differences in performance and in the decision to compete. We exploit a highly competitive environment in which elite-female a...

by Erica G. Birk | On 22 Sep 2016

The Indian Steel Sector: Development and Potential

The Indian steel industry has made a rapid progress on strong fundamentals over the recent few years. The industry is getting all essential ingredients required for dynamic growth. The government is b...

by | On 19 Sep 2016

Coping with Change: International Differences in the Returns to Skills

Expanded international data from the PIAAC survey of adult skills allows this paper to analyze potential sources of the cross-country variation of comparably estimated labor-market returns to skills i...

by | On 19 Sep 2016

Climate Change & Infectious Diseases in India: Implications for Health Care Providers

Climate change has the potential to influence the earth’s biological systems, however, its effects on human health are not well defined. Developing nations with limited resources are expected to face...

by | On 12 Sep 2016

Defined by Absence: Women and Research in South Asia

There is a closing of the gender gap in many parts of the world in terms of female access to education and enrolments at various levels of secondary and tertiary level. The World Economic Forum recent...

by | On 09 Sep 2016

Child and Maternal Health and Nutrition in South Asia - Lessons for India

South Asia has been characterized by its minimal progress in the areas of child and maternal health and nutrition in comparison to other regions in the world. The case of India is especially enigmatic...

by | On 09 Sep 2016

Ecosystem-based Adaptation: A Win–Win Formula for Sustainability in a Warming World?

Many national and international environmental agreements acknowledge that the impoverishment of ecosystems is limiting the world’s capacity to adapt to climate change and that ecosystem-based adaptati...

by | On 05 Sep 2016

Impacts on International Migration and Remittances Growth

This study provided a brief discussion of the international migration, an age old common phenomenon is an emerging economic development issue and remittances growth. Approach: Each year Bangladesh exp...

by | On 31 Aug 2016

Gender Dimensions on Farmers’ Preferences for Direct-Seeded Rice with Drum Seeder in India

This study measures the willingness of male and female farmers to pay for climate-smart technology in rice. Rice is the most important crop in India in terms of area, production, and consumption. It...

by Md. Tajuddin Khan | On 31 Aug 2016

Does Development Aid Undermine Political Accountability? Leader and Constituent Responses to a Large-Scale Intervention

Comprehensive program evaluation requires capturing indirect effects of an intervention, such as changes in leaders’ efforts and constituents’ attitudes towards leaders. We study political economy r...

by | On 30 Aug 2016

Gender Bias in Education during Conflict: Evidence from Assam

Using a large-scale novel panel dataset (2005–14) on schools from the Indian state of Assam, we test for the impact of violent conflict on female students’ enrollment rates. We find that a doubling of...

by | On 30 Aug 2016

Large-Scale Migration and Remittance in Nepal: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

Almost half of all households have at least one migrant abroad or a returnee. Estimates of the number of Nepali migrants abroad vary widely, but the most frequently cited estimate, including seasonal...

by World Bank [WB] | On 25 Aug 2016

Microcredit Program Participation and Household Food Security in Rural Bangladesh

We use a relatively new and unique panel dataset collected from rural households in Bangladesh to examine the effect of microcredit program participation on household food security. The main distingui...

by | On 25 Aug 2016

Chronic and Transient Poverty: Measurement and Estimation, with Evidence from China

The paper contributes to the measurement of poverty and vulnerability in three ways. First, we propose a new approach to separating poverty into chronic and transient components. Second, we provide co...

by | On 23 Aug 2016

Environmentally Induced Migration from Bangladesh to India

Environmental crisis in the rural areas of developing countries is increasingly becoming an important cause of cross-border migration of population and South Asia is no exception to this phenomenon. S...

by | On 22 Aug 2016

Migration and Refugee Issue Between India and Bangladesh

In the era of globalisation, where opening of borders is being advocated all over the world, there is one issue over which no nation-state is ready to compromise with its territorial borders. The issu...

by | On 22 Aug 2016

Credit Surety Fund: A Credit Innovation for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Philippines

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are a backbone of the Philippine economy. One factor that hinders the growth of these enterprises is their difficulty in accessing finance from banks and o...

by Gary V Maningo | On 19 Aug 2016

Optimal Domestic (And External) Sovereign Default

Infrequent but turbulent episodes of outright sovereign default on domestic creditors are considered a “forgotten history” in Macroeconomics. This paper proposes a heterogeneous-agents model in which...

by Pablo D'Erasmo | On 17 Aug 2016

Trade Liberalization and Regional Dynamics

We study the evolution of trade liberalization’s effects on local labor markets, following Brazil’s early 1990s trade liberalization. Regions that initially specialized in industries facing larger t...

by Rafael Dix-Carneiro | On 16 Aug 2016

Does Rosie Like Riveting? Male and Female Occupational Choices

This paper explores the possibility that women and men have different tastes for the content of the work they do. It runs regressions of job satisfaction on the share of males in an occupation. Overal...

by Grace Lordan | On 11 Aug 2016

Wage Gap in Labor Market, Gender Bias and Socio-Cultural Influences: A Decomposition Analysis for India

This paper captures the payment gap by integrating labor market performance with that of family decision making practices. We conjecture that women from patriarchal families are earning less than men...

by Sukanya Sarkhel | On 04 Aug 2016

Universal PDS: Efficiency and Equity Dimensions

India being home to the largest number of poor and malnourished population in the world, the tabling of National Food Security Bill has renewed the public pressure for universalization of PDS in Ind...

by Sowmya Dhanraj | On 03 Aug 2016

Informality in South Asia: A Review

Labour markets in South Asia have been characterized as dualistic, with a relatively small, well-protected formal sector and a large unprotected informal sector. Indeed, the formal workforce is very s...

by | On 29 Jul 2016

Heterogeneity and Unemployment Dynamics

This paper develops new estimates of flows into and out of unemployment that allow for unobserved heterogeneity across workers as well as direct effects of unemployment duration on unemployment-exit p...

by Hie Ahn | On 26 Jul 2016

Female Migrants: Bridging the Gaps Throughout the Life Cycle

Female migrants face different challenges and opportunities than men as they integrate into their host communities and become development agents for both their countries of destination and origin. And...

by | On 25 Jul 2016

New Perspective on Youth Migration: Motives and Family Investment Patterns

Migration research commonly assumes that youth migrate as dependent family members or are motivated by current labor opportunities and immediate financial returns. These perspectives ignore how migrat...

by | On 25 Jul 2016

RBC Methodology and the Development of Aggregate Economic Theory

This essay reviews the development of neoclassical growth theory, a unified theory of aggregate economic phenomena that was first used to study business cycles and aggregate labor supply. The focus of...

by Edward Prescott | On 21 Jul 2016

The Impact of Micro-Credit on Employment: Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan

This paper examines the impact of micro-credit on employment. Household-level data was collected, following a quasi-experimental design, in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Three borrower groups are compared:...

by Azhar Kahn | On 19 Jul 2016

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India

Gender-based inequalities translate into greater value being placed on the health and survival of males than of females. In India, examples of health and population indicators that are driven by gende...

by | On 15 Jul 2016

Gender Specific Barriers to Female Entrepreneurs in Pakistan: A Study in Urban Areas of Pakistan

The paper shows that the female entrepreneurs in Pakistan are very important to economic and social development but they are facing serious troubles. Women’s entrepreneurship, properly exploited, has...

by Salman Khalid | On 12 Jul 2016

Rural Livelihood Diversification and its Measurement Issues: Focus India

The rural structural distinctiveness in terms of resource endowments and factors of production often has bearings on livelihood and well-being of their people, constraining improvement in the economic...

by Rajiv Mehta | On 11 Jul 2016

Does Social Health Insurance Reduce Financial Burden? Panel Data Evidence from India

Indian government launched the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a national health insurance scheme, in 2008 that provides cashless health services to poor households in India. The scheme is eval...

by Mehtabul Azam | On 11 Jul 2016

Deciphering Reproductive Mobilities in Indonesia: Trajectories of Infertility, Adoption and Migration

This paper engages the concept of reproductive mobilities to explore the nexus between the migration of female domestic workers and the adoption of their birth children by infertile couples who remain...

by | On 08 Jul 2016

Indonesian Labor Migrants in Malaysia: A Study from China

Malaysia is now a major receiving country with estimated over 2 million migrant workers. Such large inflow was caused by scarcity of jobs in plantation, construction and domestic growth. Migrant worke...

by | On 08 Jul 2016

Does Female Labor Scarcity Encourage Innovation? Evidence from China’s Gender Imbalance

Facing scarcity of a production factor, a firm can develop technologies to either substitute the scarce factor (price effect) or complement the more abundant factors (market size effect). Whether th...

by zhibo Tan | On 06 Jul 2016

Medical Education and Emergence of Women Medics in Colonial Bengal

In the existing narratives the wider colonial contexts of institutionalization of western science and medicine and growth of curative medicine, changing patterns of education and health services for...

by Sujata Mukherjee | On 01 Jul 2016

The Intimate Link between Income Levels and Life Expectancy: Global Evidence from 213 Years

The paper finds a systematic and economically sizeable relationship between income levels and life expectancy in a panel dataset of 197 countries over 213 years. By itself, GDP/capita explains more th...

by Michael Jetter | On 28 Jun 2016

Implementing the Right to Education Act 2009: The Real Challenges

This study is based on the fact that the implementation of the Act involves serious financial and governance challenges. Considering that different Indian states are at different stages of development...

by Jyotsna Jha | On 23 Jun 2016

An Analysis of Perceptions of Domestic Violence and Efficacy of the Implementation of the PWDV Act (2005) in Bihar

The present study has been conducted in the rural and urban areas of 9 districts of 9 commissionaries in Bihar. A random sample of 375 families is drawn from different socio-economic backgrounds. The...

by CARE India | On 20 Jun 2016

Hurting the Host: The Dynamics of Refugee-Related Violence in South Asia

This paper assesses the proclivity towards refugee-related violence in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, using an original dataset. I show that the host’s attitude towards refugees depend on local fact...

by | On 17 Jun 2016

Income Mobility among Social Groups in Indian Rural Households: Findings from the Indian Human Development Survey

The paper analyses income mobility across different social groups in India using data from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) collected in 2004–05 and 2011–12. Indices signifying different n...

by Thiagu Ranganathan | On 16 Jun 2016

Migration and Remittances: Recent Developments and Outlook

According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016, more than 250 million people, or 3.4 percent of the world population, live outside their countries of birth (Figure 1). The volum...

by | On 14 Jun 2016

Role of Finance with a Special Focus on Microfinance in Enhancing Clean Energy Access

A number of initiatives have been taken by the government as well as the private sector to address the challenge of energy access in India. In this context, WWF-India conducted a study to measure/asse...

by | On 09 Jun 2016

‘Lighting up’ the Lives of the Poor

In India, a majority of rural households meet their energy requirements from traditional fuel sources, such as fuel wood, agricultural residues and kerosene. Statistics shows that 21 percent of villag...

by | On 09 Jun 2016

The Effect of Political and Labour Unrest on Productivity: Evidence from Bangladeshi Garments

The paper examines the effects of political strikes and labour unrest on production in 33 large ready-made garment factories in Bangladesh. We find that the political strikes (hartals) lasting one or...

by | On 08 Jun 2016

The Economics of Copyright and the Internet: Moving to an Empirical Assessment Relevant in the Digital Age

Technology and the Internet have triggered important changes to how creative works are created, accessed and how creators and copyright-based industries generate their revenues. In this chapter, the e...

by Sacha Wunsch-Vincent | On 08 Jun 2016

The Family Peer Effect on Mothers’ Labour Supply

The documented historical rise in female labour force participation has flattened in recent decades, but the proportion of mothers working full-time has steadily increased. We provide the first empiri...

by | On 03 Jun 2016

Property Rights and Gender Bias: Evidence from Land Reform in West Bengal

While land reforms are typically pursued in order to raise productivity and reduce inequality across households, an unintended consequence may be increased within-household gender inequality. We analy...

by | On 03 Jun 2016

How Forced Displacements Caused by a Violent Conflict Affect Wages in Colombia

In this paper, we analyze how forced displacements caused by violent conflicts affect the wages of displaced workers in Colombia, a country characterized by a long historical prevalence of violent con...

by | On 02 Jun 2016

The Mixture as Before? Student Responses to the Changing Content of School Meals in India

We study how attendance rates of primary school children respond to cost neutral changes in the design of India’s school meal program. Municipal schools in the capital region of Delhi switched from pa...

by | On 02 Jun 2016

Global Slavery Index 2016

The Global Slavery Index (‘the Index’) provides an estimate of the number of people in modern slavery, the factors that make individuals vulnerable to this crime, and an assessment of government actio...

by | On 01 Jun 2016

Understanding Productivity in the Pakistani Garment Sector: Comparisons with Bangladesh

The report is on a pilot project in the ready-made garment sector in Pakistan. The pilot had two objectives. The first objective was to develop a methodology for benchmarking productivity in the garme...

by | On 26 May 2016

The Role of Small and Medium Enterprises in Structural Transformation and Economic Development

The study directs the attention to the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in overcoming these structural rigidities and ushering-in structural transformation in an economy. To explore the iss...

by Mausumi Das | On 26 May 2016

Political Conflict, Extremism and Criminal Justice in Bangladesh

Political repression is reaching new highs in Bangladesh. The government’s abuse of rule of law institutions for political ends has created an atmosphere of injustice that is increasingly exploited by...

by International Crisis Group | On 26 May 2016

The Impact of a Computer Based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India

The paper presents the first rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of a computer-based adult literacy program. A randomized control trial study of TARA Akshar Plus, an Indian adult literacy program,...

by Ashwini Deshpande | On 26 May 2016

Does Agricultural Credit Play Any Role in Reducing Rural Poverty in Bangladesh?

Since its independence the government of Bangladesh had taken various measures to reduce the intensity of poverty on rural people in Bangladesh. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine wh...

by Mahfuza Akther | On 20 May 2016

Air Pollution Issues in Delhi

The causes of air pollution and the minerals that cause air pollution are shown here. The various activities in other states and even the neighbouring countries contribute to the air pollution in Delh...

by Umesh Kulshrestha | On 11 May 2016

Advancing the Interests of Bangladesh’s Migrant Workers: Issues of Financial Inclusion and Social Protection

The study is expected to contribute to stimulating debate around the broader issues of safeguarding the interests of migrant workers through financial mainstreaming of their income, raising efficacy o...

by | On 11 May 2016

Health Training Programme for Adolescent Girls: Lessons from India's NGO Initiative

The paper examines the impact of the initiative taken by an NGO -SelfEmployed Women’s Association (SEWA)-in Ahmedabad, a city in western India to impart knowledge about sexual and reproductive healt...

by Leela Visaria | On 05 May 2016

Tacit Collusion and Market Concentration under Network Effects

In an infinitely repeated Cournot game with trigger strategy punishment, we demonstrate that the relationship between market concentration and collusion sustainability depends on the strength of netwo...

by | On 02 May 2016

Weathering the Storm: Ownership Structure and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis

This study investigates the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis on the performance of different microfinance ownership types. The analysis in this study relies on a novel methodological frame...

by Mahinda Wijesiri | On 02 May 2016

Stitches to Riches? Apparel Employment, Trade, and Economic Development in South Asia

This report is aimed at better informing that debate by demystifying the global and South Asian apparel markets, estimating the potential gains in exports and jobs (including for women), and identify...

by Gladys Lopez Acevedo | On 29 Apr 2016

Eliminating Malaria

This WHO report released on World Malaria Day, 2016 shows that, although an ambitious goal, eliminating malaria from 35 countries by 2030 is achievable. Malaria mortality rates have declined by 60% gl...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 27 Apr 2016

Does Greater Autonomy among Women Provide the Key to Better Child Nutrition?

The paper examine the link between a mother’s autonomy – the freedom and ability to think, express, act and make decisions independently – and the nutritional status of her children. There is a desig...

by Wiji Arulampalam | On 08 Apr 2016

When the Dish Knocked Down the Antenna

A technology switch in television affects different income groups differently. In India the digitization of TV signals is putting an end to the free-to-air telecast regime. This study, the first of it...

by Aloke Thakore | On 07 Apr 2016

Education in India: NSS 71st Round

The report gives a detailed account of the education system in India.

by Ministry of Statistics and Prog Implementation (MOSPI) | On 05 Apr 2016

Bangladesh National Food Policy Plan of Action (2008-2015)

The NEP Plan of Action (PoA) 2008 translates the provisions of the National Food Policy, 2006 towards achieving its three core objectives into 26 strategic areas of intervention, priority actions to b...

by Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) | On 04 Apr 2016

Dynamics of Emigration and Remittances in Kerala: Results from the Kerala Migration Survey 2014

Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) 2014 is the sixth in the series of studies on international and internal migration from Kerala undertaken by the Centre for Development Studies as an ongoing project si...

by K.C. Zachariah | On 28 Mar 2016

Labor Supply Models: Unobserved Heterogeneity, Nonparticipation and Dynamics

This chapter is concerned with the identification and estimation of models of labor supply. The focus is on the key issues that arise from unobserved heterogeneity, nonparticipation and dynamics. We e...

by Richard Blundell | On 21 Mar 2016

Contested Idea of Nation Madhesi Upsurge in Nepal

The end of World War II marked the advent of Ethnic disputes in the world. The explicit wars for territory converted into implicit wars for identity and recognition; perhaps, because a part of the pop...

by Kalpana Jha | On 21 Mar 2016

India-Bangladesh Relations: Moving towards Friendship

India-Bangladesh relations are advancing rapidly in recent times. There are of course some impediments such as non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in trade, and the Teesta water-sharing dispute that need to be...

by Chandrani Sarma | On 21 Mar 2016

Impact of Property Rights Reform to Support China’s Rural-Urban Integration

As part of a national experiment, in 2008 Chengdu prefecture implemented ambitious property rights reforms, including complete registration of all land together with measures to ease transferability a...

by Songqing Jin | On 20 Mar 2016

Changing Wage Structure in India in the Post-Reform Era

This paper documents the changing structure of wages in India over the post-reform era, the roughly two-decade period since 1993. To investigate the factors underlying these changes, a supply-demand f...

by Basab Dasgupta | On 20 Mar 2016

More Ghost Savings: Understanding the Fiscal Impact of India’s Direct Transfer Program — Update

Since April 1, 2015, India’s cooking gas subsidies have been distributed by electronic transfer through the Direct Benefit Transfer for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) scheme (known as DBTL, or PAHAL1 )...

by | On 18 Mar 2016

Does Environmental Kuznet’s Curve Exist For Indoor Air Pollution? Evidence From Indian Household Level Data

Existence of Environmental Kuznet’s Curve (EKC) is an empirical issue to analyze as evidence from the literature has been mixed. This study focuses on indoor air pollution generated from the use of fu...

by K.S. Kavi Kumar | On 16 Mar 2016

Price Control on Bt Cotton Seeds in India: Impact on Seed Providers

This paper attempts to examine the impact of such price controls on the revenue and profitability of the seed providers in India. Using a panel data for 9 cotton growing states in India over 2002- 200...

by Anchal Arora | On 16 Mar 2016

Innovative Strategies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Accelerated Human Resource Development in South Asia Bangladesh

Improving the quality of skills among its labor force will help further economic growth in Bangladesh. Thus, there is an urgent need to provide better access to TVET to help increase productivity and...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

Financial Soundness Indicators for Financial Sector Stability in Bangladesh

This report describes the development of financial soundness indicators for Bangladesh and analyzes how these can help identify key challenges to support financial sector stability in the country.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

Implications of MGNREGS on Labour Market, Wages and Consumption Expenditure in Kerala

This paper makes an attempt to evaluate the implications of MGNREGS in labour short economy of Kerala. The analysis of NSSO unit level data revealed inter-state differences in implementation of the sc...

by V. Dhanya | On 14 Mar 2016

Debt Dynamics, Fiscal Deficit, and Stability in Government Borrowing in India: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

Despite the initiatives of the Finance Commission of India, fiscal performance has been deteriorating and increasingly diverging across Indian states. Given that the state governments are endowed with...

by Panchanan Das | On 14 Mar 2016

Srilanka Building on Success

Sri Lanka has emerged in recent years as one of the most dynamic countries in South Asia. With a rich cultural heritage, an increasingly sophisticated work force, and a strategic location that links A...

by Asian Bank | On 14 Mar 2016

Towards Rules of the Monetary Game

There are few areas of robust growth around the world, with the IMF repeatedly reducing its growth forecasts in recent quarters. This period of slow growth is particularly dangerous because both ind...

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 14 Mar 2016

A Note on Excess Money Growth and Inflation Dynamics: Evidence from Threshold Regression

We test the effect of excess money growth on inflation using Threshold Regression technique developed by Hansen (2000). The empirical test is conducted using annual data from India for the period from...

by Saumitra N Bhaduri | On 13 Mar 2016

Rape and Reform: India's Changing Attitudes

It has been just over a year since the Delhi rape case in which a female student was raped and died from her injuries. In its wake, massive protests and a media campaign ensured the perpetrators were...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

An Analysis of Bangladesh Today: A Prognosis of its Polity

The paper, written in the context of the recent deportation of 27 Bangladeshi workers from Singapore, argues that what is required is a united front, a closing of ranks of the disparate political and...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury | On 11 Mar 2016

Investigating Household Preferences for Restoring Pallikaranai Marsh

The study examines households’ willingness to pay for the conservation of Pallinkaranai marsh located in the south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A stated preference method, namely, Contingent Valuation m...

by Suganya Balakumar | On 10 Mar 2016

Female Headed Households And Poverty: Analysis Using Household Level Data

The relationship between gender and poverty is a complex and debatable topic more than ever and thus a potential area for policy makers to focus. The aim of this paper is to review existing literature...

by Sukanya Das | On 10 Mar 2016

Consumer’s Acceptance towards Genetically Modified Crops and Growth of the Economy: A Theoretical Approach

This paper develops a three-sector theoretical growth model to capture the role of consumers’ acceptance towards the second generation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the long run growth process...

by Arpita Ghose | On 10 Mar 2016

Kerosene Consumption in India: Welfare and Environmental Issues

The adverse fiscal effects of fuel subsidies in developing countries like India are well documented. More recently, few studies have highlighted the fiscal, welfare and environmental effects of possib...

by Brinda Viswanathan | On 10 Mar 2016

Distributional Impact of Structural Adjustment on Income Inequality in Pakistan: A SAM-based Analysis

This study intends to analyze the impact of fiscal policy relating to subsidies (production and consumption subsidies), government current expenditure and expenditure on health and education on income...

by Zafar Iqbal | On 10 Mar 2016

Willingness to Purchase Health Insurance in Pakistan

The aim of this research is to assess the willingness to purchase health insurance in Pakistan and assist the policy makers in formulating a national health insurance programme that meets the needs of...

by Ajmal Jahangeer | On 10 Mar 2016

Migration and Health Outcomes: The Case of a High Migration District in South Punjab

Given the importance of health in overall living standard of people, the present study has attempted to probe into the role of migration in affecting health status and outcomes of population. The heal...

by Shujaat Farooq | On 10 Mar 2016

The Social Order of Markets

This article develops a proposal for the theoretical vantage point of the sociology of markets, focusing on the problem of the social order of markets. The initial premise is that markets are highly d...

by Jens Beckert | On 09 Mar 2016

Institutions in History: Bringing Capitalism Back In

The paper explores possible frontiers of historical-institutionalist analysis. It argues three points: that progress will require a return from a static to a dynamic perspective in which change is no...

by Wolfgang Streeck | On 09 Mar 2016

The Transcending Power of Goods: Imaginative Value in the Economy

What do we value? For markets to operate and for economies to grow, producers must attract purchasers to the products they offer. In advanced capitalist economies, market saturation and decline of dem...

by Jens Beckert | On 09 Mar 2016

Imagined Futures:Fictionality in Economic Action

Starting from the assumption that decision situations in economic contexts are characterized by fundamental uncertainty, the paper argues that the decision-making of intentionally rational actors is a...

by Jens Beckert | On 09 Mar 2016

The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries

Women in developed economies have made major inroads in labor markets throughout the past century, but remaining gender differences in pay and employment seem remarkably persistent. This paper documen...

by Claudia Olivetti | On 09 Mar 2016

Measuring Women’s Disempowerment in Agriculture in Pakistan

This paper calculates a Women’s Disempowerment Index to examine women’s control over production, resources, income, household decisions, and time burden. The index is based on a slightly modified me...

by Nuzhat Ahmad | On 04 Mar 2016

Climate Change and Migration: What Are the Connections?

The Jakarta Post recently reported experts as saying that ‘[e]xtreme weather caused by climate change has given people another reason to migrate’. The comment was made in reference to a soon-to-be rel...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 03 Mar 2016

Multidimensional Poverty and the State of Child Health in India

Using data from the National Family and Health Survey 3, India, this paper measures and validates the extent of multidimensional poverty and examines the linkages of poverty level with child health in...

by Sanjay K. Mohanty | On 01 Mar 2016

An Assessment of the International Legal Obligations Owed to the Rohingya Refugees

This paper considers the issue of migration of the Rohingyas from the lens of international law. It evaluates the responses of the countries that have been the destination of these migration flows – n...

by Ramandeep Kaur | On 01 Mar 2016

Contesting Identities in Bangladesh: A Study of Secular and Religious Frontiers

The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 was an epoch-making event within the post-colonial order of South Asia. Led by the middle classes, a bitter and bloody war of Liberation from Pakistan was fought, based...

by Sanjay Bhardwaj | On 01 Mar 2016

Inclusion and Growth in India: Some facts, Some conclusions

In the main, this study uses the large sample National Sample Surveys (NSS) for the years 1983, 1993/94, 1999/2000, and 2004/5. There are two surveys that the NSS conducts in each of the large sample...

by Surjit S. Bhalla | On 01 Mar 2016

Labour Force Participation of Women in India: Some facts, Some Queries

The plan of the paper is as follows. Section 2 describes the data and definitions used in this study. Fertility and labour force participation are affected by broadly the same parameters. Section 3 lo...

by Surjit S. Bhalla | On 01 Mar 2016

Financing Social Policy in the Presence of Informality

We present a framework for the analysis of tax and benefit policy in countries with significant informality. Our framework allows us to jointly analyse the e!ects of various taxes and benefits on ince...

by Ehtisham Ahmad | On 01 Mar 2016

Access to Finance: A Functional Approach to Supply and Demand

This paper provides a comprehensive description of the financial environment for households and small businesses in a defined geographical region. It develops a new, functional approach to financial a...

by Greg Fischer | On 29 Feb 2016

ESPA Stakeholder Mapping, Research Gaps and Prioritized Actions in Bangladesh

The study followed a participatory and interactive approach to critically analyze the situation (state of knowledge demands and supply), stakeholder‘s alignment, consequences, conflicts and areas of c...

by | On 29 Feb 2016

Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: An Effective Tool for Poverty Alleviation?

The paper highlights a number of issues that countries need to explore in assessing the feasibility of a CCT program: a country needs to assess the current level of specific human capital outcomes and...

by Hyun H. Son | On 29 Feb 2016

On the Skill of Balancing While Riding a Bicycle

Humans have ridden bicycles for over 200 years, yet there are no continuous measures of how skill differs between novice and expert. To address this knowledge gap, the dynamics of human bicycle riding...

by | On 29 Feb 2016

Cyberspace and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia

The most recent UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons identifies East Asia and the Pacific is an origin area for victims of trafficking where most of the victims consist of both adult and unde...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Economic Survey 2015-16-Volume I

This year’s Economic Survey comes at a time of unusual volatility in the international economic environment. Markets have begun to swing on fears that the global recovery may be faltering, while ris...

by Arun Jaitley | On 26 Feb 2016

Indirect Inference for Dynamic Panel Models

It is well-known that maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of the autoregressive parameter of a dynamic panel data model with Öxed e§ects is inconsistent under Öxed time series sample size (T) and large...

by Christian Gourieroux | On 25 Feb 2016

Female Labour Force Participation in Asia: Indonesia Country Study

Indonesia has experienced robust, sustained growth over the past 30 years, accompanied by swift socioeconomic change. However, Indonesian women have remained only moderately engaged in the labor marke...

by Simone Schaner | On 25 Feb 2016

Impact of Management Practices on Employee Effectiveness in South Asia

South Asian organizations in countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are trying to professionalize management practices in recent years. Inspite of such efforts, employees indiscipli...

by Zafar Qureshi | On 24 Feb 2016

Social Protection in Apec in Pursuit of Inclusive Growth

The paper seeks to take stock of some of the key APEC documents/reports relevant to social protection and safety net programs, and also of the experience of APEC member-economies, with special focus o...

by Janet S. Cuenca | On 24 Feb 2016

The Puzzle of Small Farming in Japan

Japan’s small farming represents a puzzle. Currently nearly three-quarters of farmland is operated by farmers whose farm size is well under optimal size. Being too small is the main reason for the hig...

by Yoshihisa Godo | On 24 Feb 2016

Global Analysis of an Expectations Augmented Evolutionary Dynamics

We consider a deterministic evolutionary model where players form expectations about future play. Players are not fully rational and have expectations that change over time in response to current payo...

by Massimiliano Landi | On 24 Feb 2016

Report on “Dealing with Energy Vulnerabilities: Case Studies of Cooperation and Collaboration in East Asia”

Much literature on East Asia’s energy security has focused on the dynamics of competition over resources and how potential conflicts could arise from this. While this analytical perspective identifies...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 23 Feb 2016

Rising Food Prices and Food Security: Impact of the 2008 Food Crisis on Asia

The trend of rising food prices has made this basic human need inaccessible to an increasing number of people. The impact on vulnerable groups, especially the poor, is immense. Food price rise has imp...

by | On 23 Feb 2016

Indian Innovation Systems and Emergence of Biopharmaceutical Sector: Issues and Prospects

The prospective entry of generic dominated Indian pharmaceutical sector in the ambit of new technologies is likely to give filip to emergence of strong biopharmaceutical sector.It is pertinent in this...

by Sachin Chaturvedi | On 23 Feb 2016

Rural-Urban Migration, Poverty and Child Survival in Urban Banglades

Despite recent decline, infant and child mortality in Bangladesh is still one of the highest among the developing countries with strong urban-rural differentials. Nearly one in ten children in Banglad...

by M. Islam | On 21 Feb 2016

Causes and Consequences of Rural-Urban Migration: A Study of Migrant Street Vendors in Dhaka City

In developing countries like Bangladesh rural-urban migration affects development in both urban and rural areas. As such, this study focuses on establishing the major causes and consequences of the mo...

by Research Institute of Social Welfare and | On 21 Feb 2016

Early Lessons from the Process to Enhance Understanding of Loss and Damage in Bangladesh

This document is the culmination of a process that unfolded over two years in Bangladesh, which benefitted from contributions from individuals and organisations too numerous to mention by name here. H...

by Erin Roberts | On 21 Feb 2016

Preferential Trading In South Asia

This paper examines the economic case for the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement signed on January 6 th, 2004 by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. It s...

by Tercan Baysan | On 21 Feb 2016

Infrastructure Gap in South Asia Inequality of Access to Infrastructure Services

The South Asia region is home to the largest pool of individuals living under the poverty line, coupled with a fast-growing population. The importance of access to basic infrastructure services on wel...

by Dan Biller | On 21 Feb 2016

The Economic Effects of a Borrower Bailout Evidence from an Emerging Market

This paper studies the credit market implications and real effects of one the largest borrower bailout programs in history, enacted by the government of India against the backdrop of the 2008–2009 fin...

by Xavier Giné | On 21 Feb 2016

Improving Education Outcomes in South Asia Findings from a Decade of Impact Evaluations

There have been many initiatives to improve education outcomes in South Asia. Still, outcomes remain stubbornly resistant to improvements, at least when considered across the region. To collect and sy...

by Salman Asim | On 21 Feb 2016

Green Growth and Equity in the Context of Climate Change: Some Considerations

Green growth entails several different kinds of processes: conversion to low-carbon energy, climate resilience, and response to climate shocks. Equity implies a fair sharing of the costs, within count...

by Jeffrey D. Sachs | On 21 Feb 2016

Euthanasia Regime: A Comparative Analysis of Dutch and Indian Positions

Euthanasia has always been in limelight as a subject matter of debate in the field of medicine and law. The euthanasia debate, being a value debate, seems to have no concrete solution, at least in the...

by Sandeepa Bhat B | On 20 Feb 2016

Savings and Investment Estimates in Bangladesh: Some Issues and Perspectives in the Context of an Open Economy

This paper examines the conceptual issues surrounding the estimation of savings and investment in Bangladesh and explains why there exist perceptible differences between the estimates of savings and i...

by Mustafa K. Mujeri | On 20 Feb 2016

Quick Rental Power Plants in Bangladesh: An Economic Appraisal

One important aspect of recent developments is that a significant portion of the additional electricity generation has come from liquid fuel based power plants which has raised the total contribution...

by Mustafa K. Mujeri | On 20 Feb 2016

Overseas WMotives and Giving Norms Behind Remittances: The Case of Filipinoorkers and their Recipient Households

The literature has focused on motives to explain remittance behavior. But as non-anonymous transfers, remittances are apt to be influenced by giving norms as well. We formula...

by Michael Alba | On 19 Feb 2016

Unions Improve Chinese Workers' Welfare --- Results from 1,268 Firms

Based on a survey of 1,268 firms in 12 Chinese cities, this paper empirically studies the effects of unions on three aspects of workers’ welfare, namely, hourly wages, monthly working hours, and pensi...

by Ninghua Zhong | On 19 Feb 2016

Impact Of Trade Liberalisation On Employment In Bangladesh

The present study has examined the changes in the employment scenario of Bangladesh following the pursuance of the trade liberalisation strategy and the possible effects of further trade liberalisatio...

by Wasel Shadat | On 19 Feb 2016

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Passive Composting of Manure and Digestate With Crop Residues and Biochar on Small-Scale Livestock Farms in Vietnam

This study investigated the effects of different mixing ratios of crop residues and biochar with liquid digestate from anaerobically treated pig manure on CH4, CO2, and N2O emissions over 84 days in a...

by Vu Quynh | On 18 Feb 2016

Workshop Report: National Planning for Phase 1 of the CCAC Paddy Rice Component in Vietnam

This workshop was conducted as part of the mitigation strategies in rice production project, implemented with support from the agriculture initiative of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The projec...

by B. Sander | On 18 Feb 2016

Will Rapid Development in Johor Impact Water Access, Quality or Price in Singapore?

Johor’s growth has been both rapid and encompassing, and includes evolving trends in demographic, industrial, transportation and social spheres. Such growth raises significant questions for Singapore,...

by | On 17 Feb 2016

Something in the Air? Pollution, Allergens and Children’s Cognitive Functioning

Poor air quality has been shown to harm the health and development of children. Research on these relationships has focused almost exclusively on the effects of human-made pollutants, and has not full...

by Dave Marcotte | On 17 Feb 2016

Agriculture’s Contribution To National Emissions

Agriculture is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions globally, but how do emissions differ among countries? The relative contribution of agriculture to countries’ emissions budgets can infor...

by Meryl Richards | On 17 Feb 2016

Climate Change and Food Supply: Reinforcing the North-South Divide

Climate change is set to shift food production centres and change the power dynamics of food supply and demand. Notwithstanding the general foreboding of doom and gloom from climate change, are there...

by | On 16 Feb 2016

Gender Differences in Climate Change Perception and Adaptation Strategies: The Case of Three Provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta

This report, which forms part of the PIRCCA project outputs, focuses on the results of the survey conducted in the first half of 2015 on climate change perception and adaptation strategies of male and...

by Michael Sheinkman | On 16 Feb 2016

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank: Should Asia Have Both?

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) face three sets of challenges: those that are common to others in the official development finance community; those that are common to the World Ban...

by Vikram Nehru | On 16 Feb 2016

What Determines Private Investment? The Case of Pakistan

This study is an attempt to analyse the determinants of private investment in Pakistan over the period 1972-2005. The ARDL co-integration approach is employed to check the existence of a long-run rela...

by Farooq Pasha | On 15 Feb 2016

Dynamic Effects of Agriculture Trade in the Context of Domestic and Global Liberalisation: A CGE Analysis for Pakistan

This paper studies dynamic effects of agriculture trade in the context of domestic and global liberalisation. Being the largest sector of the economy, the agriculture sector contributes substantially...

by Rizwana Siddiqui | On 15 Feb 2016

Southwest Area Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management Project in Bangladesh

The Southwest Area Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management Project in Bangladesh became the first initiative to successfully incorporate beneficiary participation into all aspects of managi...

by Asian Bank | On 15 Feb 2016

A Primary Survey on Banks in Promoting Women Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh is contributing significantly to commercial banks to promote women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. Various helpful policies are initiated to promote w...

by Bangladesh Bank BB | On 15 Feb 2016

Link between the financial inclusion and Economic Growth: Unconventional Monetary Policy in Bangladesh

Like other developing countries, Bangladesh initiated financial sector reform program during 1990’s. The main objectives of the financial sector reform programs were: i) Gradual B 3 | P a g e eliminat...

by Sayera Younus | On 15 Feb 2016

Impact Assessment of Bangladesh Bank's Re-finance Scheme for Financing Agricultural & Non-farm Rural Borrowers of Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank

The main objective of this study report is to find out the impact(s) of the refinance scheme of Bangladesh Bank (BB) through comparing the economic well-being of the target group people who have taken...

by Md. Julhas Uddin | On 15 Feb 2016

On the Communication Policy of the Bangladesh Bank

The current thinking on the subject of the central bank communication policy centres squarely on the transparency with which the bank conveys its beliefs on the evolving pattern of macroeconomic funda...

by Bangladesh Bank BB | On 15 Feb 2016

Notes on the Monetary Policy Strategy of the Bangladesh Bank

This document is designed to present a brief but comprehensive view of the real and monetary developments during the immediate past quarters and project the expected developments in the immediate futu...

by Bangladesh Bank BB | On 15 Feb 2016

Monetary Transmission through Bank Portfolio in Bangladesh

This paper examines whether monetary policy transmits through bank assets or liabilities or both. This is an important policy issue since in order to know the effectiveness of monetary policy it is ne...

by Sayera Younus | On 15 Feb 2016

Basel II and Bangladesh: The Challenges Ahead

Basel II consists of three pillars such as Pillar I, II and III. Implementation of this New Accord is a challenge for many developing countries including Bangladesh. This study has made an attempt to...

by Md. Kabir Ahmed | On 15 Feb 2016

Towards a Measure of Core Inflation in Bangladesh: Conceptual Issues

Identifying core inflation has become a very important issue for the Central Banks of the world for last few years. It has also become a practice to monitor the core inflation along side the headline...

by Md. Shahiduzzaman | On 15 Feb 2016

Interest Rate Spread in Bangladesh: An Analytical Review

Lower spread is a vital indicator of the efficiency and competition in the financial system and conducive to higher economic growth of a country via investment spending. In Bangladesh, the spread in t...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 15 Feb 2016

Future Prospects of Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garments Industry and the Supportive Policy Regime

Emergence of the global market has heightened the role of trade in world economy and made industrialization as an integral system of global trade and production. Bangladesh economy at present is more...

by Md. Nehal Ahmed | On 15 Feb 2016

Foreign Direct Investment: Impact on Sectoral Growth in Bangladesh

This paper focuses on the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the sectoral (agriculture, industry and service) growth pattern of Bangladesh economy over the last 11 years, 1995-2005. The rese...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Robin | On 15 Feb 2016

Inflation in Bangladesh: Supply Side Perspectives

This policy note is an exploratory attempt to verify the popular argument that cost side factors are no less contributory than demand side factors in stimulating inflation in the Bangladesh economy. T...

by Md. Alauddin Majumder | On 15 Feb 2016

Tax Expenditures in Bangladesh: An Introductory Analysis

This policy note attempts to introduce the concept and size of tax expenditures in the context of Bangladesh with special references to experiences of India and Pakistan. It shows that the amount of t...

by M. Golam Mortaza | On 15 Feb 2016

Volatility in the Overnight Money-Market Rate in Bangladesh: Recent Experiences

This paper tries to investigate the pattern of volatility in the overnight money market rate (call money rate) in Bangladesh using subjective judgment as well as econometric techniques during the peri...

by Md. Shahiduzzaman | On 15 Feb 2016

Monetary Policy and Capital Market Development in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank (BB) adjusted its monetary policy stance during 2005 in order to contain inflationary pressures and facilitate stability in the foreign exchange market. At the end of 2005, interest ra...

by Shubhasish Barua | On 15 Feb 2016

Bilateral J-Curves between Pakistan and Her Trading Partners

Earlier studies that investigated the J-Curve phenomenon for Pakistan employed aggregate trade data. These studies suffered from the “aggregation bias” problem. In order to overcome this constraint, t...

by Zehra Aftab | On 14 Feb 2016

On Measuring the Complexity of Urban Living

This paper explores the concept of city ranking as a way to measure the dynamics and complexities of urban life. These rankings have various dimensions and uses. Both the context in which these rankin...

by Lubna Hasan | On 14 Feb 2016

Negotiated Identities: Male Migration and Left Behind Wives

This paper examines the impact of husbands’ migration on the lives of women left behind. Using data from the India Human Development Survey 2005, we focus on two dimensions of women’s lives: women’s a...

by Sonalde Desai | On 14 Feb 2016

Can Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Nutrition Outcomes for Poor Children in Bangladesh?

This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given...

by Céline Ferré | On 12 Feb 2016

Rice Seed Production and Use in Bangladesh and India Need for Bilateral Cooperation

Rice seed production, marketing, distribution situation in Bangladesh and India is not considered to be efficient. This has led to low availability and accessibility of modern varieties (MV) rice seed...

by Mahfuz Kabir | On 11 Feb 2016

Illegal Heroes and Victimless Crimes Informal Cross-border Migration from Myanmar

This paper highlights the perception of each and everyone involved in the course of cross-border migration from Myanmar in each step they, internationally or unintentionally, maintain the status of il...

by | On 09 Feb 2016

2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Women's Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance

The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development is the flagship publication of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. It is presented to the Second Committee of the General Ass...

by UN Women | On 08 Feb 2016

Progress of the World's Women 2000

Launched in June of 2000, "Progress of the World's Women" is UNIFEM's biennial investigation of progress made towards a world where women live free from violence, poverty and inequality. The first iss...

by UN Women | On 08 Feb 2016

Low Paid Employment in Britain: Estimating State-Dependence and Stepping Stone Effects

Using 18 waves of the British Household Panel Study, this paper examines state dependence and stepping stone effects of low pay. A distinguishing feature is that five types of transition- not in the l...

by Lixin Cai | On 07 Feb 2016

Television, Cognitive Ability, and High School Completion

We exploit supply-driven heterogeneity in the expansion of cable television across Norwegian municipalities to identify developmental effects of commercial television exposure during childhood. We fin...

by Øystein Hernæs | On 07 Feb 2016

Remittances and Expenditure Patterns of the Left Behinds in Rural China

This paper investigates how private transfers from internal migration in China affect the expenditure behaviour of families left behind in rural areas. Using data from the Rural-Urban Migration in Chi...

by Sylvie Démurger | On 07 Feb 2016

Temporary and Permanent Migrant Selection: Theory and Evidence of Ability-Search Cost Dynamics

The migrant selection literature concentrates primarily on spatial patterns. This paper illustrates the implications of migration duration for patterns of selection by integrating two workhorses of th...

by Joyce Chen | On 07 Feb 2016

Analysing the Terms of Trade Effect for Pakistan

The study investigates the impact of changes in terms of trade in Pakistan on its income and consumption potentials, by employing two measures of terms of trade, namely, barter terms of trade and inco...

by Nishat Fatima | On 06 Feb 2016

A Dynamic Macroeconometric Model of Pakistan’s Economy

In this study, an attempt has been made of develop a dynamic macroeconometric model of Pakistan’s economy to examine the behaviour of major macroeconomic variables such as output, consumption, investm...

by Muhammad Arshad Khan | On 06 Feb 2016

Rent Seeking Opportunities and Economic Growth in Transitional Economies

This study empirically explores the growth effects of rent seeking activity (RSA) for a group of 52 developing/transitional countries, using a dynamic panel data approach. The modelling framework is a...

by Nasir Iqbal | On 03 Feb 2016

Dynamic Relationship and Volatility Spillover between the Stock Market and the Foreign Exchange Market in Pakistan: Evidence from VAR-EGARCH Modelling

The paper examines the dynamic relationship and volatility spillovers between the stock market and the foreign exchange market in Pakistan using weekly data from 02 July, 1997 to 04 July 2012. Johanse...

by Abdul Qayyum | On 03 Feb 2016

Syria and Turkey: A Turning Point or a Historical Bet

Syrian-Turkish relations represent a regional and international phenomenon that has attracted a considerable amount of political and media attention; however, research on the dynamics and wagers invol...

by Aqil Mahfoudh | On 02 Feb 2016

Reviving the Local Dialect in Qatar: An Issue of Linguistic Concern or Identity Politics?

Historically, Qataris have strived for autonomy and independence, and have always sought to define themselves apart from others. This has dictated a specifically defined identity in which language sta...

by | On 01 Feb 2016

Developing Technologies for Sustainable Fisheries in Asia

Governments in Asia must prioritise technologies that improve fishery productivity to meet the growing local and international demand for fish. This increased productivity must be sustainable, however...

by The WorldFish Center TWC | On 01 Feb 2016

Sri Lanka Demographic Transition Facing the Challenges of an Aging Population with Few Resources

This report discusses some of the economic implications of demographic transition in Sri Lanka, focusing n employment and productivity related issues on one side; and performance of cash transfer prog...

by World Bank [WB] | On 31 Jan 2016

China and its Peripheries: Beijing and India-Sri Lanka Relations

China has emerged as one of the important factors in India-Sri Lanka relations. It is important to contextualise this intervening variable, before going into various aspects of China’s footprints in S...

by N Manoharan | On 31 Jan 2016

The Politics Of What Works In Service Delivery: An Evidence-Based Review

This paper examines the evidence on the forms of politics likely to promote inclusive social provisioning and enable, as opposed to constrain, improvements in service outcomes. It focuses on eight rel...

by Claire Mcloughlin | On 30 Jan 2016

Giving Youth A Voice: Bangladesh Youth Survey 2011

Giving Youth a Voice, the first ever nationwide survey on youth, was started in 2011. The main findings of the report were released to the media in mid August, prior to the International Youth Day. Th...

by Syeda Aziz | On 30 Jan 2016

Institutions of Accountability Series : The Judiciary Policy Note

The courts are one of the most fundamental institutions where power is contested in a constitutional democracy. A functioning and an independent judiciary can restrain and hold the executive accountab...

by . BRAC | On 30 Jan 2016

Improving Transparency in Public Procurement in Bangladesh: Interplay between PPA and RTI Act

This advisory note, while accepting the existing limitations of the transparency regime in public procurement process of the country, argues that the Right to Information (RTI) Act has the potential t...

by . BRAC | On 30 Jan 2016

Organizational and Institutional Issues in Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management

This report provides some reflections and insights on the level of awareness, practices, and organizational and institutional issues being faced by countries as they adapt to climate change, based on...

by Catherine Ragasa | On 30 Jan 2016

Institutional Approach to Anti-corruption: An Evaluation of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh

Currently, corruption is one of the most discussed topics in the everyday life of Bangladeshi people. They experience it at almost every stage from the top lair of the bureaucracy to the petty grocery...

by Harun Rashid | On 30 Jan 2016

Improving Tax Compliance in Bangladesh: A Study of Value-Added Tax (VAT)

In recent years, tax compliance has come to the centre of both academic and policy discourse for several reasons. In the first place, tax-GDP ratio in Bangladesh is very low (10.6%) when compared with...

by Nasiruddin Ahmed | On 30 Jan 2016

National Discourses on Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh: Continuities and Change

This paper explores how these perceptions and narratives around women’s empowerment have evolved in Bangladesh from 2000 to date. It studies the concepts of women’s empowerment in public discourse and...

by Sohela Nazneen | On 30 Jan 2016

Addressing Malnutrition Multisectorally: What Have We Learned From Recent International Experience?

Authors Jim Levinson and Yarlini Balarajan of UNICEF New York and Alessandra Marini of the World Bank present three major case studies from Peru, Brazil and Bangladesh, but also a historical review of...

by Jim Levinson | On 30 Jan 2016

Initiating Work In Prison Settings

This Handbook on “Social Work Intervention in the Prison Setting” attempts to document the intervention strategies in working with various groups found in prison e.g. male and female prisoners, under...

by Prayas NGO | On 30 Jan 2016

Public Expenditure, Employment and Poverty in Bangladesh An Empirical Analysis

The present paper titled Public Expenditure, Employment and Poverty in Bangladesh An Empirical Analysis has been prepared under the CPD-UNDP collaboration programme on Pro-Poor Macroeconomic Policies...

by Centre for Policy Dialogue CPD | On 29 Jan 2016

Poverty-Environment Nexus An Investigation of Linkage and Policy Implications

The present paper titled Poverty-Environment Nexus: An Investigation of Linkage and Policy Implications has been prepared under the CPD-UNDP collaboration programme on Pro-Poor Macroeconomic Policies...

by Centre for Policy Dialogue CPD | On 29 Jan 2016

Challenges and Trends in Decentralised Local Governance in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a rich legacy of establishing and promoting local government institutions, but the actual roles and contributions of these institutions to augment citizens’ participation and consolidat...

by Niaz Khan | On 29 Jan 2016

To Fuse or Not To Fuse? Assessing the Case for Convergent Disciplines on Goods and Services Trade

With the rise of global value chains (GVCs) and the growing prominence of services as both facilitators or very objects of supply chain dynamics, it has become commonplace for goods and services to be...

by | On 28 Jan 2016

Survey of ICTs for Education in India and South Asia, Extended Summary

The Survey on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Education in India and South Asia was commissioned by infoDev to be undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, India. The Survey is a third...

by The Survey on Information and Communication Techno ICT | On 28 Jan 2016

Evidence from the Frontlines of Climate Change: Loss and Damage to Communities Despite Coping and Adaptation

New thinking and practical approaches are needed to address the threats to human security that climate change combined with social vulnerability pose for current and future patterns of loss and damage...

by Koko Warner | On 28 Jan 2016

An Integrated Assessment of the Effects of Natural and Human Disturbances on a Wetland Ecosystem: A Retrospective from Phobjikha Conservation Area, Bhutan

Phobjikha Valley, a wetland situated on the western slopes of Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, is an important wintering habitat for the vulnerable Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis). One of t...

by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Devel ICIMOD | On 28 Jan 2016

Air Pollution Reduction and Control in South Asia

In order to understand the importance of reducing air pollution and its likely trans-boundary effects, it is important to first review the socioeconomic situation of the South Asian member states. Sou...

by Mahmood Khwaja | On 28 Jan 2016

Scientific Framework for ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Adaptation to Change

This document elaborates the scientific framework of the Adaptation to Change Programme in an attempt to improve the connections between science, policy, practice, and stakeholders and to tackle chall...

by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Devel ICIMOD | On 28 Jan 2016

Management by Participation? Village Institutions and Drinking Water Supply in Gujarat

One of the critical dimensions of rural water supply has been participation by the local community in managing the source and finances. Drawing upon case studies of 20 villages (spread across 17 distr...

by Keshab Das | On 28 Jan 2016

Role of Gender in Health Disparity: The South Asian Context

South Asia's girls and women do not have the same life advantage as their Western counterparts. A human rights based approach may help to overcome gender related barriers and improve the wellbeing of...

by Omrana Pasha | On 28 Jan 2016

Microinsurance Decisions: Gendered Evidence from Rural Bangladesh

This paper draws from a field research experiment to examine the gendered aspects of willingness to pay for index-based insurance in Bangladesh. Participants were presented with risky lotteries and...

by Daniel J. Clarke | On 28 Jan 2016

Synthesis of Important Discussions on Microfinance and Livelihood Support to Small and Marginal Farmers

This publication incorporates all the discussions on marginal and small farmers such as micro financing for agricultural value chains, MahilaKisanSashaktikaranPariyojna, MF for small farmers through e...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 27 Jan 2016

Consolidated Replies on State of the Sector Report 2012 for Microfinance

This document incorporates outputs of two discussions conducted on State of the Sector Report 2012. The summaries of the two discussions on SOS 2012 also find place in the State of the Sector Report...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 27 Jan 2016

Financial Inclusion and Livelihood Promotion of Rickshaw Pullers in India

The research study highlights the financial inclusion needs of cycle rickshaw pullers in India. These include access to service sectors; improvement of asset base; employment of their women; increase...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Financial Inclusion of Excluded Segments - Learning from Experience Delivery of Financial Services to People with Disabilities

The case study focuses on the unique initiative in India undertaken by the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion International in partnership with v-shesh Learning Services Pvt. Ltd. and three Micr...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

The Microfinance Bill: Need for a Fresh Outlook

This policy paper presents the past efforts of regulating the Microfinance sector, analyses the merits and demerits of various attempts beginning from the report of the Task Force1 in 1999 and present...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Migration, Health and Dignity in South Asia: Lessons from the EMPHASIS Project on Migration, Women’s Empowerment and HIV in Bangladesh, India and Nepal

The EMPHASIS project (Enhancing Mobile Populations’ Access to HIV and AIDS Services, Information and Support) has provided a diverse range of services to crossborder migrants in India, Nepal and Bang...

by Prabodh Devkota | On 27 Jan 2016

Achieving Bangladesh's Tourism Potential: Linkages to Export Diversification, Employment Generation and the "Green Economy"

The objective of this working paper is to critically test the assertion that pro-poor "green" tourism is one of the best development options for the majority of least developed countries (LDCs) -- a c...

by Shoaib Akhtar | On 27 Jan 2016

Role of Health Systems in Improving Childhood Nutrition in India

The status of child undernutrition in India continues as an area of concern. There are significant opportunities within health system to address this issue. Allocating clear tasks to workers while bui...

by Rajani R. Ved | On 26 Jan 2016

Overcoming the Challenges of Urban Food and Nutrition Security

Despite the high contribution of urban areas to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), urban poverty and nutrition security in India remains a challenge. Poor infrastructure, high unemployment, poor state...

by M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation | On 26 Jan 2016

Agroforestry in Tribal Areas of Gujarat: Move towards Sustainable Agriculture?

This paper examines the agroforestry initiative adopted by the Government of Gujarat with the aim to enhance the incomes of tribal households facing numerous production constraints. The specific objec...

by Jharna Pathak | On 26 Jan 2016

Contemporary Myanmar: Challenges to Political Process and Reconciliation

This paper outlines the political reforms and reconciliation process presently underway in Myanmar and the challenges posed to it. A detailed analysis of changing power dynamics in Myanmar, and the re...

by | On 25 Jan 2016

Determinants of Farm-level Adaptation Practices to Climate Extremes: A Case Study from Odisha, India

A large number of rural households in the state of Odisha, India are dependent on agriculture for their basic livelihoods, which is affected by the frequent occurrence of climate externalities like cy...

by Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati | On 25 Jan 2016

Regulating Microfinance through Codes of Conduct: A Critical Review of the Indian Experience

The paper critically reviews the course of events that led to the development of codes of conduct for the microfinance industry in the country and examines their effectiveness in motivating microfinan...

by Tara S Nair | On 25 Jan 2016

Climate Change and Vulnerability in Bangladesh

It is predicted that climate change will aggravate the presence of sudden (e.g. cyclones, floods etc.) and chronic (e.g. drought, erosion) hazards to agrarian communities in Bangladesh. According to t...

by Md Maniruzzaman | On 23 Jan 2016

Climate and Development Outlook

This publication summarises CDKN’s partnership work with Bangladesh to date, highlighting key achievements and signposting further information. We are involved at many levels, by investing in policy-r...

by Climate and Development Outlook CDO | On 23 Jan 2016

Nexus among Output, Inflation and Private Sector Credit in Bangladesh

This study examines the relationship if any among economic growth (output), private sector credit and inflation in Bangladesh. In many developed and developing countries, private sector credit has pla...

by Sayera Younus | On 23 Jan 2016

Public Debt Sustainability in Bangladesh

This policy note reviews the trend in debt composition and sources of debt financing and analyzes debt sustainability of Bangladesh. Along with historical data on level of debt and sources of financin...

by Md. Ezazul Islam | On 23 Jan 2016

Interest Rates and the Demand for Money in Bangladesh: An Empirical Investigation with Quarterly Data, 1997Q4-2006Q4

This paper investigates the sensitivity of money demand to interest rates on treasury bills in Bangladesh with quarterly data for the period 1997Q4-2006Q4. A standard demand for money function is spec...

by Akhand Akhtar Hossain | On 23 Jan 2016

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Bangladesh’s Balance of Payments: Some Policy Implications

This study reports high positive correlation between FDI inflows and Bangladesh’s aggregate exports and imports. The net impact on the current account balance and the balance of payments is positive....

by Muhammad Amir Hossain | On 23 Jan 2016

Inflation Accounting Across Income Groups: Does Inflation Hurt the Poor More in Bangladesh?

This note provides estimates of the contribution of food prices to inflation in Bangladesh. The results suggest that the current inflation takes a bigger toll on the poor because they spend more of th...

by M. Golam Mortaza | On 23 Jan 2016

Prospects and Challenges of Bond Market Development in Bangladesh

The thin bond market in Bangladesh faces manifold challenges emanating from several sources including excessive reliance on bank credit, government debt instruments dominated by primary auction based...

by Md. Akhtaruzzaman | On 23 Jan 2016

Estimating Inflation Rates of Import-Concentrated Commodities

This note provides estimates of inflation rate of import-concentrated commodities and their contribution to overall inflation in Bangladesh. The results suggest that the Bangladesh economy has been ex...

by M. G. Mortaza | On 23 Jan 2016

The SLR as a Monetary Policy Instrument in Bangladesh

The statutory liquidity requirement (SLR), as a monetary policy instrument, has experienced infrequent changes in Bangladesh. Past evidence shows that reduction in SLR produced positive impact on bank...

by Sayera Younus | On 23 Jan 2016

Signs of India under Global Re-Focus

A flurry of quick new glances at India from different sections of the international community reflects a surge of interest in a country freshly under Narendra Modi’s leadership of anticipatory asserti...

by | On 23 Jan 2016

Sri Lanka’s Transformational Election

Maithripala Sirisena’s unexpected victory against his former boss and the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka’s presidential election held on 8 January 2015 signifies a major political...

by | On 23 Jan 2016

Opportunities and Challenges in Rice Seeds Trade Between India and Bangladesh

Rice, a major staple crop for India and Bangladesh is important not only for ensuring food security, but also the livelihood security of large number of small and marginal farmers engaged in rice cult...

by Neha Jain | On 23 Jan 2016

Economic Growth In South Asia: Role Of Infrastructure

The paper examines the output elasticity of infrastructure for four South Asian countries viz., India,Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka using Pedroni’s panel cointegration technique for the period 19...

by Ranjan Kumar Dash | On 23 Jan 2016

Ensuring Access for the Climate Vulnerable in Bangladesh

Drawing on secondary literature and interviews and discussions with community members, local government officials, and various experts, the report proposes a mechanism through which LGIs could provide...

by International Centre for Climate Change and Develo ICCCAD | On 23 Jan 2016

Bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh - Framework Issues

In the backdrop of rise in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in developing countries, particularly after the global financial and economic crisis, Bangladesh is still ambivalent in setting its strategies r...

by Khondaker Moazzem | On 23 Jan 2016

Framework for the  Proposed Comprehensive Trade Policy for Bangladesh

A number of studies have indicated that trade liberalisation did not have any significant impact on poverty reduction although the impact on employment generation had been positive (e.g. Raihan 2007)....

by Mehruna Chowdhury | On 23 Jan 2016

Technological Upgradation in the Jute Mills of Bangladesh: Challenges and Way Out

The jute manufacturing sector of Bangladesh has recently started to revitalise with the rise in global demand for jute goods, thanks to the environment-friendly nature of jute, and the price hike of p...

by Khondaker Moazzem | On 23 Jan 2016

Expanding Foreign Investment in the Energy Sector Challenges and Risks For Bangladesh?

A recent project under the CMI-CPD institutional collaboration agreement has looked at the effect of corruption on investment in the energy sector. A distinction is made between the extraction of ener...

by Arne Wiig | On 23 Jan 2016

Prospects for Regional Cooperation on Cross-Border Electricity Trade in South Asia

Energy remains one of the key inputs to socio-economic progress in developing societies. South Asian nations, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lank...

by Anoop Singh | On 23 Jan 2016

Impact of Water and Sanitation Interventions on Childhood Diarrhea: Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper analyses the possible relevance of water and sanitation improvements for diarrhoea reduction in the context of Bangladesh. Much of the public policy thinking in the past was guided by publi...

by Binayak Sen | On 23 Jan 2016

Imbalance in Child Sex Ratio: Trends, Causes and Emerging Issues

In many states of India, there are several evidences that indicate a widespread practice of using female birth intervention. As a result, an alarmingly lowest ever sex ratio in the age group 0-6 has b...

by R. S. Bora | On 23 Jan 2016

An Analysis of Private Commercial Borrowing from Foreign Sources in Bangladesh

The intention of this study is to get an indication of the trends and uses of private sector commercial borrowing from external sources in Bangladesh. In this paper, an overall picture of the private...

by Sayera Younus | On 23 Jan 2016

Should Bangladesh Monitor Core Inflation for Conducting Monetary Policy?

Over the years, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has been using changes in consumer price index (CPI) inflation as the operational guide to measuring price stability in Bangladesh. In recent years, it has how...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

Rationalizing Interest Rate Spread in the Banking Sector: Some Policy Suggestions

Despite the removal of restrictions and reforms in the banking sector to facilitate the adoption of a market oriented interest rate policy, interest rates are yet to become fully responsive to the mar...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

A Note on the Contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises to GDP in Bangladesh

Despite the importance, the contribution of SMEs to the country’s GDP and employment has remained somewhat unclear especially in view of the multiplicity of the definition of SMEs adopted by different...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

Trend and Characteristics of Recent Inflation in Bangladesh

In the backdrop of recent global developments, this note examines some of the characteristics of inflation in Bangladesh including the contribution of major commodity groups to overall inflation in ru...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

What are the Factors Enabling and Constraining Effective Leaders in Nutrition? A Four Country Study

This study of individuals identified as influential within nutrition in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and India examines why particular individuals champion nutrition policy, and how they operate in the...

by Nicholas Nisbett | On 23 Jan 2016

Nowcasting Indonesia

Predictions of the current state of the Indonesian economy are done by estimating a Dynamic Factor Model on a dataset of 11 indicators (also followed closely by market operators) over the time period...

by | On 22 Jan 2016

Accelerating Reductions in Undernutrition: What can nutrition governance tell us?

In order to accelerate progress on undernutrition reduction we need to understand how the governance of nutrition programmes leads to successful outcomes. Based on evidence from six countries: Banglad...

by Institute of Development Studies IDS | On 21 Jan 2016

Economic Crises and Migration: Learning From the Past and the Present

Following from the Global Economic Crisis of 2008, the paper comprises four substantive sections. The first offers the briefest of descriptions of the economic crisis. It is followed by a discussion o...

by | On 20 Jan 2016

Dietary Diversity and Women’s BMI among Farm Households in Rural India

The evidence on the link between agriculture and nutrition has so far been tenuous. On the one hand, undernutrition rates are severe and more widespread among those involved in agriculture. This evide...

by R V Bhavani | On 19 Jan 2016

Impact of Climate Related Shocks and Stresses on Nutrition and Food Security in Selected Areas of Rural Bangladesh

This study attempts to break down ‘climate change’ into ‘climate related shocks and stresses in the course of time’ and conceptualizes the food security and nutrition outcomes as combination of the ad...

by Chris Béné | On 19 Jan 2016

Examining the Catalytic Effect of Aid on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Social Transfers in Low-Income Countries

Social transfers, a non-contributory form of social protection, present a great potential to tackle poverty and inequality, and support inclusive socioeconomic development. Yet, they also represent a...

by | On 19 Jan 2016

Determinants of Child Undernutrition in Bangladesh Literature Review

This literature review identifies and summarises existing evidence on the determinants of undernutrition in children under the age of two years in Bangladesh. The review gathers evidence on the immedi...

by Stuart Gillespie | On 19 Jan 2016

Illegal Bangladeshi Migration: Evaluating India-Bangladesh Approaches

The issue of Bangladeshi migration in India has become a major concern for policy makers in recent years. Indeed, India’s eastern border is facing major illegal activities viz. the influx of illegal...

by | On 19 Jan 2016

Evolution of Capital Structure in East Asia: Corporate Inertia or Endeavours?

The present paper examines the capital structure adjustment dynamics of listed non-financial corporations in seven East Asian countries during 1994-2002. Compared to firms in the least affected countr...

by Sarmistha Pal | On 19 Jan 2016

Does Gender Matter for Firm Performance? Evidence from Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Using 2005 firm level data for 26 ECA countries, this paper estimates performance gaps between male- and female-owned businesses, while controlling for their location by industry and country. We find...

by Shwetlena Sabarwal | On 19 Jan 2016

Whose Side Are You On? Identifying The Distributive Preferences of Local Politicians in India

The literature on decentralized public programs suggests that errors in the targeting of anti-poverty programs are rooted in the capture of these programs by local elites or local politicians. Consist...

by Mark Schneider | On 18 Jan 2016

Anemia in the Elderly Residing in a South Indian Rural Community

Anemia is defined as a reduction in the body’s red cell mass 1, reflected in a reduced oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. The World Health Organisation criterion for the diagnosis of anemia is a l...

by | On 18 Jan 2016

India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement: Follow-up Concerns Need a Fair Approach

The recent success of India and Bangladesh in settling the complicated issue of political enclaves in each other’s territories could be traced to the spirit displayed by the leaders of the two countri...

by | On 18 Jan 2016

Migration, Education and the Gender Gap in Labour Force Participation

Women who want to work often face many more hurdles than men. This is true in Tajikistan where there is a large gender gap in labour force participation. We highlight the role of two factors – interna...

by Myeong Su Yun | On 14 Jan 2016

Housing Policies in China: Issues and Options

This article consists in three parts. The first part deals with theory. We evaluate the pros and cons of government involvement in urban housing and of renting versus ownership. In the second part, we...

by Yves Zenou | On 14 Jan 2016

Closing The Gender Gap In Climate-Smart Agriculture

In this brief review of recent approaches relevant to climate smart agriculture (CSA) programs, the researcher presents ideas on why emerging CSA policies and plans lack the attention to gender that w...

by Sonja Vermeulen | On 14 Jan 2016

Gender Dynamics In A Changing Climate: How Gender and Adaptive Capacity Affect Resilience

This learning brief synthesises lessons drawn from CARE’s Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa (ALP), which has been supporting vulnerable communities in sub-Saharan Africa to adapt to the impacts...

by Webb J. | On 13 Jan 2016

Female Migrants and their Health in India: A Study of Kerala Women Working in Mumbai

In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the general, reproductive, and mental health status of migrant women from Kerala who stay in the working women’s hostels. The present study is bas...

by R. S. Reshmi | On 13 Jan 2016

The Deprived, Discriminated & Damned Girl Child: Story of Declining Child Sex Ratios in India

This article traces the different elements that explain and help understand the phenomena of declining child sex ratios in India along with the debates on the subject, with specific focus on urban loc...

by Preet Rustagi | On 13 Jan 2016

Initiative for ‘Southern Silk Route’ Linking Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar

This paper looks at the ‘BCIM Regional Cooperation’ and the related proposal to revive the ‘Southern Silk Route’ connecting China and India through Bangladesh and Myanmar. The aim is to understand the...

by | On 09 Jan 2016

Natural Resources Contested in Autonomous Councils: Assessing the Causes of Ethnic Conflict in North-East India

Constitutional arrangements for peripheral areas in India reflect the national government’s instrumentalist attempts at decentralising bureaucratic and administrative control in far-flung (essentially...

by Sanjay Barbora | On 08 Jan 2016

Household Decision-Making Under Threat of Violence: A Micro Level Study in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

The rural household livelihood and children’s educational investment decisions are analyzed in a post-conflict setting located in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh. The study represents...

by | On 07 Jan 2016

Remittances and Labor Supply in Post-Conflict Tajikistan

This paper analyzes the impact of remittances on the labor supply of men and women in post-conflict Tajikistan. It is found that on average men and women from remittance-receiving households are less...

by Olga Shemyakina | On 07 Jan 2016

Financing Development Cooperation in Northeast Asia

Infrastructure connectivity in Northeast Asia — comprising the northeastern People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and the Russi...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 07 Jan 2016

Antibiotics on the Farm: Agriculture’s Role in Drug Resistance

The evidence that antibiotic use in agriculture creates a pool of resistant bacteria in farm animals is not in dispute. The key questions relate to the magnitude of the risk to human health, and the p...

by | On 06 Jan 2016

Promoting Innovations in Indian Universities: A Theoretical Model of University-Industry Interface

This paper, we intend to understand university-industry interactions in India from a game theoretic perspective to capture issues of quality, objectives and incentives. Industry’s low appetite for uni...

by Sabyasachi Saha | On 02 Jan 2016

Summary of Indonesia's Gender Analysis

Indonesia has made significant progress in promoting gender equality. Gender gaps in the youth literacy rate have been eliminated. Near parity in enrollment rates in elementary up to tertiary levels h...

by Uzma Hoque | On 01 Jan 2016

Transitional Jobs after release from Prison: Effects on Employment and Recidivism

This paper presents the results of two experimental evaluations of transitional jobs programs for recently released former prisoners: the Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) an...

by Cindy Redcross | On 01 Jan 2016

Service Sector Productivity and Economic Growth in Asia

This paper explores the impacts of more rapid growth in labor productivity in the service sector in Asia based on an empirical general equilibrium model. The model allows for input-output linkages and...

by Jong-Wha Lee | On 30 Dec 2015

Impact of Production Linkages on Industrial Upgrading in ASEAN, the People's Republic of China, and India: Organizational Evidence of a Global Supply Chain

This paper presents a simple model of industrial upgrading as a result of backward and forward information linkages between upstream and downstream relations. It also serves as an empirical investigat...

by Tomohiro Machikita | On 30 Dec 2015

Can Social Security Boost Domestic Consumption in the People’s Republic of China?

This paper reviews the development of the social security system and trends in the urban labor market in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite its remarkable economic achievement, the PRC face...

by Wang Dewen | On 29 Dec 2015

Connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia: A Bangladesh Country Study

Economic integration is being inhibited by the poor state of transport connectivity between Bangladesh, and South Asia and Southeast Asia. This study reviews connectivity initiatives of Bangladesh and...

by Mustafizur Rahman | On 23 Dec 2015

Financial Inclusion, Regulation, and Education in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has achieved a high level of financial inclusion compared to other South Asian countries. Its financial sector comprises a wide range of financial institutions providing financial services s...

by Saman Kelegama | On 23 Dec 2015

Population and Sustainable Development in the Post-2015 Agenda

The Outcome Report of the Global Consultation on Population Dynamics and the Post-2015 Development Agenda not only explains the linkages between today's most pressing development challenges, populatio...

by United Nations Population Fund UNFPA | On 23 Dec 2015

Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh: An Overview of Market Development

The objective of this report is to share a market level overview of the early stage progress of MFS in Bangladesh up through the first quarter of 2012. With this goal in mind Bangladesh...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 22 Dec 2015

Estimating Growth-Inflation Tradeoff Threshold in Bangladesh

The objective of this study is to explore the inflation-economic growth linkage, if any, in Bangladesh. With this view, various tables and charts, correlation matrices, pair-wise Granger Causality tes...

by Sayera Younus | On 22 Dec 2015

How does Women’s Time in Reproductive Work and Agriculture Affect Maternal and Child Nutrition? Evidence from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, and Nepal

This paper examines whether an increase in women’s time in agriculture adversely affects maternal and child nutrition, and whether the lack of women’s time in reproductive work leads to poorer nutriti...

by SOPHIE THEIS | On 22 Dec 2015

Endangering the Investment Climate

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require high levels of productive private and public sector investment, which in turn requires a suitable investment climate. This paper provide...

by | On 22 Dec 2015

Gender and Financial Inclusion through the Post

Women form a disproportionately large share of the world’s unbanked population. Gender inequalities in employment and earnings mean that women have lower incomes, making them less able to open account...

by | On 21 Dec 2015

How Does ADB Engage Civil Society Organizations in Its Operations? Findings of an Exploratory Inquiry in South Asia

The focus is on South Asia and the starting point of inquiry is on 33 projects that illustrate the roles and forms of NGO and CBO engagement in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The rep...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 21 Dec 2015

Study on Conditions and Needs of Women Workers in Delhi

Study on the needs and conditions of women workers in Delhi must begin its enquiry with the initial problem of poor availability of employment or access to economic activity/work for women in the cap...

by Neetha N | On 21 Dec 2015

Real Exchange Rate and its Impact on Export, Import and Trade Balance: Is There any J Curve Effect in Bangladesh?

The intention of this paper is to examine whether Real Exchange Rate (RER)depreciation has any impact on export, import and trade balance of Bangladesh. Real exchange rate is calculated using Tk./do...

by Maidul Chowdhury | On 19 Dec 2015

Basic Entrepreneurship: A Big New Idea in Development

The question of what keeps people mired in poverty is one of great importance to policy-makers and economists alike. The world’s poor typically lack both capital and skills, and each of these two fact...

by Oriana Bandiera | On 18 Dec 2015

Transforming the economic lives of the ultra-poor

This brief describes key findings from a rigorous seven-year evaluation of the first of these livelihood programmes, BRAC’s ‘Targeting the Ultra-Poor’ programme in rural Bangladesh. Targeted household...

by Clare Balboni | On 18 Dec 2015

Labour Processes and the Dynamics of Global Value Chain: A Developing Country Perspective

This paper with specific reference to India argues that limited view of verticality of production fails to appreciate the fact that choices of locations, the amount of rent created, the shift of value...

by Satyaki Roy | On 18 Dec 2015

Can Improved Cooking Stoves Work? The Nepal Chulo Experience

What motivates rural households to switch from older cooking methods to newer, more improved, ones? Improved cooking stoves (ICS) technology has demonstrated capacity to reduce health hazards from smo...

by Dipika Gawande | On 18 Dec 2015

Farm Household Typologies and Mechanization Patterns in Nepal Terai

Although Nepal formulated an agricultural mechanization promotion policy in 2014, there is still much to learn about tailoring mechanization policies to different types of farm households. The Terai b...

by | On 18 Dec 2015

Naxalite Movements of India: A Profile

In order to understand the current phase of Naxalism, there is a need to understand different aspects of organizational transformation that have occurred within the Naxal movement, since the genesis a...

by Rajat Kumar Kujur | On 18 Dec 2015

Agriculture and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Mapping Evidence to Pathways

This paper assesses the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture–nutrition pathways in Bangladesh. More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific...

by | On 18 Dec 2015

Citizen Participation and Accountability for Sustainable Development

This report articulates three strategies by which the poorest and most marginalised have attempted to ensure accountability from national and global policymakers to local people.It is a response to de...

by Danny Burns | On 17 Dec 2015

Channelling Household Savings to Productive uses Through the Capital Markets

Savings provides the means for investments. Typically, investments are primarily funded through domestic savings and the rest through foreign capital inflows. Domestic savings are from three sources -...

by Vardhana Pawaskar | On 17 Dec 2015

Nepal: A Failing State or a State in Transition?

The modest intention of this paper is to question the above assertion that Nepal is a failing state. To this end, it shall firstly outline the broad definition of failing states. Secondly, it will off...

by Oliver Housden | On 17 Dec 2015

The Design and Implementation of Public Pension Systems in Developing Countries: Issues and Options

Developing countries are increasingly aware of the need to design and implement improvements in public systems for providing pensions to the elderly. Such systems may aim to smooth consumption and thu...

by David Bloom | On 17 Dec 2015

Why Minimum Wage Increases Are a Poor Way to Help the Working Poor

Minimum wage increases are not a very effective mechanism for reducing poverty. They are not related to decreases in poverty rates. They can cost some low-income workers their jobs. And most minimum w...

by Richard Burkhauser | On 16 Dec 2015

Equate and Conflate: Political Commitment to Hunger and Undernutrition Reduction in Five High-Burden Countries

As political commitment is an essential ingredient for elevating food and nutrition security onto policy agendas, commitment metrics have proliferated. Many conflate government commitment to fight hun...

by Rajith Lakshman | On 16 Dec 2015

MQSUN Determinants of Child Undernutrition in Bangladesh Literature Review

The DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh aims to improve nutrition outcomes for children, mothers and adolescent girls by integrating the delivery of a nu...

by Ahmed F. | On 16 Dec 2015

MQSUN Mixed Methods Report: Impact Evaluation of the DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh, Phase II

The DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh aims to improve nutrition outcomes for children, mothers and adolescent girls by integrating the delivery of a nu...

by Barnett I. | On 16 Dec 2015

Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty

This report marks the fifth anniversary of the UN Millennium Declaration and the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. It argues that unless governments and policymakers pay more atten...

by Martha Chen | On 16 Dec 2015

Determinants of Unemployment Flows,LabourMarket Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies

The paper makes use of newly developped information on unemployment dynamics. On the basis of a matching model of the labour market the paper analyses the economic, institutional and policy determinan...

by Ekkehard Ernst | On 16 Dec 2015

Improving the quality of girls’ education in madrasas in Bangladesh

Research around the world has demonstrated the important role that education plays in the empowerment of girls and women. Providing girls with a quality education can help prevent early marriage, prev...

by Musammat Badrunnesha | On 16 Dec 2015

Enabling war and peace: Drugs, logs, gems, and wildlife in Thailand and Burma

In this policy paper, Vanda Felbab-Brown explores the relationship between conflict, peace dynamics, and drugs and other illicit economies in Thailand and Myanmar/Burma since the 1960s through...

by Vanda Felbab-Brown | On 16 Dec 2015

An Analysis of the Turmoil in the Stock Market: Issues and Challenges for Monetary Policy

The objective of this study is to examine the characteristics of the stock market bubble burst in Bangladesh and policy response for the sample period from 2004:7-2013:2. This paper also discusses the...

by Dr. Sayera Younus | On 15 Dec 2015

How Can Food Subsidies Work Better? Answers from India and the Philippines

This study explores the outcomes of food subsidies to the poor in the case of India and the Philippines. Both countries operate in-kind food subsidy programs with similar mandates, commonalities in...

by Shikha Jha | On 15 Dec 2015

Policy analysis: Climate Change and Migration Bangladesh

The key challenge is to develop a policy that facilitates the adaptive capacity of migration rather than inhibiting it. Such an endeavour and subsequent shift in policy where it is sub-optimal is impe...

by Richard Black | On 15 Dec 2015

The Exposure, Vulnerability, and Ability to Respond of Poor Households to Recurrent Floods in Mumbai

This paper examines poor households in the city of Mumbai and their exposure, vulnerability, and ability to respond to recurrent floods. The paper discusses policy implications for future adaptive cap...

by | On 14 Dec 2015

Peaceful Coexistence? The Role of Religious Schools and NGOs in the Growth of Female Secondary Schooling in Bangladesh

In this paper, documents a positive spillover effect of BRAC schools on female secondary enrollment in registered madrasas. Drawing upon school enrollment data aggregated at the region level, It first...

by Mohammad Niaz Asadullah | On 11 Dec 2015

Human Capital Potential of India's Future Workforce

This paper discusses India’s demographic dynamics and argues that policymakers have the widest window of opportunity with that segment of population which is poised to enter the workforce between 203...

by Ali Mehdi | On 09 Dec 2015

Gender Equality and Sustainable Development

The immense social, economic and environmental consequences of climate change and loss of essential ecosystems are becoming clear. Their effects are already being felt in floods, droughts, and devasta...

by | On 07 Dec 2015

Gender, Headship, and the Life Cycle: Landownership in Four Asian Countries

To inform the formulation of policies and interventions to strengthen women’s land rights, this paper analyzes nationally representative data from Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam to...

by Kathryn Sproule | On 02 Dec 2015

Sanitation in India: Progress, Differentials, Correlates, and Challenges

Communicable diseases constitute a significant portion of the overall disease burden in India. Improving access to sanitation in India will, similarly, reduce the communicable disease burden and chil...

by Sekhar Bonu | On 18 Nov 2015

Going to School in Purdah: Female Schooling, Mobility Norms and Madrasas in Bangladesh

This paper looks at the determinants of secondary school attendance in Bangladesh with a focus on the interaction between community gender norms and relative supply of madrasas (i.e. Islamic schools)....

by Zaki Wahhaj | On 16 Nov 2015

Workfare and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from India

The paper examines the effect of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), one of the largest workfare programs in the world, on human capital investment. Since NREGS increases labor...

by | On 16 Nov 2015

Toward Better Global Poverty Measures

While much progress has been made over the last 25 years in measuring global poverty, there are a number of challenges ahead. The paper discusses three sets of problems: (i) how to allow for social...

by Martin Ravallion | On 16 Nov 2015

An Impact Evaluation of Investment in Infrastructure : The Case of the Railway Connection in Uzbekistan

The objective of this paper is to examine the nature and magnitude of the effects of infrastructure provision on regional economic performance. The empirical evidence of the analysis is based on diffe...

by Naoyuki Yoshino | On 13 Nov 2015

Eradicating Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh: National Strategies and Activities

Although Bangladesh has achieved fairly steady economic growth, as of 2011, almost half of its population still lived in extreme poverty. As a result, the Government of Bangladesh and its development...

by Nayma Qayum | On 09 Nov 2015

Evaluation of Multipurpose Community Learning Centres of BRAC in Rural Areas of Bangladesh

This study aimed to evaluate the Multipurpose Learning Centres or Gonokendros (GK) operated by BRAC jointly with the local community in rural areas of Bangladesh. Two main goals were process evaluatio...

by | On 09 Nov 2015

Upgrading a Piped Water Supply from Intermittent to Continuous Delivery and Association with Waterborne Illness: A Matched Cohort Study in Urban India

Intermittent delivery of piped water can lead to waterborne illness through contamination in the pipelines or during household storage, use of unsafe water sources during intermittencies, and limite...

by Ayse Ercumen | On 05 Nov 2015

Performance of Targeted Public Distribution System in Kerala

Targeted Public Distribution System was introduced in the country following the failure of the Universal PDS to serve below the poverty line and poorest of the poor households.It is being implemente...

by T Jayan | On 04 Nov 2015

Migration for Hard Work: A Reluctant Livelihood Strategy for Poor Households in West Bengal, India

This paper reports some initial findings of a study of how migrants in India and Bangladesh and the household members that stay behind reduce the insecurities they face (including hunger, debt, ill-he...

by | On 02 Nov 2015

Beyond Drugs: TB Patients in Bangladesh need Urgent Attention for Nutrition Support during Convalescene

This study measures the nutritional status (using Body Mass Index or BMI) of TB patients before, at two months, and after completion of TB treatment (DOTS) to study the changes during treatment and it...

by Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute | On 29 Oct 2015

Contributing Factors for Low Consumption of Animal Food among Children Aged 6-23 Months in Alive and Thrive Intervention Areas of Bangladesh

This study aims to identify the barriers leading to low consumption of animal foods by children aged 6-23 months in A & T intervention areas; and to assesstheir knowledge and practices of dietary int...

by Umme Salma Mukta | On 29 Oct 2015

How Well Does the World Health Organization Definition of Domestic Violence Work for India?

Domestic violence (DV) is reported by 40% of married women in India and associated with substantial morbidity. An operational research definition is therefore needed to enhance understanding of DV epi...

by Seema Sahay | On 21 Oct 2015

Child Centred Approach to Climate Change and Health Adaptation through Schools in Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomised Intervention Trial

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. People are getting educated at different levels on how to deal with potential impacts. One such educational mode was the preparati...

by | On 21 Oct 2015

Gender Equality Results Case Study: Sri Lanka - Improving Connectivity to Support Livelihoods and Gender Equality

This case study documents key gender equality issues as well as key achievements and lessons from a project carried out in post conflict Sri Lanka as part of urgently needed reconstruction. The Improv...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 16 Oct 2015

Natural Interest Rate: Assessing the Stance of India’s Monetary Policy under Uncertainty

Using a theoretical framework that combines the essence of Ramsay’s growth model and the New-Keynesian macrodynamics, and applying the Kalman filter estimation technique, this paper finds that Indi...

by Harendra Behera | On 16 Oct 2015

Social and Economic Change in Rural Bihar and the Emerging Policy Framework

This document presents a summary of the initial findings from a research programme on inclusive growth in Bihar, carried out by the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi. The study aims to unde...

by | On 12 Oct 2015

Achievements of BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme Towards Millennium Development Goals and Beyond

BRAC WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programme aims to facilitate, in partnership with the government of Bangladesh and other stakeholders, the attainment of the targets of UN Millennium Developm...

by Nepal C Dey | On 09 Oct 2015

Determination of Farm-Level Adaption Diversity to Cyclone and Flood: Insights from a Household-Level Survey in Eastern India

The present study aims to assess determinants of adaptation diversity (i.e., a number of adaptation mechanisms undertaken by the farm households). For empirical assessment, a farm household-level s...

by Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati | On 09 Oct 2015

Migration and Social Networks: Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper explores the role of social networks in the migration process in Bangladesh. Migration can be costly and can also involve considerable risks around finding adequate housing and employment....

by | On 08 Oct 2015

Regional Inequality in Bangladesh in the 2000s: Re-Visiting the East-West Divide Debate

The term “East-West divide” as a way of describing regional disparity in Bangladesh has emerged in the policy discourse only in the 2000s. The administrative divisions belonging to the western part of...

by | On 08 Oct 2015

Attempting the Production of Public Goods through Microfinance: The Case of Water and Sanitation

This paper evaluates the attempt to create public goods via microfinance loans. Microfinance loans in the production of goods with public goods characteristics signify an emergent micro-privatisation....

by Philip Mader | On 06 Oct 2015

Public Good Provision in Indian Rural Areas: The Returns to Collective Action by Microfinance Groups

Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most common form of microfinance in India. The authors provide evidence that SHGs, composed of women only, undertake collective actions for the provision of public good...

by | On 01 Oct 2015

User Perceptions of Shared Sanitation among Rural Households in Indonesia and Bangladesh

The practice of sharing sanitation facilities does not meet the current World Health Organization/UNICEF definition for what is considered improved sanitation. Recommendations have been made to catego...

by | On 30 Sep 2015

The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women's Equality can Add $12 trillion to Global Growth

In this report, MGI explores the economic potential available if the global gender gap were to be closed. The research finds that, in a full-potential scenario in which women play an identical role...

by Jonathan Woetzel | On 30 Sep 2015

Role and Effectiveness of Public Distribution System in Assuring Food Security in India: An Appraisal

This paper tries to identify food insecure population of the country, analyse the availability, storage, procurement of food grain , assess the effectiveness of PDS, identify the discrepancies in the...

by Ishita Aditya Ray | On 28 Sep 2015

Report of the Fact Finding Mission to Rampal, Bangladesh

The objective of the mission was to evaluate the impact of the power plant on the livelihoods of the people and ecology of the region, examine the legal framework governing its and assess if the propo...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 28 Sep 2015

Climate Sensitivity of Groundwater Systems Critical for Agricultural Incomes in South India

This study examines the implications of variations in climate variables on ground water sources of irrigation and agricultural income in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Our findings, based on a panel...

by Balasubramanian R | On 24 Sep 2015

The Troubled Democracy of Bangladesh: ‘Muddling Through’ or ‘a Political Settlement’?

Is democracy in Bangladesh on a reverse course? Is there a culture of intolerance being engendered by deliberate design? Will creeping extremisms create an inevitable schism within the nation? The pap...

by | On 23 Sep 2015

Manufacturing or Services? An Indian Illustration of a Development Dilemma

Manufacturing has historically offered the fastest path out of poverty, but there is mounting evidence that this path may be all but closed to developing countries today. Some have suggested that ser...

by Amrit Amirapu | On 23 Sep 2015

Production, Market Structure and the Role of Public Policy: Foodgrains in the New Economy

Although India’s plans for market reforms and opening up agriculture with earnest optimism and anticipation, every step on the way was laced with caution and deliberation and every action was weighed...

by Nilabja Ghosh | On 21 Sep 2015

Do the ‘Asian’ Categories in the British Censuses Adequately Capture the Indian Sub-continent Diaspora Population?

Categories that capture the Indian sub-continent-origin population – ‘Indian’, ‘Pakistani’, ‘Bangladeshi’ – have been included on all the British census forms (1991, 2001, 2011) that have asked about...

by | On 17 Sep 2015

Rights-based Legal Guarantee as Development Policy: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

This paper analyses the legal framework and policy innovations undertaken towards achieving the stated objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This paper seeks to cri...

by | On 15 Sep 2015

Developing Regional Value Chains in South Asian Leather Clusters: Issues, Options and an Indian Case

The possibility of developing regional production networks in specific sectors between nations of South Asia has been explored in this paper. The case of the leather and leather goods cluster in T...

by Keshab Das | On 11 Sep 2015

A Nation under Threat: The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Rights and Forced Migration in Bangladesh

The report explores how climate change has become one of the major challenges to the enjoyment of the basic rights to life, food, health, water, housing and self-determination in one of the World's mo...

by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) | On 08 Sep 2015

Interrelation Between Growth and Inequality

The paper highlights the importance of “broad-based growth” as a framework to support economic growth and inclusiveness at the same time. Different countries show different dynamics between economic g...

by Jong Woo Kang | On 07 Sep 2015

Changing Trends in Female Labour Force Participation in India: An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis

Despite rapid economic growth coupled with benefits of the demographic dividend, evidence from both the NSSO 66th and 68th Rounds reveals a decline in female labour force participation in India. This...

by Sandhya Mahapatro | On 04 Sep 2015

The Permanent People’s Tribunals and Indigenous People’s Struggles in Mexico: Between Coloniality and Epistemic Justice?

On 21 October 2011, hundreds of Mexican civil society organizations formally submitted a petition to the Lelio e Lisli Basso Foundation in Rome to justify the opening of a Mexican Chapter of the Perma...

by Rosalba Icaza | On 02 Sep 2015

Public Views Of Health System Issues In Four Asian Countries

To elicit the public’s views on health system issues, the study conducted an opinion poll survey in Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The study focused on health inequalities. The results sh...

by Bhatia Mrigesh | On 01 Sep 2015

Internal Migration and the Development Nexus: The Case of Bangladesh

Over the last decade, the landscape of Bangladesh has changed remarkably. Persistent mobility of people questions existing development strategies, which are largely based on sectoral approaches that...

by Rita Afsar | On 31 Aug 2015

A Policy Mix for Gender Equality? Lessons from High-Income Countries

Over the past 15 years, important gains have been made in gender equality. Gender gaps in educational attainment have shrunk substantially. In fact, in many high-income countries, young women’s educat...

by Megan Gerecke | On 31 Aug 2015

Ghar Wapsi for Logic

If there is one thing the Census 2011 shows, it's that India will remain overwhelmingly Hindu forever

by T.N. Ninan | On 29 Aug 2015

For a Fee: The Business of Recruiting Bangladeshi Women for Domestic Work in Jordan and Lebanon

This study aims to shed light on the industry that profits from the recruitment of women from South Asian countries into domestic work employment in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Banglad...

by Katharine Jones | On 27 Aug 2015

Why is Female Labour Force Participation Declining so Sharply in India?

This paper attempts to shed light on the causes behind the recent sharp decline in female labour force participation in India and to identify factors underpinning the long-term stagnation in female pa...

by Evangelia Bourmpoula | On 25 Aug 2015

Understanding Children’s Risk and Agency in Urban Areas and their Implications for Child-centred Urban Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia: Insights From Dhaka, Kathmandu, Manila and Jakarta

This paper presents the findings of a study undertaken by IIED in partnership with Plan International on urban children’s risk and agency in four large Asian cities: Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nep...

by | On 24 Aug 2015

Analysis of Fish Consumption and Poverty in Bangladesh

Aquaculture has grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades in Bangladesh. This is welcomed by most as increasing fish production is expected to contribute to enhancing food security in a...

by Kazi Ali Toufique | On 21 Aug 2015

Recent Developments in Myanmar and New Opportunities for Sub-Regional Cooperation: A Bangladesh Perspective

The paper analyses the potential opportunities between Bangladesh and Myanmar stemming from sub-regional cooperation. The paper examines Myanmar’s integration into the regional and global economy toge...

by Debapriya Bhattacharya | On 18 Aug 2015

Trade and Transport Facilitation in Bangladesh: An Audit of the State of Play

This working paper embodies the results of trade and transport facilitation audit which was carried out in the Bangladesh context, as part of a South Asian regional study.The study documents the major...

by Naimul Saif | On 11 Aug 2015

Equilibrium Exchange Rate Estimation for Taka – A Co integration Analysis

This paper is an attempt to know the equilibrium exchange rate of Taka to measure exchange rate misalignment. To estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate we use macroeconomic balance approach, wh...

by Md. Akhtaruzzaman | On 11 Aug 2015

Children’s Work Activities in a Peasant Household: Epitome of Neo-Classical Rationality or Else?

This paper reflects upon a simple micro-economic model of a small peasant household economy has been formulated to derive the conditions for optimum labour time allocation among different gainful acti...

by Arup Maharatna | On 10 Aug 2015

The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in the National Development of Bangladesh

Education is a basic human right and considered by many as a key tool for national development. However, this tenet has been challenged by several economists, especially Pritchett (1996). His empirica...

by Gazi Mahabubul Alam | On 03 Aug 2015

Household Recombination, Retrospective Evaluation, and the Effects of a Health and Family Planning Intervention

This paper examines, in particular, the effects on educational mobility of a well-known maternal and child health and family planning program in Matlab Bangladesh. Results suggest that the program res...

by Andrew Foster | On 29 Jul 2015

Health Implications from Monocrotophos Use: A Review of the Evidence in India

This document is based on a literature review and which was prepared for the Regional Office of South-East Asia. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WHO have encouraged countries to phase...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 20 Jul 2015

Household Recombination, Retrospective Evaluation, and the Effects of a Health and Family Planning Intervention

Analysis of the long term effects of social and public health programs using household survey data requires an understanding of patterns of household recombination–that is the processes by which house...

by Andrew Foster | On 16 Jul 2015

International Public Health Hazards: Indian Legislative Provisions

"International public health hazards: Indian legislative provisions" presents an outline of the provisions in the Indian legal system which may enable the implementation of IHR in the country. Interna...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 15 Jul 2015

Progress Made and Challenges Ahead for the Bangladesh Ready-Made Garment Sector

In two years since Rana Plaza collapsed, considerable progress has been made towards creating a safer ready made garment sector for Bangladesh. This ILO publication looks at what has been achieved and...

by International Labour Organisation ILO | On 10 Jul 2015

Women Police in the City of Delhi: Gender Hierarchies, 'Transgression', and 'Pariah Femininities'

When women personnel are incorporated in the profession of policing, there is a general assumption behind it that the presence of women makes the force sensitive to gender-crimes, and thus more effici...

by Santana Khanikar | On 09 Jul 2015

The Role of Subsidy Uncertainty in Mission Drift of Microfinance Institutions of Asia

This study sheds light on the mission drift arguments for 149 MFIs working in continent Asia over the period 2003 to 2013. The mission drift is captured by average loan size, total number of borrower...

by | On 08 Jul 2015

Structural Conditions and Agency in Migrant Decision-Making: A Case of Domestic and Construction Workers from Java, Indonesia

This working paper examines the migration drivers into the two low-paid and insecure occupations of domestic work and construction work from rural areas in Indonesia. While the ideas of migration exis...

by Khoo Choon Yen | On 06 Jul 2015

Sex-ratio Imbalance in Asia: Trends, Consequences and Policy Responses

This paper offers a regional overview of the mechanisms and consequences of the growing gender imbalances, as observed today in Asia. The extent and timings of the trend towards more masculine populat...

by Christophe Z. Guilmoto | On 02 Jul 2015

Managing Rice Value Chain for Improved Food Security in Bangladesh

This Policy Brief utilizes the concept of value chain management as the basis of improving the competitive advantage of the rice sector for promoting food security in Bangladesh. For analyzing the is...

by | On 02 Jul 2015

Relaxing Migration Constraints for Rural Households

There are an estimated 750 million internal migrants in the world, yet the effects of access to internal migration for rural households are not well understood. Internal migrants may provide wealth tr...

by Cynthia Kinnan | On 25 Jun 2015

Trade Liberalisation and Women’s Employment Intensity: Analysis of India’s Manufacturing

In the context of increasing contribution of developing countries in world trade, an important question is whether trade can be used as an instrument to stimulate higher participation of women in the...

by Purna Banerjee | On 25 Jun 2015

The Risk of Disaster-Induced Displacement in South Asia

This technical paper provides evidence-based estimates of the likelihood of disaster-induced displacement in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It att...

by Justin Ginnetti | On 24 Jun 2015

How Empowered is Microfinance in Empowering Women ? Evidence from India

Drawing upon the data from the recent period, this paper explores the relationship between women’s involvement in microfinance programs and improvement in their empowerment status. The significant d...

by | On 19 Jun 2015

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) of Ministry of Public Administration Bangladesh

The statement discusses the need of development of a competent and accountable public service by attracting, developing, engaging and managing an efficient and innovative organizational, functional an...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 18 Jun 2015

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) of Bangladesh Election Commission

The statement aims to stand firmly as an independent institution and to conduct every election honestly, fairly and transparency and in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the country. The st...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 18 Jun 2015

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) of Bangladesh Cabinet Division 2011-12

Statement aims to establish good governance by coordinating activities of different ministries & divisions and supervising activities of field administration in pursuing government policy and strategy...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 17 Jun 2015

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) of Prime Minister’s Office 2011-12

The statement aims to build a knowledge-based and digital Bangladesh and to advance the socio-economic conditions of all sections of the nation, through the establishment of good governance in the all...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 17 Jun 2015

Bangladesh Monthly Report on Fiscal Position

The data generated by the Budgeting Information System has been used to prepare this report which put forward the following major findings- Up to April FY11, 80.2% of the Revenue target of the budget...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 17 Jun 2015

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 1390 National Budget Statement Draft

The national budget is the primary tool for implementing the priorities and policies of the government as a whole. The 1390 budget maintains the Government’s major budgetary objective of allocating fi...

by Ministry of Finance Afghanistan | On 15 Jun 2015

Minorities and Inclusive Electoral Processes in South Asia

This overview brings together major findings and crosscutting issues in the “country situation reports” from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively, which were commissioned b...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 15 Jun 2015

Bangladesh Budget 2010-11: Budget Speech

Budgetary speech presents an outline of the the Budget Implementation Progress report for FY 2010-11. The speech discuss briefly budget framework of bangladesh government and also analyse macroeconomi...

by Ministry of Finance Bangladesh | On 12 Jun 2015

Budget FY11: Report on the Implementation Status, Income and Expenditure Trend and Macroeconomic Analysis (up to December 2010)

Budget FY11 contains Speech of the Bangladesh Finance Minister on the implementation status and macroeconomic analysis up to second quarter (July-December).

by | On 12 Jun 2015

The Bangladesh Gender Gap in Education: Biased Intra-household Educational Expenditures

By investigating the educational expenditure of children over the ten years (2000 to 2010), it evaluates whether there exists any gender specific discrepancy at the household level and the trend of su...

by Abu S. Shonchoy | On 10 Jun 2015

Sex Ratios and Gender Biased Sex Selection History, Debates and Future Directions

This report consists of an overview of the secondary literature on the subject of gender biased sex selection in the Indian context. Its aim is to provide a road map for what has become an extremely w...

by Mary E. John | On 08 Jun 2015

India and Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement

Attempts have been made to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the land boundary between India and Bangladesh (the erstwhile East Pakistan) since 1947. The Nehru-Noon agreement of 1958 and the agr...

by Ministry of External Affairs, GoI MEA | On 07 Jun 2015

Bad Karma or Discrimination? Male-Female Wage Gaps among Salaried Workers in India

This paper analyses the issue of gender parity in wages by focusing on the evolution of male-female wage gaps for an emerging economy, India, and decomposes the gaps to understand patterns of gender-b...

by Ashwini Deshpande | On 29 May 2015

Internal Displacement in Myanmar: Stakeholder Report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) to the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism

This report draws on IDMC’s report on internal displacement in Myanmar published in July 2014 and also uses information collected since then. It is based on documents published by international organi...

by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre | On 27 May 2015

The Human Rights of Stateless Rohingya in Thailand

The Rohingya are an ethno-religious minority group from the Rakhine region, which today is encompassed within the borders of Myanmar and is adjacent to Bangladesh. The majority of Rohingya in Myanmar...

by The Equal Rights Trust | On 14 May 2015

The Role of Banks in Promoting Women Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

The intention of this paper is to examine the role of banks particularly the state owned and specialized banks in promoting women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. Women constitute almost half of the t...

by | On 13 May 2015

The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014: Standing Committee on Labour (2014-15)

Standing Committee on Labour (2014-15) present this Third Report on `The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014’ relating to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Factories Act enables labour administr...

by Lok Sabha Secretariat | On 11 May 2015

Book Review: Civil Wars in South Asia: State, Sovereignty, Development

Review of Civil Wars in South Asia: State, Sovereignty, Development ed. Aparna Sundar and Nandini Sundar. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2014. pp. 273. Rs. 850/-, ISBN: 9789351500407.

by Pramod K. Nayar | On 28 Apr 2015

The Internet and State Intervention in Asia: A Comparative Study of Selected Countries

In context of contemporary debates about censorship, net neutrality and the role of the state in today’s globalising world, it becomes vital to examine the stand taken by various Asian governments tow...

by Nandini Bhattacharya | On 17 Apr 2015

Asian Development Outlook 2015 Financing Asia’s Future Growth

According to the Asian Development Outlook 2015, India is forecast to overtake China in terms of economic growth as the initial phase of government efforts to remove structural bottlenecks is lifting...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 01 Apr 2015

Two Decades of Indian Microfinance: Trajectory and Transformation

This paper critically reviews the major trends in the trajectory of evolution of Indian microfinance since the early 1990s. The debates on Indian microfinance reflect the myriad imaginations and perc...

by | On 31 Mar 2015

Women’s Autonomy and Experience of Physical Violence Within Marriage in Rural India: Evidence From a Prospective Study

Evidence regarding the relationship between married women’s autonomy and risk of marital violence remains mixed. Moreover, studies examining the contribution of specific aspects of women’s autonomy in...

by | On 26 Mar 2015

Walk the talk on carbon tax, Mr Finance Minister

Budget 2015, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has a first. In it, India has accepted that it has a de-facto carbon tax—on petroleum products and dirty coal. Arguably, the only big green ini...

by Sunita Narain | On 25 Mar 2015

Mapping Bangladesh’s Political Crisis

On 5 January, the first anniversary of the deeply contested 2014 elections, the most violent in Bangladesh’s history, clashes between government and opposition groups led to several deaths and scores...

by International Crisis Group | On 24 Mar 2015

A Dynamic Economic Model of Soil Conservation Involving Genetically Modified Crop

This paper attempts to model the positive role of cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) crop with its soil-anchoring root-characteristic and use of conservation-tillage technology, in saving orga...

by Amrita Chatterjee | On 23 Mar 2015

The Fiscal and Welfare Impacts of Reforming Fuel Subsidies in India

This paper evaluates the fiscal and welfare implications of fuel subsidy reform in India. Fuel subsidies are found to be badly targeted, with the richest ten percent of households receiving seven time...

by | On 11 Mar 2015

Straw in the Wind

What does the decision to save groundwater in Punjab or Haryana have to do with air pollution in Delhi? Plenty. We need to know this because many actions have unintended and deadly consequences.

by Sunita Narain | On 26 Feb 2015

Bangladesh: Polarisation, Political Violence and An Undeclared Civil War

The report states that about 90 people have been killed and more than a thousand were injured in the ongoingviolent anti-government protests by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led 20-party alli...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 19 Feb 2015

Microfinance for Decent Work – Enhancing the Impact of Microfinance: Evidence from an Action Research Programme

In many emerging markets, Micro FinanceInstitutions have significant outreach, providing financial services to thousands, if not millions of small and micro enterprises. Since their primary relationsh...

by International Labour Organisation ILO | On 18 Feb 2015

The Effect of Women’s Decision-Making Power on Reproductive Health Services Uptake - Evidence from Pakistan

A large body of research has attempted to explore the links between women's autonomy and their uptake of reproductive health services in the South Asia region, but the evidence so far is inconclusive...

by Xiaohui Hou | On 04 Feb 2015

Surge in Solar-Powered Homes: Experience in Off-Grid Rural Bangladesh

The studies broad aim is to access the welfare impact of solar home systems (SHS) on households and to evaluate the present institutional structure and financing mechanisms. Also it accesses the direc...

by Shahidur R. Khandker | On 27 Jan 2015

So That We Can Breathe Easy

The easiest way to clear air pollution is to not know how bad it is. This is what India practices—in most parts of the country. There is virtually no equipment to monitor the air we breathe and no sys...

by Sunita Narain | On 22 Jan 2015

The Mechanism of Long-Term Growth in India

This paper aim to provide an account of growth in India based on its internal dynamics. This helps to place the relative roles of policy, shocks, and internal dynamics. The paper leads us to conclude...

by Pulapre Balakrishnan | On 21 Jan 2015

The Minimum Wage and the Great Recession: Evidence of Effects on the Employment and Income Trajectories of Low-Skilled Workers

The paper estimates the minimum wage's effects on low-skilled workers' employment and income trajectories. The increased binding minimum wage had significant, negative effects on the employment and in...

by Jeffrey Clemens | On 19 Jan 2015

Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities

The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced w...

by | On 13 Jan 2015

Malnutrition in South-Asia: Poverty, Diet or Lack of Female Empowerment?

Despite economic growth, and a reduction in poverty, malnutrition is still rampant in South-Asia. This indicates that non-economic factors are important, and it used a nation-wide survey from Nepal to...

by | On 13 Jan 2015

Changing Norms about Gender Inequality in Education: Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper examines norms about gender equality of the education of children and adults in Bangladesh using a recent household survey for two cohorts of married women. Education norms are found to dif...

by Niels-Hugo Blunch | On 29 Dec 2014

China and Its Peripheries: Contentious Relations with North Korea

This brief discusses China's political, economic, territorial, and security relations with North Korea. It suggests that although China remains North Korea's most important ally as well as its biggest...

by | On 26 Dec 2014

Agriculture and Child Under-Nutrition in India: A State Level Analysis

The literature review on agriculture-child nutrition linkage indicates that the evidence base is weak and inconclusive (Kadiyala et al., 2013). This paper explores the possible linkages between agri...

by | On 24 Dec 2014

Housing and Labor Productivity of Female Tea Pluckers in Sri Lanka

This study analyzes the link between labor productivity of tea-plantation workers in Sri Lanka and their living conditions. The results indicate a significant negative relationship between Indoor Air...

by Ajantha Kalyanaratne | On 16 Dec 2014

Impact of Public Spending on Health and Education of Children in India: A Panel Data Simultaneous Equation Model

The basic objective of the study is to examine the impact of public expenditure on health and education after incorporating the linkages between health status of children and their educational achiev...

by Runu Bhatka | On 12 Dec 2014

Does Gender Inequity Increase the Risk of Intimate Partner Violence among Women? Evidence from Bangladesh Sample Survey

Evidence from developing countries regarding the association between gender inequity and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in women has been suggestive but inconclusive. Using nationally r...

by Mosiur Rahman | On 05 Dec 2014

Cross-Sectional Time Series Analysis of Associations between Education and Girl Child Marriage in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan

Girl education is believed to be the best means of reducing girl child marriage (marriage <18 years) globally. However, in South Asia, where the majority of girl child marriages occur, substantial imp...

by Anita Raj | On 02 Dec 2014

The Impact of India's Rural Employment Guarantee on Demand for Agricultural Technology

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is approaching eight years of implementation. Since 2006, it has offered up to 100 days per year of guaranteed public works employm...

by Anil K. Bhargava | On 28 Nov 2014

Violence against Women in Politics A study conducted in India, Nepal and Pakistan

This study addresses the nature, extent and reasons for women’s political participation within India, Nepal and Pakistan. All three countries have recently elected or are in the process of electing th...

by Ranjana Kumari | On 27 Nov 2014

Asia Child Marriage Initiative: Summary of Research in Bangladesh, India and Nepal

Child marriage is one of the most prevalent and serious violations of human rights. The issue needs urgent attention in South Asia, where 46 per cent of children are married formally or in informal u...

by Ravi Verma | On 27 Nov 2014

What are the Headwaters of Formal Savings? Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka

When households increase their deposits in formal bank savings accounts, what is the source of the money? High-frequency surveys are combined with an experiment in which a Sri Lankan bank used mobil...

by Michael Callen | On 13 Nov 2014

Female Literacy: A Success Story of Maharashtra

This paper makes in-depth study of the level of literacy among females and the extent of gender disparity in literacy in different districts of rural and urban Maharashtra. This paper also shows imp...

by Asha A. Jindal | On 11 Nov 2014

Youth Employment in the Philippines

Youth unemployment and the difficulty of transiting from school to work has been a persistent and significant problem not just in the Philippines, but throughout the Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Th...

by Mark Canlas | On 04 Nov 2014

Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in Bangladesh

During the last decade, Bangladesh maintained a stable growth rate of around 6 per cent, and gross domestic product (GDP) doubled in the period 2000–12. Unfortunately, economic growth has not translat...

by Kazi Ali Toufique | On 31 Oct 2014

International Migration and Development in East Asia and the Pacific

The East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region has an international emigrant population of more than 21 million people who remitted US$112 billion to their home countries in 2013. The region also hosts more t...

by Ahmad Ahsan | On 31 Oct 2014

Linkages between Maternal Education and Childhood Immunization in India

While correlations between maternal education and child health have been observed in diverse parts of the world, the causal pathways explaining how maternal education improves child health remain far...

by Kriti Vikram | On 30 Oct 2014

Spillover Effects of Exchange Rates: A Study of the Renminbi

This paper estimates the impact of China’s exchange rate changes on exports of competitor countries in third markets, which is called as the “spillover effect. Recent theory is used to develop an id...

by Aaditya Mattoo | On 29 Oct 2014

"I Already Bought You" Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates

This Human Rights Watch report documents how the UAE’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, and the lack of labour law protections leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse. Domestic worker...

by Human Rights Watch | On 24 Oct 2014

Youth in Transition: The Challenges of Transitional Change in Asia

This book originates from a conference of the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils and contains writings and research reports on Youth in Transition in the Asia and Pacific region. Th...

by UNESCO UNESCO | On 16 Oct 2014

Human Development Progress in South Asia: Achievements and Challenges

Rapid human development progress in India, Bangladesh and other South Asian nations is helping drive a historic shift in global dynamics, with hundreds of millions of people rising from poverty and bi...

by Rameshwar Jat | On 26 Sep 2014

Determinants of Male Participation in Reproductive Healthcare Services: A Cross-Sectional Study

The role of male’s participation in reproductive healthcare is now well-recognized. The present study investigated the role of men in some selected reproductive health issues, characterizing their inv...

by Md Shahjahan | On 25 Sep 2014

Causes of Indian Rupee Depreciation and its Impact on Bangladesh Economy

The intention of this paper is to examine the impact of Indian Rupee depreciation on Bangladesh Economy. The empirical results obtained from OLS for the sample period from 2007:10 to 2013:10 show tha...

by Sayera Younus | On 25 Sep 2014

Internal Migrant Workers and the Construction Sector in Bangladesh: Tackling Informality and Exploitative Labour Practices

Internal migrant construction workers in Bangladesh face unduly harsh conditions of work. This brief identifies a number of problems that all construction workers face, but they are particularly perti...

by C R Abrar | On 24 Sep 2014

Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in Asia and the Pacific

This report presents the results of the School-to-work transition surveys (SWTS) implemented in five countries in the Asia-Pacific region – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Samoa and Viet Nam – in 2012 or...

by International Labour Organisation ILO | On 18 Sep 2014

A Handbook of Statistical Indicators of Indian Women

The Handbook is intended to provide a bird's eye view of the present status of Indian women. The various tables indicate the primary data sources and the key facts are presented in bullet points at th...

by Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development | On 15 Sep 2014

Chicken Comes Home to Roost

India is at the beginning of industrial food production focused on efficiency and profits, and not on consumer safety, so it still has a choice to get it right. Why should the country not exercise its...

by Sunita Narain | On 04 Sep 2014

The Effects of Mortality on Fertility: Population Dynamics after a Natural Disaster

Understanding how mortality and fertility are linked is essential to the study of population dynamics. The fertility response to an unanticipated mortality shock is investigated that resulted from the...

by Jenna Nobles | On 02 Sep 2014

Foundations of Bangladesh’s Economic Development: Politics of Aid

Bangladesh today with a population of nearly 160 million faces myriad development challenges. But it is far from being the ‘basket case’ that Henry Kissinger once described it as. Despite its still be...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury | On 22 Aug 2014

Critical Care or Gross Negligance

The conditions in some of the hospitals in India are very poor. There is utter callousness and disregard for the poor who are forced to seek health services. Basic health care and values of human dign...

by Sunil Nandraj | On 19 Aug 2014

Integrated Health and Microfinance in India, Volume II: The Way Forward

Integrated Health and Microfinance in India: The Way Forward is a follow-up report that highlights the context of integration of health and microfinance in light of India’s journey towards universal h...

by Somen Saha | On 11 Aug 2014

The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries

Is the high degree of gender inequality in developing countries in education, personal autonomy, and more explained by underdevelopment itself? Or do the societies that are poor today hold certain cu...

by Seema Jayachandran | On 11 Aug 2014

Letting Girls Learn: Promising Approaches in Primary and Secondary Education

This paper analyses the benefits from female education (who gains and in what ways) and the constraints (direct and opportunity costs, reflecting economics and tradition). It then outlines promising a...

by Barbara Herz | On 01 Aug 2014

The Political Economy of MGNREGS Spending in Andhra Pradesh

Are ostensibly demand-driven public programs less susceptible to political clientelism even when private goods are allocated? This is examined using expenditure data at the local level from India’s N...

by Megan Sheahan | On 01 Aug 2014

Examining the Impact of Climate Change on Migration through the Agricultural Channel: Evidence from District Level Panel Data from Bangladesh

This paper studies how changes in climatic variables such as temperature and rainfall impact migration through agriculture. Bangladesh is recognized as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate...

by Paritosh Roy | On 31 Jul 2014

A Study of Policies Related to Science Education for Diversity in India

This paper presents the findings of a study concerning educational policies related to science education and diversity in India which is a geographically and socio-politically diverse country. If the...

by Sugra Chunawala | On 28 Jul 2014

National Youth Policy – Bangladesh

The youth constitute one third of total population in Bangladesh. For this important portion of population, determination of national outlook is undeniable. The main objective of the present National...

by Department of Youth Development | On 17 Jul 2014

BCIM Economic Corridor: Prospects and Challenges

Given the commonalities in terms of history, culture, languages and trade complementarity in many cases, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor is a win-win arrangement. The linkages of tr...

by Pravakar Sahoo | On 15 Jul 2014

India's Public Distribution System: A National and International Perspective

This study examines the impact of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) on poor households in terms of income gains, reductions in the incidence and severity of poverty, as well as nutritional impr...

by R. Radhakrishna | On 07 Jul 2014

Impact of Private Tutoring on Learning Levels: Evidence from India

Despite widespread and substantial private expenditure on private tutoring outside the formal school system in many developing countries, not much is known about their effects on learning outcomes....

by Ambrish Dongre | On 05 Jul 2014

Organised Labour and Economic Liberalisation India: Past, Present and Future.

This paper examines the role of organised labour in India in a structural and historical context. It attempts to trace the economic, political and social effects of the trade union movement and its st...

by Debashish Bhattacharjee | On 23 May 2014

Higher Education in Asia: Expanding Out, Expanding Up

This report presents data and analysis to better understand the factors driving the expansion in undergraduate and graduate education across Asia. By looking at the system as a whole, the authors eval...

by David W. Chapman | On 16 May 2014

Water Security in South Asia: Issues and Policy Recommendations

It is estimated that by 2030, only 60 per cent of the world's population will have access to fresh water supplies. This would mean that about 3 billion people would be living without reliable source...

by Wilson John | On 15 May 2014

Dynamic Effects of Microcredit in Bangladesh

This paper uses long panel survey data spanning over 20 years to examine the dynamics of microcredit programs in Bangladesh. With the phenomenal growth of microfinance institutions representing...

by Shahidur R. Khandker | On 26 Apr 2014

Psychology, Cyclicality or Social Programs: Rural Wage and Inflation Dynamics in India

The paper analyzes causes of movements in Indian wages for rural unskilled male laborers, and assesses their impact on inflation. Theoretical priors derived from an analytical framework based on the ...

by Ashima Goyal | On 10 Apr 2014

Do Population Trends Matter to Agricultural Productivity? A Case Study of Bangladesh

The paper examines two questions: (i) do population trends impede agricultural productivity? or (ii) it promote agricultural productivity or both? [BIDS}.

by Rafiqul Huda Chaudhury | On 04 Apr 2014

Aggregate Fertility and Household Savings: A General Equilibrium Analysis using Micro Data

This study uses micro data and an OLG model to show that general equi- librium forces are critical for understanding the relationship between aggregate fertility and household savings. [BREAD WP No....

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 03 Apr 2014

Revival of Rural PDS: Expansion and Outreach

Using the recent rounds of NSS data, this paper evaluates the performance and outreach of India's public distribution system (PDS) in the rural areas. The results suggest a significant improvement in...

by Andaleeb Rahman | On 02 Apr 2014

Incorporating Public Good Availability into the Measurement of Poverty

This paper makes an attempt to incorporate bene ts from unpaid public services into consumption decisions to arrive at more accurate measures of poverty and inequality. The analysis is based on prim...

by Anders Kjelsrud | On 14 Mar 2014

Can Government-Allocated Land Contribute to Food Security? Intrahousehold Analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot Allocation Program

Secure land rights are a critical, but often overlooked, factor in achieving household food security and improved nutritional status in rural areas of developing countries. This study evaluates the im...

by Florence Santos | On 17 Feb 2014

How Do Intrahousehold Dynamics Change When Assets are Transferred to Women? Evidence from BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor Program in Bangladesh

BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR-TUP) program in Bangladesh are studied, which targets asset transfer (primarily livestock) and training to rural wo...

by Narayan Das | On 05 Feb 2014

Productivity Response to a Contract Change

This paper studies the productivity impact of a contract change. The setting is a tea plantation in India. The activity in question is tea-plucking, the output from which is measurable and contractib...

by Rajshri Jayaraman | On 24 Jan 2014

Bangladesh at a Crossroads: A Political Prognosis

Bangladesh is in the cusp of great changes. At this point in time it is standing at a crossroads. This is when its friends and its responsible citizenry must help point towards the right direction: on...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury | On 22 Jan 2014

India, Bangladesh and Nepal: Learning Lessons, Facing Challenges.

In many ways, India is kindred with its two neighbors, Bangladesh and Nepal. Whether it is in geography I or demographics, infrastructure or economic issues, or poverty and human development, these th...

by Jayshree Sengupta | On 21 Jan 2014

Safety Nets and Food Programs in Asia: A Comparative Perspective

Many countries adopted safety net programs to deal with the food crisis of 2008. However, such programs are often beset with targeting errors, inefficiencies, and fraud. Despite this, there is no sys...

by Shikha Jha | On 20 Jan 2014

When and Why does Bangladesh’s Inflation Differ from India’s?

India and Bangladesh share a common historical background, geographical proximity, institutional similarities, and a policy shift towards economic liberalization since the early 1990s. Inflation betw...

by Biru Paksha Paul | On 05 Dec 2013

Regional Cooperation on the Ganga Basin: Yet a mirage?

Ganges is one of the important rivers of South Asia. It is a trans-boundary river between India and Bangladesh. Some rivers, originating in the Tibetan Autonomous region of the People's Republic of Ch...

by Dwarika Dhungel | On 15 Nov 2013

Strengthening Democracy in Bangladesh

The paper describes of some of the critical challenges to democratization in Bangladesh. While electoral challenges are included, the paper looks beyond elections and describe other factors that can h...

by ASIA FOUNDATION | On 14 Nov 2013

Changes in Knowledge and Attitudes of School Girls Towards Sexual Harassment and its Incidence: An Impact Assessment of the MEJNIN Programme

Gender Justice and Diversity unit of BRAC had a project on sensitizing young people especially girls and community people about sexual harassment in selected areas in Dhaka city in 2011 so that they...

by Md. Abdul Alim | On 13 Nov 2013

Welfare and Poverty Impacts of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh

India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is one of the largest public works programs globally. Understanding the impacts of NREGS and the pathway through which its impacts are realiz...

by Songqing Jin | On 14 Oct 2013

State of the Urban Youth India 2013: Employment, Livelihoods, Skills

The State of the Urban Youth India 2013: Employment, Livelihoods, Skills is an attempt to pull together a data and knowledge base on and of youth in urban India. The focus of the Report is youth emplo...

by IRIS Knowledge Foundation IKF | On 08 Oct 2013

Learning and Earning: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in India

This paper estimates the short-and-medium-run effects of participating in a sub- sidized vocational training program aimed at improving labor market outcomes of women residing in low-income househol...

by Pushkar Maitra | On 30 Sep 2013

A Social Accounting Matrix for India 2007-08

The present study attempts to build a SAM for India for 2007–08. This SAM consists of 78 sectors and nine categories of households which are based on occupation and location (i.e. rural and urban)....

by Basanta K. Pradhan | On 26 Sep 2013

Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India

An innovative program in the Indian state of Bihar was introduced that aimed to reduce the gender gap in secondary school enrollment by providing girls who continued to secondary school with a bicycle...

by Karthik Muralidharan | On 19 Sep 2013

Bridging Education Gender Gaps in Developing Countries: The Role of Female Teachers

Recruiting female teachers is frequently suggested as a policy option for improving girls' education outcomes in developing countries, but there is surprisingly little evidence on the effectiveness of...

by Karthik Muralidharan | On 06 Sep 2013

Climate Variability and Internal Migration: A Test on Indian Inter-State Migration

Migration data is matched from the Indian census with climate data to test the hypothesis of climate variability as a push factor for internal migration. The main contribution of the analysis is to...

by Ingrid Dallmann | On 06 Sep 2013

Preliminary Evidence on Internal Migration, Remittances, and Teen Schooling in India

Migration can serve as an outlet for employment, higher earnings, and reduced income risk for households in developing countries. The 2004–2005 Human Development Profile of India survey is used to exa...

by Valerie Mueller | On 06 Sep 2013

Migration and Poverty in India: A Multi-Patterned and Complex Reality

The paper reviews the existing evidence on migration-poverty interface in the light of the macro and micro level studies in India. It also discusses the extent, patterns, and correlates of short term...

by Amita Shah | On 03 Sep 2013

Employment and Unemployment Situation among Major Religious Groups in India

This report is based on the eighth quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment conducted in the 66th round of NSS during July 2009 to June 2010. The survey was spread over 7402 villages and 5...

by National Sample Survey Office NSSO | On 19 Aug 2013

Report of the Expert Group to Recommend the Detailed Methodology for Identification of Families Living Below Poverty Line in Urban Areas

The report deals with the estimation of poverty and identification of poor – differences in approach. It also describes the characteristics and trends of urban poverty. The vulnerability of urban poor...

by Planning Commission, India | On 29 Jul 2013

The Caloric Costs of Culture: Evidence from Indian Migrants

Can culture constrain caloric intake and contribute to malnutrition? Inter-state migrants within India consume fewer calories per Rupee of food expenditure compared to their non-migrant neighbors, ev...

by David Atkin | On 27 Jun 2013

Four Years of Progress: Bangladesh Marches On-Budget Speech 2013-14

Supplementary Budget for the fiscal year 2012-13 and the Budget Estimates for the fiscal year 2013-14. [http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/budget/13_14/budget_speech/speech_en.pdf].

by Abul Maal Abdul Muhith | On 07 Jun 2013

Emergency Return of Bangladeshi Migrants from Libya

Few studies have done on the vulnerabilities faced by migrants during events such as civil war regime change or global financial crisis. The study examines the case of Bangladeshi migrant workers who...

by Tasneem Siddiqui | On 29 Apr 2013

The Impact of NREGA on Rural-Urban Migration: Field survey of Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu

Migration can act as a negative force. It can lead to distress migration, which is what happens when people have to go to cities to find work because they cannot survive on what they can earn in thei...

by Naomi Jacob | On 17 Apr 2013

Motivating Knowledge Agents: Can Incentive Pay Overcome Social Distance?

This paper studies the interaction of incentive pay and social distance in the dissemination of information. BREAD Working Paper No. 380. URL: [http://ipl.econ.duke.edu/bread/papers/working/380.pdf].

by Erlend Berg | On 16 Apr 2013

India Migration Bibliography

The India Migration Bibliography covers over 3,000 books, research articles and reports written on the subject of internal migration, international migration and diaspora, related to India. The biblio...

by Chinmay Tumbe | On 15 Apr 2013

Advertisement Placement in TV Programs: Different Roles of ELM and Mood Protection Mechanism

This study explores how involvement of the audience with cognitive/affective program influence their processing of advertisements aired in between the program because of varying involvement within p...

by Mayank Jyotsna Soni | On 12 Apr 2013

Options and Determinants of Rice Residue Management Practices in the South-West Region of Bangladesh

This study examines options for managing rice residue and the factors that determine its management in the south-west region of Bangladesh. Study results indicate that while straw length, low-elevatio...

by Mohammed Ziaul Haider | On 29 Mar 2013

Inequalities Reinforced? Social Groups, Gender and Employment

Based on the last four rounds of NSS data the study explores some dimensions of women’s labour market participation across social groups. [CWDS Occasional Paper No.59]. URL:[http://www.cwds.ac.in/OCPa...

by Neetha N | On 01 Mar 2013

New Frontiers, New Struggles: Press Freedom in South Asia 2011-12

Journalism in South Asia is facing many challenges with physical security being a major issue in most of the region. Several countries may have improved relatively due to decisions to reduce the risks...

by International Federation of Journalists IFJ | On 04 Feb 2013

Trade in Health Services in South Asia: An Examination of the Need for Regional Cooperation

This study was conducted in three South Asian countries viz: India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The study examines the opinions of patients, hospitals owners and doctors involved in this service trade. A to...

by Arindam Banik | On 22 Jan 2013

Microfinance in Evolution: An Industry Between Crisis and Advancement

Following the international financial crisis that started in 2007, market growth and MFI performance started to deteriorate. Over the last decade the market has matured and become more efficient. Is...

by Cédric Lützenkirchen | On 14 Jan 2013

Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India: Report on the Status of Elderly in Select States of India, 2011

To understand the ageing in India, a primary survey was carried out in seven states – Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal – having a higher percentage of...

by United Nations Population Fund UNFPA | On 08 Jan 2013

How to Tackle Food Insecurity in Asia

Review of the book Food Security in Asia, by Amitava Mukherjee Sage Publications India 2011 pp. xix+392, Rs 895/-.

by Rudra Narayan Mishra | On 04 Jan 2013

Women Workers from Asia to Gulf: Its Outcomes

Review of the book 'Migration of Women Workers from South Asia to the Gulf' By Rakkee Thimothy, S.K. Sasikumar, UN Women, 2012

by R. S. Reshmi | On 24 Dec 2012

Analyzing Intersectoral Convergence to Improve Child Undernutrition in India: Development and Application of a Framework to Examine Policies in Agriculture, Health, and Nutrition

To reduce child under nutrition in India, convergence from various sectors are required. The framework notes that issues related to convergence must be resolved in relation to three major steps in the...

by Rajani Ved | On 16 Nov 2012

Analyzing Institutions in Resource and Development Econometrics: Recognizing Institutions, Exploring Levels and Querying Causes

Three strategies are discussed to integrate institutional analysis into resource and development econometrics: (1) recognition of institutional variables; (2) use of multilevel thinking and estimati...

by Vikram Dayal | On 25 Oct 2012

Legislative Brief: The National Food Security Bill, 2011

The National Food Security Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution on December 22, 2011. The Bill was referred to the Stand...

by Sakshi Balani | On 28 Sep 2012

On the Internal Mobility of Indians: Knowledge Gaps and Emerging Concerns

This paper identifies key knowledge gaps on the issue of migration and commuting workers in India. [WP-2012-023]. URL:[http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2012-023.pdf].

by S. Chandrasekhar | On 27 Sep 2012

Costly Posturing: Relative Status, Ceremonies, and Early Child Development in China

A primary census-type panel household survey is show that in 18 villages in rural China, child health status has barely improved in the past decades despite more than double digit of annual per capita...

by Xi Chen | On 07 Sep 2012

Seasonal Effects of Water Quality on Infant and Child Health in India

This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using data on water quality combined with data on the health outcomes of infants and children from the ...

by Elizabeth Brainerd | On 31 Aug 2012

The Economic Consequences of Excess Men: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan

As sex ratio imbalances have become a problem in an increasing number of countries, it is important to understand their consequences. With the defeat of the Kuomintang Party in China, more than one mi...

by Simon Chang | On 28 Aug 2012

Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh: An Overview of Market Development

The objective of this report is to share a market level overview of the early stage progress of (Mobile Financial Services) MFS in Bangladesh up through the first quarter of 2012. A series of short s...

by Bangladesh Bank BB | On 23 Aug 2012

Network Structure and the Aggregation of Information: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia

A unique data-set from Indonesia is analysed to understand what individuals know about the income distribution in their village to test theories such as Jackson and Rogers (2007) that link informatio...

by Vivi Alatas | On 23 Aug 2012

Environmental Changes and Ripples for Water Security in Southern States

Environmental change is regarded by many geopolitical experts as one of the biggest threats to international security in the coming years. In Southern Asia, its impact on rivers, and thus water secur...

by Dhanasree Jayaram | On 07 Aug 2012

Agricultural Credit - Accomplishments and Challenges

Agriculture’s share in GDP is less than 15 per cent but it still remains the direct domain of over half of the population whose economic prospects are linked to the performance of agriculture. There a...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 03 Aug 2012

Suicide and Property Rights in India

Is there an impact of female property rights on male and female suicide rates in India. Using state level variation in legal changes to women's property rights, it is shown that better property righ...

by Siwan Anderson | On 02 Aug 2012

Structuring the Dedicated Freight Corridor Project a Lost Opportunity

This paper explores the evolution of two dedicated freight corridors in India (covering a distance of around 3300 kilometers), and critique them from the perspective of delivering the intended rail...

by Sobhesh Kumar Agarwalla | On 31 Jul 2012

National Strategy for Financial Education

India is having large population, a fast growing economy with national focus on inclusive growth and an urgent need to develop a vibrant and stable financial system, it is all the more necessary to...

by Pranab Mukherjee | On 20 Jul 2012

School Libraries and Language Skills in Indian Primary Schools: A Randomized Evaluation of the Akshara Library Program

A randomized evaluation of a school library program on children’s language skills is conducted. The program had little impact on students’ scores on a language test administered 16 months after implem...

by Evan Borkum | On 09 Jul 2012

State Health Insurance and Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures in Andhra Pradesh, India

In 2007, the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India began rolling out the Aarogyasri health insurance to reduce catastrophic health expenditures in households “below the poverty line.” The program...

by Victoria Fan | On 05 Jul 2012

Determinants of Child Morbidity and Factors Governing Utilisation of Child Health Care: Evidence from Rural India

The objective in this paper is to estimate the role played by such factors in determining the utilisation of formal health care to cure diarrhoea and certain respiratory illnesses plaguing young ch...

by Anindita Chakrabarti | On 02 Jul 2012

What Should Regulation do in the Field of Micro-finance?

Recent events in India have brought a fresh focus on the appropriate regulatory stance towards micro-finance. In this paper, facts and recent experience about Indian microfinance is reviewed. The puz...

by Renuka Sane | On 19 Jun 2012

Price Support, Domestic Procurement Programme and Public Stock Management

This Policy Brief discusses the policy options for improving effectiveness of price support, domestic procurement programme and public stock management in Bangladesh. It has been funded by th...

by Quazi Shahabuddin | On 01 Jun 2012

Philippine Productivity Dynamics in the Last Five Decades and Determinants of Total Factor Productivity

The paper reviews the economic growth and productivity dynamics of Philippine economy in the past fifty years. The paper also provides an estimation of determinants of total factor productivity and la...

by Gilberto M Llanto | On 29 May 2012

Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Bangladesh

Shallow groundwater with high arsenic concentrations from naturally occurring sources is the primary source of drinking water for millions of people in Bangladesh. It has resulted in a major public...

by Imran Matin | On 28 May 2012

Group Norms and the BRAC Village Organization – Enhancing Social Capital Baseline

This study used social capital as an organizing framework to capture VO members’ group behaviour, and their current status along programme activities. The study compared the status of intervention...

by Nayma Qayum | On 22 May 2012

Environmental Migrants: A Myth?

This brief reviews recent evidence, examines main research challenges in identifying migration–climate links and discusses the policy options for formalizing migration as an adaptation mechanism to cl...

by Jean-François Maystadt | On 09 May 2012

NAC Working Group on Gender and the Sex Ratio Draft Recommendations

The NAC Working Group held three national consultations on different aspects of the issue of declining child sex ratio. The Working Group conveners also separately met with Ministry of Women and Child...

by Farah Naqvi | On 25 Apr 2012

Trans-boundary River Basins in South Asia: Options for Conflict Resolution

India's trans-boundary riparian policies affect four countries - Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh - on three river systems - the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra-Mehgna. China's riparian pol...

by Gopal Siwakoti Chintan | On 25 Apr 2012

Behavior of Remittance Inflows and its Determinants in Bangladesh

The paper examines the determinants of remittance inflow by applying ordinary least square method (OLS). The model include the weighted average GDP of the six (Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirat...

by Mst. Nurnaher Begum | On 24 Apr 2012

Regional Implications of National Reconciliation in Myanmar

The paper examines the implications of Myanmar's reforms for its neighbours- China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. Issues of major concern to the four countries include energy, humanitarian consequen...

by Lina Gong | On 20 Apr 2012

Rural Labor and Rural Nonagricultural Activities in the Philippines

The study examines the different aspects of labor in the rural household economy. It identifies the factors that significantly determine the rural households' labor allocation decisions. Moreover, i...

by Maria Teresa C Sanchez | On 18 Apr 2012

Construction and Seasonal Patterns of Islamic Hijri Calendar Monthly Time Series: An Application to Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Pakistan

Time series data are compiled and analysed in accordance with Gregorian calendar, given its world-wise use. This paper presents a simple method of constructing time series in accordance with Hijri Cal...

by Riaz Riazuddin | On 13 Apr 2012

What is the Role of Social Pensions in Asia?

The main objective of this paper is to explore the potential role of social pensions and other noncontributory schemes in Asia, informed by insights from theory and international experience. The paper...

by Armando Barrientos | On 13 Apr 2012

Monetary Transmission in Pakistan: The Balance Sheet Channel

Using data of non-financial listed firms over a period of 1999-2010, this paper investigates the effectiveness of balance sheet channel in monetary transmission mechanism in Pakistan. By classifying f...

by Safia Shabbir | On 09 Apr 2012

Is Community Forest Management Good for the Environment and the Poor? – A Review

Over the last two decades, community-based forest management has graduated from being an experimental strategy to becoming a much more mainstream approach. In developing countries, an estimated 22 p...

by Priya Shyamsundar | On 19 Mar 2012

Health Care Financing Reforms in India

The transfer system in India is discussed and analyses expenditure needs of States to provide essential health infrastructure. It also analyzes the fiscal space for health care in terms of stimulati...

by M Govinda Rao | On 19 Mar 2012

Close Eye or Closed Eye: The Case of Export Misinvoicing in Bangladesh

The effect of export subsidies on the under-invoicing of exports in Bangladesh is analyzed. In a framework that allows for unobserved heterogeneity among importing countries and product specificities,...

by Pranav Kumar Gupta | On 16 Mar 2012

Towards Building A Happy, Prosperous and Caring Bangladesh: Budget Speech 2011-12

Budget speech 2011-12 by Finance minister. URL:[http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/budget/11_12/budget_speech/speech_en.pdf].

by Abul Maal Abdul Muhith | On 14 Mar 2012

The Age Distribution of Missing Women in India

Relative to developed countries, there are far fewer women than men in India. Estimates suggest that more than 25 million women are "missing". Sex selection at birth and the mistreatment of young g...

by Siwan Anderson | On 09 Mar 2012

Under trial Prisoners: Quicker Trial and Human Rights

Discussion on the human rights violation of under trial prisoners.

by Ranesh Chandra Majumdar | On 06 Mar 2012

The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World

The experience of childhood is increasingly urban. Over half the world’s people – including more than a billion children – now live in cities and towns. This report adds to the growing body of eviden...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 01 Mar 2012

Subsidizing the National Food Authority: Is It a Good Policy?

National Food Authority's (NFA) twin mandate of price stabilization and food security has cost the government billions of pesos in losses over the past few decades. As such, there is a need to ...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 28 Feb 2012

Terms of Trade and Its Implications: Bangladesh Perspective

This paper explores the key reasons behind the movements in the terms of trade and the real net gain and loss from trade in the long run. Like some selected Asian countries (Vietnam, China and South...

by Mohammad Masuduzzaman | On 23 Feb 2012

Towards a Model for Analyzing the Impact of Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies on Households: A Review of Empirical Household Models in the Philippines

The paper has two objectives, namely: (a) determine and assess how existing empirical household models are able to capture the effects of changes in the macroeconomic variables on the welfare of the...

by Aniceto C. Orbeta Jr. | On 17 Feb 2012

Economic Growth, Comparative Advantage, and Gender Differences in Schooling Outcomes: Evidence from the Birthweight Differences of Chinese Twins

Data from two surveys of twins in China are used to contribute to an improved understanding of the role of economic development in affecting gender differences in the trends in, levels of, and retur...

by Mark Rosenzweig | On 13 Feb 2012

Selling Formal Insurance to the Informally Insured

Unpredictable rainfall is an important risk for agricultural activity, and farmers in developing countries often receive incomplete insurance from informal risk-sharing networks. The demand for, and...

by A. Mushfiq Mobarak | On 10 Feb 2012

Girls Take Over: Long-term Impacts of an Early Stage Education Intervention in the Philippines

This paper examines the long-term impacts of improved school quality at the elementary school stage on subsequent schooling investments and labor market outcomes using unique data from a recent survey...

by Futoshi Yamauchi | On 31 Jan 2012

Transparency in Parliament: A Review of the Procedures and Practices in South Asia along with Recommended Guidelines for Increasing Openness

This paper examines the functioning of Parliaments in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka1 in order to gauge the extent of openness and access from the point of view of both Members of Parliam...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 31 Jan 2012

Global Health and the New Bottom Billion: How Funders Should Respond to Shifts in Global Poverty and Disease Burden

After a decade of rapid economic growth, many developing countries have attained middle-income status. But poverty reduction in these countries has not kept pace with economic growth. As a result, mos...

by Amanda Glassman | On 31 Jan 2012

More and Better Jobs in South Asia

This report investigates how more and better jobs can be created in South Asia. It does so for two reasons. First, this region will contribute nearly 40 percent of the growth in the world’s workin...

by Reema Nayar | On 30 Jan 2012

Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2011-12

This policy review is set in the context of a highly uncertain global environment and a delicately poised domestic balance between growth and inflation. It should be read and understood together...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 25 Jan 2012

Rural to Urban Migration in Pakistan: The Gender Perspective

This paper analyses gender dimensions in rural to urban migration (age 10 years and above) in Pakistan. The study is based on Labour Force Surveys 1996-2006. The findings of the study show that over...

by Shahnaz Hamid | On 20 Jan 2012

Input Prices, Subsidies and Farmers' Incentives

The paper studies the subsidy policy in Bangladesh. It analyses implications of subsidy policies; both pros and cons and also suggests some possible solutions.

by M Asaduzzaman | On 20 Jan 2012

Energy in the Development Strategy of Indian Households-The Missing Half

The present paper explores the nexus between gender-energy-poverty, highlights areas of gender concern, and suggests actions. It is analyzed how women from rural areas and low income households are...

by B. Sudhakara Reddy | On 19 Jan 2012

Contested Relationships: Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment, Insights from the Transfer of Material Assets in Bangladesh

This article examines the relationship between women’s economic and social empowerment in the context of extreme poverty. It is based on the findings of primary fieldwork on the char islands of nort...

by Lucy Scott | On 11 Jan 2012

What Makes Food Processing Firms Clean Up their Waste? – A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Many Sri Lankan companies, particularly in the food processing sector, do not have adequate management systems in place to control and dispose solid waste. In order to address this challenge, a new...

by South Asian Network for Development SANDEE | On 09 Jan 2012

An Adaptive Probabilistic Model for Broadcasting in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Ad hoc peer-to-peer mobile phone networks (phone MANETs) enable cheap village level telephony for cash-strapped, off-the-grid communities. Broadcasting is a fundamental operation in such manets and...

by Kavitha Ranganathan | On 04 Jan 2012

Right to Food Security Bill: Challenges and Opportunities

The financial implications of the food security bill can be questioned. But the Bill proposes to protect the citizens from hunger and improve the nutritional intake of women and children.

by Rudra Narayan Mishra | On 30 Dec 2011

Economic Dynamics and Forest Clearing: A Spatial Econometric Analysis for Indonesia

This paper uses a large panel database to investigate the determinants of forest clearing in Indonesian kabupatens since 2005. The study incorporates short-run changes in prices and demand for palm...

by David Wheeler | On 28 Dec 2011

Changes in the Use of Safe Water and Water Safety Measures in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Intervention Areas of Bangladesh: A Midline Assessment

The BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme reached 150 upazilas in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh since 2006. This study assessed the changes in the use of tubewell water and w...

by Nepal C. Dey | On 28 Dec 2011

How Awareness Changes the Relative Weights of Evidence During Human Decision-Making

Human decisions are based on accumulating evidence over time for different options. Here a simple question is asked: How is the accumulation of evidence affected by the level of awareness of the infor...

by Floris P de Lange | On 23 Dec 2011

Poverty Dynamics of Female-headed Households in Pakistan: Evidence from PIHS 2000-01 and PSLM 2004-05

The paper attempts to empirically test a naïve version of what is rather stylistically termed as “feminisation of poverty”, using the sub-sample of female -headed households (FHHs) from two househol...

by Umer Khalid | On 21 Dec 2011

Seasonal Migration and Risk Aversion

Pre-harvest lean seasons are widespread in the agrarian areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Every year, these seasonal famines force millions of people to succumb to poverty and hunger. An incentive...

by Gharad Bryan | On 20 Dec 2011

Mitigating Seasonal Hunger: Evidence from Northwest Bangladesh

The seasonality of poverty and food deprivation is a common feature of rural livelihoods in Bangladesh, but it is more marked in the northwest region of Rangpur where the interlocking of seasonality...

by Shahidur Khandker | On 12 Dec 2011

Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Presence of Informal Labour Markets

How does informality in emerging economies affect the conduct of monetary and fiscal policy? To answer this question two-sector, formal-informal new Keynesian closed-economy is constructed. The inf...

by Nicoletta Batini | On 02 Dec 2011

Rejigging the Elephant Dance

India's development challenges. The India growth story was thrown off track by the global financial crisis which engulfed virtually every country in the world. We recovered from the crisis sooner than...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 30 Nov 2011

Draft of combined Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports of India to CEDAW

This Report covers developments in implementation of the Convention in India from 2006 to 2011. The harmonised guidelines for preparation of Common Core Document and the reporting Guidelines of the...

by Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development | On 25 Nov 2011

Policies for Increasing Non-Farm Employment for Farm Households in India

The present paper adopts a diagnostic approach; problems of non-farm employment in rural sector are identified by studying pattern and process of rural employment using data from the NSS quinquennia...

by Brajesh Jha | On 22 Nov 2011

Consumption and Social Identity: Evidence from India

Spending on consumption items is examined which have signaling value in social interactions across groups with distinctive social identities in India, where social identities are defined by caste an...

by Melanie Khamis | On 10 Nov 2011

Feminist Economics of Trade: Reflections on the Indian Manufacturing Sector

This paper examines the socio-economic condition of women in India. The paper begins by delving into different forms of violence faced by women in India, giving special attention to the work sphere a...

by Susana Barria | On 09 Nov 2011

Hospital based Crisis Centre for Domestic Violence: The Dilassa Model

The brief is based on the experience and the success of a hospital based Crisis Centres for women facing domestic violence in Mumbai - Dilaasa. It is a joint initiative of the MCGM and CEHAT, establ...

by ... CEHAT | On 02 Nov 2011

Growth and Election Outcomes in a Developing Country

With the exception Brander and Drazen (2008), who use a comprehensive cross-country database consisting of both developed and developing countries, the hypothesis that rapid growth helps incumbents...

by Poonam Gupta | On 31 Oct 2011

Does Greater Autonomy Improve Performance? Evidence from Water Service Providers in Indian Cities?

The efficiency of urban water supply in 27 Indian cities are analyzed using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Cities are grouped by the management structure of their water utilities. Utilities with g...

by Shreekant Gupta | On 24 Oct 2011

Gender, Governance and Women’s Rights in South Asia

This study focuses on gender equality and democratic governance in the five largest states of the South Asian region, namely, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Beginning with a general...

by Seema Kazi | On 20 Oct 2011

Relation between Population, Gender and Reproductive Health

Review of the book 'Population, Gender and Reproductive Health'. F Ram, Sayeed Unisa and T V Sekher (eds.), Rawat publications, 2011, 416 pp, Rs 925

by K.S. James | On 20 Oct 2011

An Economic Policy and Legal Analysis of The Micro Finance Institutions (Development & Regulation) Bill, 2011

In response to the Second Micro Finance Crisis in Andhra Pradesh, which took place in October 2010, the Ministry of Finance has pro- posed a new Micro Finance Institutions (Development & Regulation) ...

by Shubho Roy | On 17 Oct 2011

Evaluation of Value-Added Agricultural Advisory Services: Case Study of Agriclinics in Southern India

The Indian national program of agriclinics and agribusiness centers, started in 2002, aims to provide farmers with a reliable alternative to the private input dealer by subsidizing technically trained...

by Claire J Glendenning | On 14 Oct 2011

Populations at Risk: Other End of Youth Bulge

While there is much written on the youth bulge in developing countries, little is being done to address the problems of the elderly. And yet demographically, it is this section that is showing high gr...

by Lakshmi Priya | On 10 Oct 2011

Opening India’s Garments Sector to South Asia

This paper examines the competitiveness of the Indian garments industry vis-à-vis the other South Asian countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Under the SAFTA agreement, many of the garment i...

by Saon Ray | On 16 Sep 2011

Productivity Dynamics in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Evidences from Plant-level Panel Data

This paper investigates the effects of plants' dynamics on productivity growth in the Indian pharmaceutical industry across five regions: north, north-west, west, south and the rest of India, during t...

by Atsuko Kamiike | On 06 Sep 2011

Research Study on Role of Tribal Women Wage Earner in Ensuring Family Food Security in Scheduled Areas of Rajasthan in Changing Environmental and Economic Scenario

The project aimed to find the reasons for bottlenecks in the present system that deprive the tribal community of the benefit of schemes. Five villages from each block have been selected to make tot...

by Maharana Pratap Adhyayan Evam Jan Kalyan Sansthan Jaipur | On 02 Sep 2011

The Price and Trade Effects of Strict Information Requirements for Genetically Modified Commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

This paper assesses the global economic implications of the proposed strict documentation requirements on traded shipments of potentially genetically modified (GM) commodities under the Cartagena Prot...

by Antoine Bouët | On 31 Aug 2011

Agricultural Practice and its Relation to Poverty and Food Security in Selected River Basins in Bangladesh: A Situation Analysis

Poverty and food security in the context of Bangladesh has become a major concern over time. While efforts have been intensified to increase crop yield through increased land use, using inorganic fe...

by Shyamal C Ghosh | On 30 Aug 2011

Market Dynamics in Supply Chains: The Impact of Globalisation and Consolidation on Food Companie's Mark-ups

This paper examines whether ownership and increased competitive pressure affect food retailers’ market power, analysing whether all actors involved in the food supply chain deviate from the pricing be...

by Eleni A Kaditi | On 29 Aug 2011

Policy Dilemmas in India: The Impact of Changes in Agricultural Prices on Rural and Urban Poverty

Trade policy reforms which lead to changes in world prices of agricultural commodities or domestic policies aimed at affecting agricultural prices are often seen as causing a policy dilemma: a fall...

by Sandra Polaski | On 26 Aug 2011

Trans-border Identities: (A Study on the Impact of Bangladeshi and Nepali Migration to India)

This paper deals with migration into India from adjoining neighbours and its impact on security and other issues of national interest. Unlike other studies on migration, it focuses on the ethnic ident...

by Subhakanta Behera | On 26 Aug 2011

When do Stock Futures Dominate Price Discovery?

Stock futures offer leveraged positions and are expected to attract informed traders. Many researchers have found that the information share of the stock futures is surprisingly small; the equity sp...

by Jeffrey Vincent | On 24 Aug 2011

Treatment of Valuables as Capital Formation in India: Some Issues and Perspectives

As per UNSNA recommendations, valuables as a separate item had been introduced in the expenditure side of GDP. Since India is one of largest importer and user of gold for various purposes, this trea...

by Rakesh Kumar | On 04 Aug 2011

Financial Inclusion in India: A case-study of West Bengal

The study seeks to examine the extent of financial inclusion in West Bengal. It is observed from the study that although there has been an improvement in outreach activity in the banking sector, the...

by Sadhan Kumar Chattopadhyay | On 03 Aug 2011

Revisiting the ARI Programme of BRAC: How Well are We Doing?

The ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) control programme of BRAC has been in operation for the last few years. No independent evaluation has so far been conducted to explore how far the objectives of...

by Qazi Shafayetul Islam | On 28 Jul 2011

Recent Employment Situation and Labor Market Developments in Bangladesh

This note examines recent trends in the labor market and employment situation in Bangladesh and draws some policy implications keeping the poverty reduction imperatives in view. [BB PP No. 0807]. URL:...

by Md. Habibur Rahman | On 26 Jul 2011

Government Mediated Program on Intensifying Industry-Academia Linkages for Human Resource Development; Experinces of an Innovative Model from TIFAC

The importance of academia- industry linkages for development of an economy is well recognized. With a view to make the higher technical education relevant, by forging and catalyzing functional link...

by Jancy Ayyaswamy | On 26 Jul 2011

World Trade Report 2011- The WTO and Preferential Trade Agreements: From Co-existence to Coherence

The ever-growing number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) is a prominent feature of international trade. The World Trade Report 2011 describes the historical development of PTAs and the current...

by World Trade Organisation WTO | On 22 Jul 2011

Provisional Population Totals: Rural Urban Distribution India: Series I

The rural-urban distribution of the population is shown. URL:[http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/india/paper2_1.pdf].

by | On 21 Jul 2011

"Why do I have to Clean Teeth Regularly?”: Perceptions and State of Oral and Dental Health in a Low-income Rural Community in Bangladesh

The general perception that dentistry is expensive keeps many people away from seeking treatment from registered professionals and make them hostage to the services of non-registered lay practitione...

by Syed Masud Ahmed | On 20 Jul 2011

Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India

Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of non-systematic income risk? Why don’t financial markets develop to pool these risks? This paper uses a series of randomized field...

by Shawn Cole | On 06 Jul 2011

Spatial Inequality in Rural India: Do Initial Conditions Matter?

Disparities in income and living standards across countries and between regions within countries (spatial inequality) have been the subject of much debate and research in recent years. Spatial inequal...

by Hari Nagarajan | On 01 Jul 2011

Poverty and Natural Resources: Understanding the Dynamics in the Content of Dryland Regions in Western India

The interface between environment and poverty is a complex phenomenon. Poverty reduction needs will be enabled if the poor are allowed access to natural capital, such as land, water, forest and minera...

by Amita Shah | On 23 Jun 2011

Drivers of Escape and Descent: Changing Household Fortunes in Rural Bangladesh

This paper analyses a panel dataset on 379 rural households in Bangladesh interviewed in 1987/88 and 2000. Using a ‘livelihoods’ framework it contrasts the fortunes of ascending households (which es...

by Binayak Sen | On 16 Jun 2011

Popular Expectations of Government: Findings from Three Areas in Bangladesh

This paper presents findings from research into expectations of government, based on focus group discussion sessions with over 100 poor and very poor people in rural and urban Bangladesh. The resear...

by Tariq Ali | On 15 Jun 2011

Basic Hygiene Can Beat Diarrhoea - A Lesson From the Slums of Dhaka

Diarrhoea is a common water-borne disease amongst slum children in Bangladesh and is one of the five leading causes of infant illness and death in the country. Now, a new SANDEE study has looked at...

by South Asian Network for Development and Environmen Economics | On 14 Jun 2011

Escaping Violence, Seeking Freedom: Why Children in Bangladesh Migrate to The Street

In Bangladesh, as in many developing countries, there is a widespread belief amongst the public, policymakers and social workers that children ‘abandon’ their families and migrate to the street beca...

by Alessandro Conticini | On 14 Jun 2011

Access to Education and Employment: Implications for Poverty

The paper explores the linkages between ‘Education’ and ‘Poverty’ and the possibility of poverty reduction through better employment opportunities. The paper proceeds with the understanding that pov...

by Rushidan Islam Rahman | On 13 Jun 2011

The Trappings of Poverty:The Role of Assets and Liabilities in Socio-economic Mobility in Rural Bangladesh

This paper examines the role of assets and liabilities in socio-economic mobility patterns using findings from 293 life-history interviews, conducted by the author and a small team of researchers in r...

by Peter Davis | On 10 Jun 2011

Fall in Sex Ratio: A National Shame

Census figures show that the child sex ratio has gone down. There are several reasons for this. The issue is serious and issue should be dealt immediately.

by Anwesha Sen | On 10 Jun 2011

Social Exclusion and Adverse Incorporation in Rural Bangladesh: Evidence from a Mixed-methods Study of Poverty Dynamics

Using findings from a mixed-methods study of poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh, including from 293 life history interviews, the paper explores how the alternative stance of viewing poverty dynamics...

by Peter Davis | On 09 Jun 2011

Natural Disasters, Risks, Vulnerability and Persistence of Poverty: An Analysis of Household Level Data

The paper explores the vulnerability and persistence of poverty amongst the rural households in the disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh. It draws upon some of the factors and processes that have prev...

by Quazi Shahabuddin | On 08 Jun 2011

Trends in Poverty and Social Indicators: An Update

This paper provides an update of the changes that Bangladesh has undergone in terms of its poverty and social indicators over the last one and a half decades. Several key social and human developmen...

by Zulfiqar Ali | On 07 Jun 2011

Do Child Labourers Come from the Poorest?

This paper explores whether child labourers come from, not only the poor, but also the poorest households in Bangladesh or not. The paper also tries to explain what determines the participation of c...

by Zulfiqar Ali | On 03 Jun 2011

Vulnerability in Rural Bangladesh: Learning from Life History Interviews

This paper explores the nature of vulnerability and its relationship to chronic poverty in rural Bangladesh drawing from 293 life-history interviews conducted by the author and a small team of researc...

by Peter Davis | On 31 May 2011

Acceptability, Comprehensibility and Reported Influence of Behaviour Change Communication Tools: Experience from MNCH Programme in Nilphamari District of Bangladesh

This operational research aimed to assess the acceptability, comprehensibility and reported influence of behaviour change communication tools such as interpersonal communications (IPC), print mate...

by Atiya Rahman | On 30 May 2011

Ensuring Health Services for the Ultra Poor in Bangladesh: BRAC Experience

Bangladesh is a poor country with nearly half (48%) of the population living on the wrong side of the poverty line. The health status of the population has remained poor. The socioeconomic inequality...

by Abdullahel Hadi | On 25 May 2011

Club-Convergence and Polarisation of States A Nonparametric Analysis of Post-Reform India

The objective of this paper is to study the dynamics of the distribution of regional per capita income of Indian states in the post reform period, in order to identify trends towards convergence-c...

by Sabyasachi Kar | On 20 May 2011

Tank Degradation and Poverty Reduction-The Importance of Common Property Resources in Sustaining the Rural Poor

This study reveals the importance of tank irrigation in the lives of poor households and suggests that the poor may bear the bulk of the burden from tank deterioration. Tank-based agricultural income...

by South Asian Network for Development and Environmen Economics | On 19 May 2011

Hedonic Demand for Rented House in Kohima, Nagaland

The objective of this study is to show how the demand for a rentable house can be quantitatively expressed. The data set is obtained by a primary (sample) survey of 209 households randomly selecte...

by S.K. Mishra | On 18 May 2011

Status of Minorities in Bangladesh in 2009

Despite the long history of accommodation and tolerance of diversity and multiculturalism that constituted a previous generation of Bengali culture and nationalism, it is evident that in Banglades...

by South Asians for Human Rights | On 13 May 2011

Impact and Sustainability of SHG Bank Linkage Programme

Microfinance programmes are known for their potential to generate income and employment and alleviate poverty in developing countries. They are considered for an important approach to poverty alleviat...

by National Council of Applied Economic Research | On 13 May 2011

National Budget Making: Bottom Up Approach and Inclusiveness

National Budget of the country is the annual program of the Government's expenditure and income for a fiscal year. In a developing economy like Bangladesh, the national annual budgets reflect the gove...

by Atiur Rahman | On 03 May 2011

Deregulation of Savings Bank Deposit Interest Rate: A Discussion Paper

The paper is an attempt to deal with pros and cons of deregulating savings deposit interest rate and take on board the suggestions of various stakeholders for either maintaining the status quo or dere...

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 02 May 2011

Enhancing Intra-SAARC Trade: Pruning India’s Sensitive List under SAFTA

The study suggests an approach to reduce India’s sensitive list under SAFTA. The concept of Revealed Comparative Advantage has been used to pair the RCAs for products on India’s sensitive list with th...

by Nisha Taneja | On 29 Apr 2011

Van Panchayats in Three Villages: Dependency and Access

This particular field study is concerned with Van Panchayats, which can be seen as a variant of Common Property Resources. A comparison of the efficacy of this specific CPR across three villages in U...

by Chandana Anusha | On 27 Apr 2011

Characteristics and Patterns of Intergenerational Poverty Traps and Escapes in Rural North India

The paper examines the poverty status of 4,198 households resident in 18 villages of Rajasthan, India, at four points of time between 1977 to 2010 using retrospective methodology known as Stages of Pr...

by Anirudh Krishna | On 20 Apr 2011

Targeting and Distribution of Post-Tsunami Aid in Sri Lanka : A Critical Appraisal

In this study, two types of aid transfers - boats and houses are examined- that were made to rehabilitate tsunami-affected fishery households in Sri Lanka. The goal is to investigate the distributio...

by Asha Gunawardena | On 20 Apr 2011

A Policy Reponse to the Indian Micro-finance Crisis

Recent events in India have brought a fresh focus upon the problem of regulation in the field of micro-finance. This paper delineates the three distinct aspects where government needs to play a role...

by Renuka Sane | On 13 Apr 2011

Micro-loans, Insecticide-Treated Bednets and Malaria:Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Orissa (India)

Many severe health risks in developing countries could be substantially reduced with access to appropriate preventive measures. However, the associated costs are often high enough to restrict access...

by Alessandro Tarozzi | On 12 Apr 2011

Declining Child Sex Ratio: Addressing the Imperatives

A discussion about the declining sex ratio in India is given. The various reasons for declining sex ratio are outlined.

by Anwesha Sen | On 09 Apr 2011

Are Private Defensive Expenditures against Storm Damages Affected by Public Programs and Natural Barriers? Evidence from the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

This paper introduces a theoretical model combining household production with an endogenous risk framework in order to understand how ex-ante private spending by coastal households would evolve agai...

by Sakib Mahmud | On 01 Apr 2011

It’s Here, the Privatisation of Higher Education in India

Apart from the sweeping change in the nature of academics itself, the university system is being remoulded in the image of the private sector – with silent, atomised workers, bitchy and competitive to...

by Sunalini Kumar | On 22 Mar 2011

Unfavourable Environment and Chronic Poverty: Some Preliminary Findings

Poverty has different and varying manifestations. In fact, Hulme et al (2001) proposes a five-tiered categorisation of poverty. This identifies the always poor, usually poor, churning poor, occasional...

by Quazi Shahabuddin | On 22 Mar 2011

Natural Barriers, Public Investments and Private Expenditures – Coping with Storm Damages in Bangladesh

Tsunamis, hurricanes, tidal bores and other large storms threaten many coastal communities in Bangladesh. With climate change, the frequency of such natural disasters is expected to rise and it is...

by Sakib Mahmud | On 21 Mar 2011

Do Interest Rates Matter? Credit Demand in the Dhaka Slums

The advent of microfinance lending in the last two decades has been hailed as a key development in the fight against poverty. The New York Times (1997), for example, on its editorial page, has promote...

by Rajeev Dehejia | On 17 Mar 2011

Multiple Dimension of Urban Well-Being: Evidence from India

This paper addresses differences in outcomes across households residing in slums and non-slum urban areas of India. Using a nationally representative household data set, they undertake a robust mult...

by S. Chandrasekhar | On 16 Mar 2011

Track Record of Microfinance for the Poor

Major investments have been made in developing microfinance in Asia with reducing poverty as one of the frequently stated objectives. A variety of institutional forms of microfinance are being introdu...

by Richard Meyer | On 14 Mar 2011

The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation

Microcredit has spread extremely rapidly since its beginnings in the late 1970s, but whether and how much it helps the poor is the subject of intense debate.This paper reports on the first randomize...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 10 Mar 2011

Methodology for Identifying The Poorest at Local Level

This article argues that the extreme poor warrant specific analytical and policy focus. It attempts to identify the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh by devising sensitive targeting indicators that a...

by Binayak Sen | On 09 Mar 2011

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Gender Budget 2011-12

The Corporation has decided to implement various schemes for females within the framework of its obligatory and discretionary functions as laid down in the M.M.C. Act. A step towards it, is a separat...

by Municipal Commissioner BMC | On 07 Mar 2011

Female Labour Migration in India : Insights From NSSO Data

The objective of this working paper is to examine the extent of employment oriented migration of females in India and the inter–state variations in its magnitude using NSSO 55th Round Household level...

by Shanthi. K | On 04 Mar 2011

Macroeconomic Forecasting using Dynamic Factor Models

This study attempts to develop a dynamic factor model (DFM) to forecast industrial production and price level in India. For this purpose, domestic as well as external economic indicators, that appea...

by Sanjib Bordoloi | On 21 Feb 2011

Family Suicide in Kerala : An Explorative Study into Pattern , Determinants and Consequences

The paper is a study of the family suicide cases in Kerala. The aim of the study is to gather information about demographic details, method adopted and causes of suicides that happened in Kerala durin...

by K Praveenlal | On 16 Feb 2011

Marriage Considerations in Sending Girls to School in Bangladesh: Some Qualitative Evidence

This paper analyzes parents‘ decisions about girls‘ schooling in the context of marriage through in-depth exploration of case studies in two rural areas of northern Bangladesh. The villages are site...

by Sajeda Amin | On 15 Feb 2011

Rural Poverty Dynamics 2005/2006: Evidence from 64-Village Census Plus

This report addresses the recent dynamics of poverty in rural Bangladesh with particular focus on two groups of the poorest - the chronically poor and the extreme poor - based on the 64-village census...

by Zulfiqar Ali | On 14 Feb 2011

Address of President Zillur Rahman to the First Session of 2011 of the Ninth Jatiya Sangsad

The Presidential address to parliament at its first session of the year pays tribute to the heroes and martyrs of the nation, elaborates on Bangaldesh's achievement in industry, agriculture, education...

by Zillur Rahman | On 08 Feb 2011

Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Bangladesh

43 villages in Bangladesh were randomized to receive information on well-water arsenic that emphasized water safety relative to the national standard (bright-line message) or provided additional infor...

by Lori Bennear | On 02 Feb 2011

Broadening Poverty Definitions in India: Basic Needs in Urban Housing

This paper considers how the official poverty line in India would have to change, if it were to be set at a level that allowed urban households to afford minimally adequate accommodation. It discusses...

by S. Chandrashekar | On 02 Feb 2011

Resource Booklet CFPR-II Evaluation

Bangladesh is making consistent progress in poverty reduction since early 1990s. According to Household Income-Expenditure Surveys, poverty rate has declined from more than 60% in 1990- 91 to just a...

by Munshi Sulaiman | On 01 Feb 2011

Report of the Sub-Committee of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India to Study Issues and Concerns in the MFI Sector

While this growth is impressive, a number of studies both in India and abroad have questioned whether growth alone is effective in addressing poverty and what the adverse consequences of a too rapid g...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 30 Jan 2011

Development Strategies: Lessons from the Experiences of South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam

This piece synthesizes the development strategies of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and draws some relevant lessons. Using a complex adaptive systems approach, strategic openness, a set of...

by Haider A. Khan | On 27 Jan 2011

Authorship Conflict in Selected Research Institutions in Bangladesh: An Exploratory Study

This study aimed to explore the causes, types, and consequences of authorship conflicts among the researchers of selected research institutions in Dhaka, Bangladesh; and suggest ways to reduce confl...

by Hasan Shareef Ahmed | On 27 Jan 2011

Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines for Small and Medium Enterprises of BRAC Bank Limited

Small and medium enterprises (SME) in Bangladesh are playing a vital role to stimulate economic development including alleviation of poverty through employment generation. Small and medium enterpris...

by MA Quaiyum Sarkar | On 25 Jan 2011

Women’s Role in Managing Household Water in Rural Bangladesh

The BRAC WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programme was initiated in 150 upazilas in three phases (50 in each phase) aiming to improve water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in rural Banglades...

by Nepal C. Dey | On 21 Jan 2011

Effects of BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme in Improved Sanitation: Changes from Baseline to Midline Survey

To facilitate achieving national target of 100 percent sanitation in Bangladesh by the year 2013, BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme has been working in 150 upazilas for improving w...

by Shyamal C Ghosh | On 21 Jan 2011

School Management: Learning from Successful Schools in Bangladesh

Educational studies in Bangladesh are mostly quantitative in nature – broadly based on survey methods. However, the cases prepared for this study employed qualitative research techniques, where an eth...

by . BRAC | On 19 Jan 2011

Malaria Baseline Socioeconomic and Prevalence Survey 2007

Malaria re-emerged as one of the major public health problems in Bangladesh in the 1990s. Out of the total 64 administrative districts, 13 are in the malaria endemic areas and the three Hill Tract D...

by Syed Masud Ahmed | On 18 Jan 2011

Impact of Food Price Rise on School Enrolment and Dropout in the Poor and Vulnerable Households in Selected Areas of Bangladesh

This study has explored the impact of the rise in food prices on the education of children in the poor and vulnerable households in Bangladesh. A survey was conducted on these households in five di...

by Selim Raihan | On 17 Jan 2011

Rethinking Food Security Strategy: Self-sufficiency or Self-reliance

This Policy Brief discusses whether Bangladesh should continue to pursue a national food security strategy based on self-reliance or return to its earlier policy of food self-sufficiency through ...

by Uttam Kumar Deb | On 17 Jan 2011

Environmental Literacy and NGOs: Experience from the Microcredit Based Social Forestry Program of Proshika in Bangladesh

This study assesses the impact of participation in the social forestry program of Proshika on the environmental literacy of participating households in Bangladesh. Proshika--a non-governmental organiz...

by Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury | On 13 Jan 2011

Socioeconomic Divides in Tuberculosis Control: Study of Smear-Positive TB Prevalence, Care Seeking Behaviour and Role of Informal Healthcare Providers

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has intensified the implementation of the directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) strategy with the primary aims (i) to detect and treat at least 70% of T...

by Fazlul Karim | On 12 Jan 2011

Using formative research to develop MNCH programme in urban slums in Bangladesh: experiences from MANOSHI, BRAC

MANOSHI, an integrated community-based package of essential Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) services is being implemented by BRAC in the urban slums of Bangladesh since 2007. The objective...

by Syed Masud Ahmed | On 11 Jan 2011

Understanding Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Rural Women in Bangladesh: Some Illustrations from BRAC HRLS Programme

During the last decade, Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) gained enormous currency in rural development arena as an informal justice institution in Bangladesh and BRAC’s HRLS Programme has contr...

by Debasish Kumar Kundu | On 11 Jan 2011

Impact of Char Development and Settlement Project on Improving the Livelihood of Char Dwellers

The Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP) was a joint initiative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of Bangladesh to achieve sustainable livelihood developm...

by Wameq Raza | On 10 Jan 2011

An Inventory of the Development Programmes by Government and Non-Government Organizations in Selected Unions of Matlab (Excluding BRAC & ICDDR,B)

Endemic poverty is the stark reality that one confronts immediately about rural Bangladesh. Almost 50% of the rural households are now bereft of any visible resources, which could enable them to eke ...

by Monirul Islam Khan | On 06 Jan 2011

Does Involvement of Women in BRAC Influence Sex Bias in Intra-household Food Distribution?

This study assessed the sex preferences in intra-household food distribution among school going siblings in a rural area of Bangladesh. The study also examines the effect of women's involvement in BR...

by Rita Das Roy | On 06 Jan 2011

Financing SMEs and its Effect on Employment Generation: A Study of Brac Bank’s SME Lending

Financial and development assistance designed specially for small and medium enterprises in Bangladesh is a new and upcoming trend. After the surge of micro-finance in the last two decades, small and...

by Mehnaz Rabbani | On 05 Jan 2011

Estimating the Level and Distribution of Global Household Wealth

In this paper they provide the first estimate of the level and distribution of global household wealth. Mean assets and debts within countries are measured, partly or wholly, for 38 countries using...

by James B. Davies | On 03 Jan 2011

The Impact of Asset Transfer on Livelihoods of the Ultra Poor in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s progress in economic growth and extensive social protection interventions have contributed to a reduction in the headcount poverty rate of around 1.5 percentage points a year since the ...

by Akhter U. Ahmed | On 03 Jan 2011

Household Costs of Obtaining Maternal and Newborn Care in Rural Bangladesh: Baseline Survey

The costs of skilled maternal and newborn care are major obstacles to access. This cross-sectional study of 1,200 married women, who had a live birth in the previous year, analyzed the costs incurre...

by Mohammad Nasir Uddin Khan | On 31 Dec 2010

Possession and Usage of Insecticidal Bed Nets among the People of Uganda: Is BRAC Uganda Health Programme Pursuing a Pro-Poor Path?

The use of insecticidal bed nets is found to be an effective public health tool for control of malaria, especially for under-five children and pregnant women. BRAC, an indigenous Bangladeshi non-gove...

by Syed Masud Ahmed | On 31 Dec 2010

Assessing Change in Women’s Lives: A Conceptual Framework

In 1992, BRAC extended its comprehensive Rural Development Programme (RDP) to 100 villages of Matlab thana (sub-district) where the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (...

by Marty Chen | On 30 Dec 2010

Does Women’s Status Matter for Food Security? Evidence from Bangladesh

Using data from a survey of Bangladeshi households, this paper investigates the link between female status and food security. Employing three different indicators of female status – husband’s an...

by Mohammad A. Razzaque | On 29 Dec 2010

Effects of Socio-economic Development on Health Status and Human Well-being

Bangladesh is popularly described in the literature as a ‘test case for development’ in view of the complex nature of its socioeconomic and cultural problems, coupled with severe resource constraints...

by Mushtaque Chowdhury | On 29 Dec 2010

Problems of the Women Headed Households

The objective of this study was to identify and understand the problems faced by women-headed households. The study was undertaken with two assumptions: (1) a support system is in place which ensure...

by Naomi Hossain | On 28 Dec 2010

Domestic Violence Against Women: Its Determinants and Implications for Gender Resource Allocation

Using data from a survey of Bangladeshi households, this paper explores the determinants of domestic violence against women as well as its implications for the resources allocated to women. The fi...

by Mohammad Mokammel Karim Toufique | On 27 Dec 2010

Changes in the Distribution of Wealth in China, 1995-2002

This paper investigates some major changes in the wealth distribution in China using the data from two national household surveys conducted in 1995 and 2002. The surveys collected rich informatio...

by Shi Li | On 27 Dec 2010

Pre-lacteal Feeding Practices in Rural Area of Bangladesh

Any fluid other than breast milk given first time to a newborn is defined as pre-lacteal feeding. Present study describes the extent and nature of pre-lacteal feeding practices among rural mothers in...

by Sabah Tarannum | On 24 Dec 2010

Three Studies on the Effect of BRAC Interventions on the Lives of the Poor Women

This paper addressed two current debates within the female empowerment literature using data from BRAC-ICDDR,B Joint research project at Matlab collected during April-July 1995. The first part explore...

by Hassan Zaman | On 24 Dec 2010

Globalization, Production and Poverty

The impact of globalization on poverty is a matter of keen debate but empirical work in this area has been dominated by cross-country regressions. This paper attempts to link the more macro impact...

by Rhys Jenkins | On 23 Dec 2010

Exploring Changes in the Lives of BRAC Women: A Gender Perspective

In Bangladesh, patriarchal norms, ideology and social institutions shape women's role and status in the society. Within this patriarchal system, some forces like NGOs may affect the relationship bet...

by Amina Mahbub | On 23 Dec 2010

The Economy of Thiruvananthapuram

The major objectives of the paper is to:- * to locate the Thiruvananthapuram district in the economic map of the State; *to document the structural and sectoral transformation of the district; *to...

by Oommen M A | On 22 Dec 2010

The Relative Efficiency of Water Use in Bangladesh Agriculture

This study examines the marginal productivity of water and other inputs in dry season rice production in Bangladesh. Agriculture is the major water using sector in Bangladesh, but water is in shortsup...

by Nasima Tanveer Chowdhury | On 17 Dec 2010

Repayment Incentives and the Distribution of Gains from Group Lending

Group loans with joint liability have been a distinguishing feature of many micro nance programs. While such lending has bene tted millions of borrowers, major lending insti- tutions have acknowledg...

by Jean-Marie Baland | On 17 Dec 2010

Integration of the Ultra Poor into Mainstream Development: How Effective is CFPR?

This paper aimed to understand the dynamics of participation of the TUP (Targeting the Ultra Poor) members of CFPR (Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction) phase I in the financial market sin...

by Raniya Shams | On 16 Dec 2010

NGOs’ Strategies and the Challenge of Development and Democracy in Bangladesh

The paper argues that while Bangladesh is reported to have more NGOs per capita than other developing countries, those organisations have gradually abandoned social mobilising and collective action...

by Naila Kabeer | On 14 Dec 2010

Low birth weight in offspring of women with depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy: results from a population based study in Bangladesh

There is a high prevalence of antepartum depression and low birth weight (LBW) in Bangladesh. In high- and low-income countries, prior evidence linking maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms with i...

by Hashima E Nasreen | On 14 Dec 2010

Impact Assessment of Adolescent Development Programme in the Selective Border Regions of Bangladesh

Border ADP (Adolescent Development Programme) was implemented in the border areas of Bangladesh. Main objective of this programme was to make the adolescents, their parents and the communities aware...

by Jinnat Ara | On 14 Dec 2010

Consumer Confidence in Financial Markets

This paper makes an attempt to identify major factors, like currency forfeiting, loan default, capital shortfall, capital flight, etc which undermine consumer confidence in the financial services sect...

by Md. Kabir Ahmed Chowdhury | On 02 Dec 2010

The Economics of Population Policy for Carbon Emissions Reduction in Developing Countries

Female education and family planning are both critical for sustainable development, and they obviously merit expanded support without any appeal to global climate considerations. However, even relativ...

by David Wheeler | On 29 Nov 2010

The World Distribution of Household Wealth

There has been much recent research on the world distribution of income, but also growing recognition of the importance of other contributions to well-being, including those of household wealth. W...

by James B. Davies | On 25 Nov 2010

Convergence Club Empirics: Some Dynamics and Explanations of Unequal Growth across Indian States

This paper documents the convergence of incomes across Indian states over the period 1965 to 1998. It departs from traditional analyses of convergence by tracking the evolution of the entire income...

by Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay | On 22 Nov 2010

Social Responsibility of Indian Microfinance: A Critical Review

This paper discusses the issue of social responsibility of Indian microfinance using two theoretical streams from business social responsibility research – stakeholder theory and social contract the...

by Tara S Nair | On 15 Nov 2010

Socioeconomic Impacts of Cross-Border Transport Infrastructure Development in South Asia

Although the overall economic performance of economies in South Asia in recent years has been impressive, there is concern that an aging and increasingly inadequate infrastructure may limit the potent...

by John Gilbert | On 01 Nov 2010

Understanding NREGA: A Simple Theory and Some Facts

A developing economy like India is often characterised by a labour market with demand and supply of labour and a wage that even if competitively determined may not be adequate for the poor household t...

by Diganta Mukherjee | On 29 Oct 2010

New Agriculture Technology, Skill Formation, Food Security and Poverty Reduction in Rural Asia: A Comparison of Three Projects from India, China and Bangladesh

The present paper compares the strategies, capacity building processes and outcomes/impacts of three projects during the period 2005-10. The project area covered by the study are located as follows: ...

by Neela Mukherjee | On 29 Oct 2010

Political Economy of East Asian Regional Integration and Cooperation

In the last decade, East Asia has engaged in constructing numerous mechanisms to enhance regional cooperation in the areas of trade and finance. However, the region’s economic architecture exhibits ce...

by Saori N. Katada | On 21 Oct 2010

Going Beyond Gender as Usual: Why and How Global HIV/AIDS Donors Can Do More for Women and Girls

This brief shows how three of the biggest donors to global HIV/AIDS programs can go beyond their stated commitments to address gender inequality and more effectively combat HIV and AIDS.

by Christina Droggitis | On 20 Oct 2010

“Gaining Public Acceptance (GPA)” for Large Dams on International Rivers: The Case of Tipaimukh Dam in India and Concerns in Lower Riparian Bangladesh

The construction of Tipaimukh dam by India on the international Barak river has raises a number of questions in relation to successful implementation of World Commission on Dams (WCD) recommendation o...

by Zakir Kibria | On 19 Oct 2010

Inflation and Economic Growth in Bangladesh: 1981-2005

This paper empirically explores the present relationship between inflation and economic growth in the context of Bangladesh. Using annual data set on real GDP and CPI for the period of 1980 to 2005, a...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 14 Oct 2010

On Some Monetarist Arithmetic

The paper improves upon the original Sargent-Wallace (SW) version which had to resort to numerical simulations to prove this point It is also shown that incorporating the Mundeil-Tobin and Darby-Tanzi...

by M J Manohar Rao | On 13 Oct 2010

A Macro Policy for Poverty Eradication through Structural Change

This paper argues that poverty originates in the structural injustices of a social order which incapacitates the poor from participating in the growth generating sectors of the economy and leaves th...

by Rehman Sobhan | On 13 Oct 2010

Stemming Girls’ Chronic Poverty: Catalysing Development Change by Building Just Social Institutions

Childhood, adolescence and early adulthood remain for many girls and young women a period of deprivation, danger and vulnerability, resulting in a signifcant lack of agency and critical developm...

by Nicola Jones | On 12 Oct 2010

Understanding China’s Consumers

China’s consumers are better understood when looked at as two distinct classes: urban consumers and rural consumers. The urban households are much richer than their rural counterparts and consume thre...

by Syetarn Hansakul | On 12 Oct 2010

Tackling Water Scarcity in Bangladesh – A Lesson from the Country’s Rice Fields

In many parts of Bangladesh water scarcity is a seasonal problem. An assessment is done to understand whether water is being used efficiently for the cultivation of one of the most important food c...

by Nasima Tanveer Chowdhury | On 05 Oct 2010

Dynamics of Chronic Poverty: Variations in Factors Influencing Entry and Exit of the Chronic Poor

India experienced high economic growth in the 1990s. Some earlier studies, which attempted to identify the influence of growth on poverty dynamics in the country by including growth variables among th...

by Nidhi Dhamija | On 04 Oct 2010

Debt Policy in a Competitive Two-Sector Overlapping Generations Model

In this paper debt policy in a two-period, two-sector overlapping generations model with Leontief technologies has been analysed. It has been found that debt, issued to transfer resources to the initi...

by Partha Sen | On 28 Sep 2010

Structural Estimates of the Intergenerational Education Correlation

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...

by Christian Belzil | On 23 Sep 2010

The Transfer Paradox in a One-Sector Overlapping Generations Model

This paper examines the effects of international income transfers on welfare and capital accumulation in a one-sector overlapping generations model. It is shown that a strong form of the transfer para...

by Partha Sen | On 15 Sep 2010

Looking Beyond Universal Primary Education: Gender Differences in Time Use among Children in Rural Bangladesh

This paper addresses gender equity in parents‘ educational investments in children in a context of rising school attendance in rural Bangladesh. Our premise is that in addition to factors such as sc...

by Sajeda Amin | On 13 Sep 2010

Seasonality and Wage-responsiveness in Nonclearing Labour Markets: Evidence from Indian Agriculture

Labour income is often a major source of income not only for landless rural households but also for the 'small' farmers in Asian agriculture. Fluctuations in labour income can be quite marked, owing t...

by Sunil Kanwar | On 10 Sep 2010

Economic Governance of MFIs: Inside the Black Box

This paper investigates a relationship between economic governance and the dual objectives of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs): poverty reduction and financial viability. Using an unbalanced pan...

by Thankom Arun | On 06 Sep 2010

The Medium Run Effects of Educational Expansion: Evidence from a Large School Construction Program in Indonesia

This paper studies the medium run consequences of an increase in the rate of accumulation of human capital in a developing country. From 1974 to 1978, the Indonesian government built over 61,000 prima...

by Esther Duflo | On 25 Aug 2010

An Eye for an Eye: Impact of Sequelization and Comparison in Advertisements on Consumer’s Perception of Brands

In this paper we demonstrate that the positive effects of comparative advertising are significantly diluted when a compared-to brand retaliates. Retaliation introduces sequencing in advertisements....

by Patrali Chakrabarty | On 24 Aug 2010

The Predictive Value of Subjective Labour Supply Data: A Dynamic Panel Data Model with Measurement Error

This paper tests the predictive value of subjective labour supply data for adjustments in working hours over time. The idea is that if subjective labour supply data help to predict next year’s wor...

by Rob Euwals | On 12 Aug 2010

The Changing Role of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) in India: Implications for Maternal and Child Health (MCH)

The world’s democracy and its second most populous country, India was the first developing country to have a national family planning program and has implemented countrywide reproductive health progra...

by Dileep V. Mavalankar | On 10 Aug 2010

Do Professionals Choke Under Pressure?

High rewards or the threat of severe punishment do not only provide incentives to exert high levels of effort but also create pressure. Such pressure can cause paradoxical performance effects, namel...

by Thomas J. Dohmen | On 06 Aug 2010

Roof above the head - A qualitative assessment of rural housing in India

This paper is based on a set of village visits carried out by the authors as part of a study on rural housing sponsored by Holcim Limited. The views expressed here are those of the authors. [Working...

by Shashanka Bhide | On 03 Aug 2010

Dynamics of Youth Population – Impact of Education Expenditure

Youth constitutes the largest segment of the Indian population and being the primary productive human resources, the socio-economic development of youth directly linked to the development process. Thi...

by Joydeep Goswami | On 03 Aug 2010

Addressing Extreme Poverty in a Sustainable Manner: Evidence from CFPR programme

BRAC initiated an innovative programme known as Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR) in 2002 to address the extreme poverty in Bangladesh. Impact assessment studies on the first pha...

by Narayan C Das | On 02 Aug 2010

Social Protection Package for the Retrenched Workers of State-owned Enterprises: A quick Assessment

BRAC designed and implemented a project namely Kallyan project aiming to improve the quality of life of the retrenched workers of state-owned enterprises of Bangladesh. This study aimed to map the p...

by Narayan Chandra Das | On 28 Jul 2010

The Employment-Unemployment Situation in India in the Nineteen Nineties: Some Results from the NSS 55th Round Survey (July 1999-June 2000)

The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has recently released the report containing key results of the NSS 55th Round Employment-Unemployment Survey covering the period July 1999 thru June 2...

by K. Sundaram | On 26 Jul 2010

Poverty and the Environment: Exploring the Relationship between Household Incomes, Private Assets, and Natural Assets

The paper is a study of the relationship between poverty and environment by using a purpose-collected survey data from 535 households in 60 different villages of the Jhabua district of India. The meth...

by Shreekant Gupta | On 26 Jul 2010

Integrating Resource-Based and Rational Contingency Views: Understanding Design of Dynamic Capabilities of Organisations

Resource-based view of organisation emphasises that no organisation can be self sufficient and it will always be dependent on the environment for the fulfillment of resource needs. Further, this int...

by Kaushik Roy | On 23 Jul 2010

Morbidity Costs of Vehicular Air Pollution: Examining Dhaka City in Bangladesh

This study estimates the morbidity costs of reduction in air pollution in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, using the Cost-of-Illness (COI) approach. COI is defined as the sum of lost earnings due t...

by Tanzir Chowdhury | On 19 Jul 2010

Vulnerability and poverty in Bangladesh

This study estimates ex ante poverty and vulnerability of households in Bangladesh using Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data in 2005. Our results show that poverty is not same as vulne...

by Md. Shafiul Azam | On 19 Jul 2010

Casting the net wide and deep: lessons learned in a mixed-methods study of poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh

In this paper we reflect on lessons learned in developing a mixed-methods approach to the study of poverty dynamics in a three phase qual-quant-qual study of poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh. We a...

by Peter Davis | On 19 Jul 2010

Unintended consequences?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to have decided, somewhat belatedly, to fight for its own autonomy. Well, it’s better late than never, and there is much to recommend in the suggestion by RBI to...

by T.N. Ninan | On 14 Jul 2010

Supply Response of Indian Farmers: Pre and Post Reforms

This study estimates supply response for major crops during pre and post reform periods using Nerlovian adjustment cum adaptive expectation model. Estimation is based on dynamic panel data approach wi...

by G. Mythili | On 06 Jul 2010

Microfinance Engagements of the ‘Graduated’ TUP Members

This study takes a look at the beneficiaries who were selected at the first round in 2002 to explain various dimensions of their engagement with microfinance. With a lower borrower-member ratio and re...

by Munshi Sulaiman | On 02 Jul 2010

Sex Workers and Condom Use-the Political Economy of HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh

A study was undertaken in Madaripur brothel to understand condom use reality within the social context of the commercial sex workers' (CSW) lives in brothel and to critically analyze BRAC's HIV/AIDS...

by Raihana Karim | On 29 Jun 2010

Matching for Credit: Risk and Diversification in Thai Microcredit Groups

How has the microcredit movement managed to push financial frontiers? In a context in which borrowers vary in unobservable risk, Ghatak (1999, 2000) shows that group-based, joint liability contracts p...

by Christian Ahlin | On 21 Jun 2010

Impact Assessment of CFPR/TUP: A Descriptive Analysis Based on 2002-2005 Panel Data

This paper looks at the overall performance of the CFPR/TUP programme using the 2002 baseline survey and 2005 repeat survey. All the topics covered in this study could be analysed more deeply, but tha...

by Mehnaz Rabbani | On 15 Jun 2010

Quantifying Transport, Regulatory and Other Costs of India-Bangladesh Trade, Transaction Cost, and Corruption

The present study shows that informal barriers/para-tariff in India-Bangladesh trade are already high and further trade liberalisation without improving the infrastructure and reducing corruption woul...

by Samantak Das | On 14 Jun 2010

Providing Microfinance and Social Space to Empower Adolescent Girls: An Evaluation of BRAC’s ELA Centres

Lately there has been a surge in the variety of approaches to assist the adolescents, specially the girls, in building up their lives and livelihoods. With financial assistance from Nike Foundation,...

by Rizwana Shahnaz | On 10 Jun 2010

Instability at the Gate: India’s Troubled Northeast and its External Connections

This paper intends first to give a brief overview of the rise and growth of some of those separatist groups, with a special focus on the Nagas, the Mizos and the Assam movement. An analysis of the de...

by Renaud Egreteau | On 10 Jun 2010

Commercialisation of Microfinance in India: A Discussion on the Emperor’s Apparel

The paper looks at the growth and commercialization of microfinance in India. It starts out be looking at how the commercial microfinance has evolved internationally by discussing two specific ex...

by M S Sriram | On 08 Jun 2010

Do Child Labourers Come from The Poorest?

This paper explores whether child labourers come from, not only the poor, but also the poorest households in Bangladesh or not. The paper also tries to explain what determines the participation of chi...

by | On 04 Jun 2010

Reproductive Health Practices And Health Seeking Behaviour Of Female Sex Workers in Tamil Nadu

This paper is about the research study of health practices and health-seeking behaviour of the Female Sex Workers for their reproductive health needs in terms of pregnancy and postpartum care, contra...

by Rachna Williams | On 04 Jun 2010

Girls in Science and Technology Education: A Study on Access, Participation, and Performance of Girls in Nepal

This paper is a study on Access, Participation, and Performance of Girls in Science and Technology in Nepal. This study was undertaken essentially to achieve four objectives, viz. to review curricular...

by Dr. Vidya Nath Koirala | On 03 Jun 2010

Aid and Growth Have We Come Full Circle?

This paper first assesses the aid-growth literature with a focus on recent contributions. The aid-growth literature is then framed, for the first time, in terms of the Rubin Causal Model, applied...

by Channing Arndt | On 02 Jun 2010

The Economics of Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events in Developing Countries

Without a better understanding of the interactions between international players, households and public sector, it will be difficult for climate negotiators and donor institutions to determine the...

by Brian Blankespoor | On 01 Jun 2010

Can Social Security Boost Domestic Consumption in the People’s Republic of China?

This paper reviews the development of the social security system and trends in the urban labor market in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite its remarkable economic achievement, the PRC face...

by Wang Dewen | On 20 May 2010

Women Safety in Delhi

This paper attempts to question the state of ‘women community” at large with situation depicting the growing rate of crime, oppression and subjugation which is historically unprecedented and its re-...

by Chitra Mishra | On 03 May 2010

Improving Newborn Survival in Low-Income Countries: Community-Based Approaches and Lessons from South Asia

Obstacles to improving survival include: many newborn infants are invisible to health services; care-seeking for maternal and newborn ailments is limited; health workers are often not skilled and co...

by Nirmala Nair | On 03 May 2010

Vulnerability and Coping to Disasters: A Study of Household Behaviour in Flood Prone Region of India

This paper attempts to understand the various risks faced by households living in disaster prone regions of rural India and specifically examine the effectiveness of coping mechanisms adopted by ho...

by Unmesh Patnaik | On 12 Apr 2010

Quietly They Die: A Study of Malnourishment Related Deaths in Mumbai City

The attention of the media and planners has been focussed almost exclusively on rural and tribal malnutrition. However, malnutrition among urban children, particularly the economically vulnerable slum...

by Neeraj Hatekar | On 22 Mar 2010

Budget 2010-2011

Budget speech 2010-2011 by Pranab Mukherjee

by Pranab Mukherjee | On 26 Feb 2010

Female Work Participation and Gender Differential in Earning in West Bengal

Female work participation in West Bengal is one of the lowest among all the states in India. However, it varies widely across the state’s 341 blocks. An analysis of some block level characteristics...

by Indrani Chakraborty | On 26 Feb 2010

Prevalence and Costs of Childhood Diarrhoea in the Slums of Dhaka

This study seeks to identify the engineering, behavioural and socio-economic determinants of childhood diarrhoea and its duration and to compute the resulting costs borne by slum dwellers. The study...

by M. Jahangir Alam | On 22 Feb 2010

Negotiating the Terms of A New Social Contract: Private Companies, Civil Society and the State in India

A detailed analysis of the stakes and dynamics at play in the public, civil and self-regulation of companies in India is offered. With the rapid growth and modernization of the country as the backdro...

by Damien Krichewsky | On 02 Feb 2010

Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy

The objective of this study is to examine empirically the impact of monetary policy on exchange market pressure (EMP) in Bangladesh. EMP is measured as the sum of percentage change of international re...

by Sayera Younus | On 29 Jan 2010

Snakes, Ladders and Traps: Changing Lives and Livelihoods in Rural Bangladesh (1994-2001)

This paper examines national-level explanations for poverty decline in Bangladesh in micro-level detail, in order to better understand the nature of the causalities at work and why some households h...

by Naila Kabeer | On 28 Jan 2010

Social Business: A Step Toward Creating a New Economic and Social Order

The concept of social business flows from a firm conviction that profit or benefit is not the only motivating factor for an entrepreneur and an entrepreneur can also be motivated by social goals and e...

by Mohammad Yunus | On 27 Jan 2010

Can Mangroves Minimize Property Loss during Big Storms? An Analysis of House Damage due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa

This paper estimates the storm protection benefits due to mangroves during the super cyclone of 1999 in Orissa. By combining GIS data with census information, the paper examines the mangrove mediate...

by Saudamini Das | On 25 Jan 2010

Microfinance and the Millennium Development Goals in Pakistan: Impact Assessment Using Propensity Score Matching

Using data from a survey of clients of a microfinance bank, Khushhali Bank, in 2005, the study revisited the survey data and found that despite the Bank’s strict poverty-targeting program used in cl...

by Sununtar Setboonsarng | On 25 Jan 2010

Productivity of Pesticides in Vegetable Farming in Nepal

This paper examines the effectiveness of damage control mechanisms to reduce crop losses from agricultural pests. It uses data from a sample of Cole crop (Cauliflower and Cabbage) growing households...

by Ratna Kumar Jha | On 22 Jan 2010

Book Review: Microfinance-Is it a means of Empowering Women?

Multiple Meanings of Money: How Women See Microfinance by Smita Premchander, V. Prameela, M. Chidambaranathan, L. JeyaseelanSage publication, 2009, Pp 264, Rs. 595/-

by Sanchita Das | On 20 Jan 2010

Poverty Dynamics in Rural Sindh, Pakistan

This paper focuses on poverty dynamics and their determinants, using panel survey data for rural Sindh, Pakistan. Households interviewed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) d...

by Hari Ram Lohano | On 10 Dec 2009

Public Private Partnership in Uttar Pradesh Health Care Delivery System- UPHSDP as an Initiative

The objective of the study is to find out the primary reason to encourage public private participation in health care delivery system in Uttar Pradesh and the study also aim to analyse UPHSDP -a Wor...

by Bibi Ishrat Jahan | On 07 Dec 2009

Poverty and Livelihood among Tribals in Gujarat: Status, Opportunities, and Strategies

This paper tries to look into the status of poverty and multiple deprivations among tribal communities in the state and explores policy options for strengthening their livelihoods through a combinatio...

by Amita Shah | On 27 Nov 2009

Migration and Urban Poverty in India Some Preliminary Observations

Migration decisions to urban areas that are backed by economic rationale and attempts to understand gains accruing to individuals from migration, in terms of poverty outcomes are analysed. The analy...

by William Joe | On 16 Nov 2009

Track Record of Financial Institutions in Assisting the Poor in Asia

A variety of institutional forms of microfinance are being introduced in Asia including by the ADB-and financial institutions pursue different objectives, so it is difficult to assess how well micro...

by Richard L Meyer | On 13 Nov 2009

The Socio-Economic Determinants Behind Infant Mortality and Maternal Mortality

A qualitative study was conducted in the six states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Haryana to understand the socio-economic, cultural and demographic features a...

by Indian Trust for Innovation and Social Change ITISC | On 12 Nov 2009

Should Asian Countries Adopt Gm Crops Despite Trade Regulations

This brief summarizes a study evaluating the potential economic effects of introducing genetically modified (GM) food crops in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines in the presence of trad...

by Guillaume Gruère | On 11 Nov 2009

Engaging Communities to Improve Health and Nutrition Outcomes: The Role of Community Volunteers in INHP

INHP adopted a multiple volunteer per village model, with one volunteer serving the immediate neighborhood of about 20-30 households to rationalize volunteer workloads and to ensure cultural compatibi...

by CARE India | On 09 Nov 2009

The Deluge of Debt: Understanding the Financial Needs of Poor Households

This paper is about the financial lives of poor households. It examines the different sources of income and expenditure of the poor households residing in a coastal settlement in Kerala. The method...

by B. S. Suran | On 29 Oct 2009

The Pilot Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Project (MNCH) at Nilphamari: Profiling the Changes During 2006-07

BRAC health programme (BHP) initiated a pilot maternal, neonatal and child health project (MNCH) in Nilphamari in 2006 to improve the health status of women of reproductive age including neonates an...

by Shahnawaz Mohammad Rafi | On 15 Oct 2009

Coping with Rising Food Prices: Policy Dilemmas in the Developing World

Rising food prices cause considerable policy dilemmas for developing country governments. Letting domestic prices adjust to reflect the full change in international prices generates inflationary pres...

by Nora Lustig | On 09 Oct 2009

Emerging Asia's Middle Class-A Force to be Reckoned With

The emergence of a large and dynamic middle class raises Asia’s profile as an attractive market destination for products ranging from consumer goods to financial services. There are even hopes that th...

by Steffen Dyck | On 06 Oct 2009

Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in the Himalayas

This paper analyzes the determinants of participation in nonfarm activities and of nonfarm incomes across rural households. A unique data set collected in the Himalayan region of India allows us to...

by Maja Micevska | On 30 Sep 2009

Chronic Poverty and Development Policy in Sri Lanka: Overview Study

The present study attempts to capture chronic poverty in Sri Lanka by examining general information on poverty and drawing conclusions on those who are likely to be among the chronic poor. Certain p...

by Indra Tudawe | On 17 Sep 2009

School Exclusion as Social Exclusion: The Practices And Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programme for the Poor in Bangladesh

This paper explores the efforts of government to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty. It focuses on the practices and effects of the Primary Education Stipend Programme, a conditio...

by Naomi Hossain | On 17 Aug 2009

Morbidity Patterns In Kerala: Levels and Determinants

This paper examines the levels, patterns, and determinants of morbidity in Kerala. This study is based on a community survey conducted in 2004, in three districts of the state namely Thiruvananthap...

by Navaneetham K | On 14 Aug 2009

A Glimpse of the Tiger: How Much are Indians Willing to Pay for It?

The recreational demand for the Indian Sundarban, which is a World Heritage site and a complex mangrove ecosystem that borders India and Bangladesh is estimated. Two alternative methodologies exist f...

by Indrila Guha | On 13 Aug 2009

Assets and Poverty Traps in Rural Bangladesh

This paper applies Carter and Barrett’s theory of assets poverty traps to a unique longitudinal survey from rural Bangladesh. Non-parametric and parametric methods are used to examine the shape of the...

by Agnes Quisumbing | On 06 Aug 2009

Understanding the Relationship between Government and BRAC in Implementing WASH Programme

To explore the relationship between government and BRAC in the implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme this qualitative research was undertaken. This involved purposive samp...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 06 Aug 2009

Peasant Classes, Farm Incomes and Rural Indebtedness: An Analysis of Household Production Data from Two States

The paper attempts to appraise the extent of the constraint of credit relations on agricultural production and its differential impact across peasant classes. Additionally, the analysis of the structu...

by Arindam Banerjee | On 04 Aug 2009

Determinants of Fuelwood Use in Rural Orissa: Implications for Energy Transition

This study examines household behaviour related to fuelwood collection and use. The focus is on identifying the behavioral transition of fuelwood-using households from collection to purchase. The st...

by ARABINDA MISHRA | On 29 Jul 2009

The State and Civil Society in Disaster Response An Analysis of the Tamil Nadu Experience

The primary objective of this report is to bring together the experiences and learnings of a range of actors affected by, and involved in the disaster response in order to identify factors that have i...

by Tata Institue of Social Sciences TISS | On 28 Jul 2009

Unravelling Khulna Jessore Drainage Project

An analysis of the Asian Development Bank-funded Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project by the Bangladeshi NGO Uttaran.

by Shahidul Islam | On 24 Jul 2009

Migration and Chronic Poverty

This paper provides an overview of conceptual understandings of, and methodological research issues on, the relationship between chronic, or long-term, poverty and processes of migration. The paper...

by Uma Kothari | On 13 Jul 2009

Examining the Decoupling Hypothesis for India

This paper examines the decoupling hypothesis for India. This paper analyses business cycle synchronization between India and a set of industrial economies, particularly the United States, over the pe...

by Shruthi Jayaram | On 07 Jul 2009

Emerging Contours of Financial Regulation: Challenges and Dynamics

The paper attempts to analyse the emerging contours of regulation of financial institutions with an emphasis on the emerging challenges and dynamics. [Paper prepared for Financial Stability Review of...

by Rakesh Mohan | On 29 Jun 2009

Determinants of Income of the Shasthya Shebikas: Evidences from a Pilot MNCH Initiative in the Nilphamari District of Bangladesh

A large number of new Shasthya Shebikas were recruited under the maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) program besides the existing ones. This study attempts to explore whether and how the income...

by Mahjabeen Rahman | On 27 Jun 2009

Inflation and the Poor in Bangladesh

This note analyses the major characteristics of the current inflationary episode in the economy along with its probable impact on different population groups in Bangladesh. The note also draws some po...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 27 Jun 2009

Inflation in Bangladesh: Does the Changing Consumption Pattern Affect its Measurement ?

The paper analyzes the effects of changes in consumption factor on the calculation of inflation calculation in Bangladesh. This is important as there might exist some volatile and non-trend components...

by Md. Habibour Rahman | On 27 Jun 2009

Measuring Inflationary Pressure in Bangladesh: The P-Star Approach

The paper estimates the P* model for Bangladesh economy and test its forecasting ability through generating recursive forecasts. The empirical result shows that the model performs relatively well and...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 27 Jun 2009

Relative Effectiveness of Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Output Growth in Bangladesh: A VAR Approach

This paper investigates the relative importance of monetary and fiscal policies in altering real output of Bangladesh. An unrestricted vector auto regression (VAR) framework based on the St. Louis equ...

by Md. Habibur Rahman | On 27 Jun 2009

Is the BDP Ultra Poor Approach Working? Survey of Some Key Issues

The objectives of this paper are to assess the knowledge retention on IGA training, and to explore the quality of participation in financial and non-financial services by the BDP ultra poor. We found...

by Proloy Barua | On 25 Jun 2009

Transmission of International Commodity Prices to Domestic Prices in Bangladesh

In recent years, Bangladesh has experienced persistent price increases, especially of food items, in the domestic market in the backdrop of global increase in food prices. Such price developments in t...

by M. Golam Mortaza | On 22 Jun 2009

Estimates of BPL-households in Rural Gujarat: Measurement, Spatial Pattern and Policy Imperatives

The poverty scenario in Gujarat is marked by three features: (1) low incidence of poverty (2) spatial concentration and (3) adoption of targeted policy for poverty reduction. One of the important high...

by Amita Shah | On 16 Jun 2009

Employment Promoting Growth in Bangladesh: Monetary and Financial Sector Issues

Although economic growth has improved in recent years in Bangladesh, the better economic performance has not translated into satisfactory poverty reduction. The type of growth that matters Bangladesh...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 15 Jun 2009

Financing Long Term Investments in Bangladesh: Capital Market Development Issues

There has been an increase in the demand for infrastructure services and opening up of the infrastructure sector for private investment. As a result, a large number of financial intermediaries and pri...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 15 Jun 2009

Why Do Mothers Breastfeed Girls Less Than Boys? Evidence and Implications for Child Health in India

Medical research indicates that breastfeeding suppresses post-natal fertility. The implications for breastfeeding decisions are modelled and test has been done to predict model's predictions us- ing...

by Seema Jayachandran | On 09 Jun 2009

Archiving the Nation –State in Feminist Praxis: A South Asian Perspective

This essay mainly examines the relationship between feminism and nationalism as a point from which it looks at South Asian feminist scholarship. The historical circumstances in their respective countr...

by Uma Chakravarti | On 03 Jun 2009

An Assessment of the Impacts of Floods on Sanitation in Rural Bangladesh

Bangladesh faces multiple challenges in the sanitation, hygiene and water sector. This study aims to review the damage to sanitation facilities during floods. It also explored the possibilities of ove...

by Shamim Ahmed | On 03 Jun 2009

Women’s Work in the Post Reform Period: An Exploration of Macro Data

An important aspect that is often highlighted in the context of economic reforms, is the translation of labour market changes into defining or redefining gender relations and empowerment of women. In...

by Neetha N | On 03 Jun 2009

An Evaluation Study of NSS in India 2008-09

This paper is an evaluation study of NSS in India wherein a study is conducted to learn Volunteer strength in Andhra Pradesh from 1969-1994; Year wise Targets and Achievements of Chandigarh Regional C...

by Tata Institue of Social Sciences TISS | On 31 May 2009

Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries

The rapid spread of modern supply chains in developing countries is profoundly changing the way food is produced and traded. In this paper we examine the gender implications in modern supply chains. W...

by Miet Maertens | On 29 May 2009

Gender and Innovation in South Asia

To understand how gender, women’s rights and citizenship intersect with innovation in SouthAsia, one must begin by considering some of the main features of life for South Asian women, about a half of...

by Sujata Byravan | On 06 May 2009

Perinatal and Neonatal Mortality in Rural Punjab A Community Based Case-Control Study

The study aimed at identifying social and biomedical risk factors attributable to perinatal and neonatal mortality (PN, NNM) in rural Punjab.

by Rohina Joshi | On 30 Apr 2009

Poverty, Undernutrition and Vulnerability in Rural India: Public Works versus Food Subsidy

This paper analyses the effects of access to Rural Public Works (RPW) and the Public Distribution System (PDS), a public food subsidy programme, on consumption poverty, vulnerability and undernutrit...

by Raghbendra Jha | On 27 Apr 2009

Does Organic Agriculture Lead to Better Health among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand? An Investigation of Health Expenditure among Organic and Conventional Farmers in Thailand

The study attempts to empirically examine whether the adoption of organic farming practices leads to better health. As a proxy for health status, a comparison of the health expenditure patterns of or...

by Sunantar Setboonsarng | On 22 Jan 2009

Thinking 'Small' and the Understanding of Poverty: Maymana and Mofizul's Story

Much recent thinking on poverty and poverty reduction is ‘big’ in terms of its ideas, units of analysis, datasets, plans and ambitions. While recognising some of the benefits of such approaches this p...

by David Hulme | On 21 Jan 2009

Costs of Basic Services in Kerala, 2007, Education, Health, Childbirth and Finance (Loans)

The focus of this study is to analyze the pattern and costs of services in four areas, which critically affect most households in Kerala . The major concerns of this paper include answers to questio...

by Zachariah KC | On 12 Jan 2009

A Case-Control Study to Assess the Relationship Between Poverty and Visual Impairment from Cataract in Kenya, Philippines and Bangladesh

The aim of this study was to examine the association between visual impairment from cataract and poverty in adults in Kenya, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. A population-based case–control study was...

by Hannah Kuper | On 18 Dec 2008

Educational Reforms in India: Universalisation of Primary Education in Kerala

The history and evolution and the factors underlying the success of primary education in Kerala. [CDS WP 189].

by P R Gopinathan Nair | On 10 Dec 2008

Values and Meanings of Citizenship

What does citizenship mean to poor and socially excluded people? How do their views help us understand and analyse what 'inclusive' citizenship means?

by Naila Kabeer | On 20 Nov 2008

Performance of Indian Cement Industry: The Competitive Landscape

The competitiveness among the firms in Indian cement industry has also been evaluated. For the year 2006-07, out of the sample of seventeen firms (90.21% of the total market share), about 47% have re...

by G Burange | On 19 Nov 2008

Untold Stories: The Human Face of Poverty Dynamics

The policy brief describes the life stories of five people, to show the face of human face of chronic poverty. It also suggests that such life history material can be an important source of data for p...

by Martin Prowse | On 11 Nov 2008

Agflation and the PDS: Some Issues

In the context of the current public policy focus on rising food prices and their implications for food security, this paper examines two major issues raised: (i) Universalization of the public distri...

by Suryanarayana M H | On 04 Nov 2008

The State of Human Rights in Bangladesh

The system of justice in Bangladesh is derived from the common law system. The judiciary tends to be conservative in its application of international law. While in many cases the judiciary has cited i...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 07 Oct 2008

Aspirations, Segregation and Occupational Choice

This paper examines steady states of an overlapping generations economy with a given distribution of household locations over a one-dimensional interval. Parents decide whether or not to educate the...

by Dilip Mookherjee | On 06 Oct 2008

Carrying Over: Analysing Female Utopias and Narratives of Education from 17th-century France to 18th-century Britain and 20th Century India

The paper carries the reader across and over great spans of space and time, with an Indian feminist woman academic journeying back to seventeenth-century ancien regime France, to 1770s Scotland, to 17...

by Bagchi B | On 01 Oct 2008

An Ethnographic Study on Women in Prostitution in Bihar

The study tries to focus on the violation of human rights that occur in prostitution. It holds that it is the responsibility of the state to protect these human rights and address the fundamental stru...

by Nina Srivastava | On 30 Sep 2008

Traditional Water Harvesting for Domestic Use: Potential and Relevance of Village Tanks in Gujarat's Desert Region

Recognising the dearth of detailed analyses of economic and environmental performance of traditional water harvesting systems (TWHS) meant exclusively for domestic use, this paper enquires into the re...

by Keshab Das | On 26 Sep 2008

Persistent Inequality: An Explanation Based on Limited Parental Altruism

This paper provides an explanation for the observed persistence in income inequality across households in terms limited parental altruism. It is postulated that the degree of parental altruism is ‘lim...

by Mausumi Das | On 24 Sep 2008

From Slash-and-Burn to Sustainability – A Study from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

because their traditional ‘slash and burn’ agriculture is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Farmers in these communities have to farm more intensively and this is causing a whole host of environm...

by M. A. Monayem Miah | On 19 Sep 2008

Can Insurance Reduce Catastrophic Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure

It is argued that for households below poverty line any expenditure on health is catastrophic as they are unable to attain the subsistence level of consumption. Thus, zero percent is taken as a thres...

by Rama Joglekar | On 15 Sep 2008

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategies in ICT SMEs in Enlarged Europe (EU25)

The paper investigates the innovation behavior off entrepreneurs in small and medium sized enterprises in the ICT sector of the European Union. In this study innovative strategies of entrepreneurs are...

by Kaushalesh Lal | On 15 Sep 2008

Critique of the Human Rights Ordinance in Bangladesh 2008: A Human Rights Commission must have effective Powers

It was left to human rights defenders to inform the UN Committees on the situation of human rights by submitting shadow reports, to investigate violations, and to campaign for an end to impunity for l...

by Hameeda Hossain | On 05 Sep 2008

The Economics of Arsenic Water Pollution – A Study from Bangladesh

Bangladesh is facing a major health crisis because arsenic is poisoning a large percentage of the country’s drinking water. Although the government has taken a number of positive steps to address this...

by Zakir Husain Khan | On 04 Sep 2008

Managing the Arsenic Disaster in Water Supply:Risk Measurement, Costs of Illness and PolicyChoices for Bangladesh

Arsenic poisoning is a major public health concern in Bangladesh. This study uses primary data to examine health impacts and costs associated with arsenic contamination of groundwater. The study estim...

by M. Zakir Hossain Khan Khan | On 29 Aug 2008

Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias?

Random assignment of gender quotas across Indian village councils to investigate whether having a female chief councillor affects public opinion towards female leaders is analysed . Villagers who hav...

by Lori Beaman | On 22 Aug 2008

Who Funds the Act of Racism and Racial Discrimination in the Chittgaong Hill Tracks?

Since 1978 Bangladesh government has been providing free food rations to plain settlers to sustain the conflict, make indigenous Jumma peoples a minority in the CHTs and eventually destroy their disti...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 07 Aug 2008

Willingness to Pay for Improved Sanitation Services and its Implication on Demand Responsive Approach of BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme

This study aimed to provide some insights into sanitation-related strategies taken by the BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme from an economic point of view. The aim of this report i...

by Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj | On 06 Aug 2008

Distress Debt and Suicides among Agrarian Households: Findings from Three Villages in Kerala

The factors and process underlying agrarian distress in Kerala by undertaking the case studies of three villages situated in Wayanad and Idukki districts namely, Cherumad, Kappikkunnu and Upputhara. T...

by K.N. Nair | On 31 Jul 2008

A Human Rights Commission Must Have Effective Powers

Ratification imposes specific obligations on a state to incorporate human rights into national laws, to amend legislation, to promote, protect and fulfill human rights and prevent violations of huma...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 31 Jul 2008

Shifting Cultivation and its Alternatives in Bangladesh: Productivity, Risk and Discount Rates

This study evaluates the economic feasibility of replacing shifting cultivation (Jhum) with settled agriculture and new soil conservation technology based on an assessment of the farmers’ risk and cor...

by M. A. Monayem Miah | On 29 Jul 2008

Bangladesh and Climate Change: Need for a Comprehensive Adaptive Strategy

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects climate change will have on Bangladesh and also gives some possible solutions for tackling climate change.

by Centre for Trade and Development CENTAD | On 24 Jul 2008

Between Citizens and Institutions: The Dyamics of the Integration of Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Hyderabad

The purpose of this study is to review the changes that have taken place recently in water supply and sanitation services and examine the role of various stakeholders involved in urban governance in...

by Agnes Huchon | On 15 Jul 2008

Book Review: Tales of the Displaced in India’s North-East

Review of: Internal Displacement in South Asia: The Relevance of the UN’s Guiding Principles Edited by Paula Banerjee, Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Samir Kumar Das, Sage Publicatons, New Delhi;...

by Ratna Bharali Talukdar | On 22 Jun 2008

“Life Is Not Ours”: Attacks on indigenous Jumma peoples of Bangladesh and the need for international action

On 28th April 2008, hundreds of illegal plain settlers attacked the local Jumma people in Bangladesh. Hundreds of people were displaced and their houses burned. People suffered from such a level of sh...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 13 Jun 2008

Poverty targeting in public programs: A Comparison of Some Nonparametric Tests and their Application to Indian Microfinance

Many popular social programmes have limited coverage among households at the very bottom of the income and wealth distribution. If a programme reaches the poor, but neglects the destitute, the (pre-...

by Isha Dewan | On 12 Jun 2008

Impact Of Girl Child’s Enrollment On Work Sharing and Distribution Pattern in Families

Ranga Reddy district, where the present study is carried out is marked by low literacy rate and high concentration of child labour. M.V.Foundation adopted 16 Mandals of this district for the impleme...

by Davaluri Venkateshwaralu | On 10 Jun 2008

Innovation and Growth: Role of the Financial Sector

A brief overview is provided about India’s long-term growth performance. Then an attempt is made to set out the conditions for successful innovations. To assess the role of innovations in the Indian...

by Rakesh Mohan | On 03 Apr 2008

Scaling up a Reproductive Health Curriculum In Youth Training Courses

Considering the reproductive health information and service needs of adolescents and youth, the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) Program, in collaboration with the Min...

by Laila Rahman | On 12 Mar 2008

Women’s Economic Empowerment as the “Magic Potion” of Development?

Boosting women’s relative control of income and other economic resources has so many consequences that positively enhance both gender equality and development that female economic empowerment may be c...

by Rae Lesser Blumberg | On 20 Feb 2008

Estimating the Economic Benefits of Arsenic Removal in India: A Case Study from West Bengal

People living in almost fifty percent of the districts in West Bengal are exposed to arsenic contaminated water. The economic costs imposed by arsenic-related health problems are estimated. Data from...

by Joyashree Roy | On 08 Feb 2008

National Policy on the Voluntary Sector

This National Policy on the Voluntary Sector-2007 is the beginning of a process to evolve a new working relationship between the Government and the Voluntary Sector, without affecting the autonomy and...

by Planning Commission, India | On 29 Jan 2008

Agrarian Distress and Rural Livelihoods A Study in Upputhara Panchayat Idukki District, Kerala

This study examines the impact of agrarian distress on the different socio-economic groups, the strategies of livelihood adopted by households and the local institution in shaping these strategies. Th...

by K.N. Nair | On 02 Jan 2008

Girls, Educational Equity and Mother Tongue-based Teaching

One of the principal mechanisms through which inequality is reproduced is language, specifically the language used as the medium of instruction. The learner’s mother tongue holds the key to making sc...

by Carol Benson | On 21 Dec 2007

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Policy Implications for India

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) will be an integral and significant part of global financial and capital markets even in the medium term. It is important for India to put in place domestic safeguards ag...

by Mukul Asher | On 12 Dec 2007

HDI in Context

The United Nations Development Programme has just put out its latest Human Development Report, containing the human development index (HDI) for 177 countries, with the data being for 2005. India ranks...

by T.N. Ninan | On 03 Dec 2007

Using Family Histories to Understand the Intergenerational Transmission of Chronic Poverty

A method of collecting family histories that would act as a means of linking households from the panel studies with individual life histories is proposed. The procedure used to construct a three-gener...

by Robert Miller | On 07 Nov 2007

Enhancing Rural Livelihoods

The Overseas Development Institute in the UK recently carried out a study on ICT for rural livelihoods, commissioned by InfoDev. The study included a literature and donor review in collaboration with...

by Paul Matthews | On 26 Oct 2007

Book Review: ‘Missing Girls’: Many Approaches to an Understanding

Review of Sex- Selective Abortion in India –Gender, Society, and New Reproductive Technologies by Tulsi Patel; Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2007.

by Sayeed Unisa | On 25 Oct 2007

Combining Methodologies for Better Targeting of the Extreme Poor: Lessons from BRAC’s CFPR/TUP Programme

To assess the effectiveness and draw lessons from the targeting strategy used in a new BRAC programme called Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction-Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) that aim...

by Imran Matin | On 09 Oct 2007

Governance and Health

As we celebrate 60 years of political independence and take pride in our dynamic private sector, our remarkable IT successes and all the other usual dimensions of success, let us remind ourselves that...

by Shankar Acharya | On 08 Oct 2007

Missing the Bus

Government has done a lot for the development of textile industry. But India is not at all doing well in the international markets compared to countries like China and Bangladesh. Government has not d...

by T.N. Ninan | On 24 Sep 2007

Corporate Social Responsibility and Children's Rights in South Asia

Examples of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives within the context of children's issues in India, Nepal and Bangladesh are given. The mapping highlights that children's issues often do n...

by Girish Godbole | On 05 Sep 2007

The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2007: Legislative Brief

While the Bill promotes the activities of MFOs, there are differing opinions on the cost efficiency of the MFO model. �� NABARD is designated as the regulator of the micro financial s...

by Kaushiki Sanyal | On 08 Aug 2007

The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation)Bill 2007

The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2007 seeks to promote the sector and regulate micro financial organisations (MFO). 􀂐 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural D...

by Ministry of Law | On 08 Aug 2007

Discussions Among the Poor: Exploring Poverty Dynamics With Focus Groups in Bangladesh

Findings from 116 focus group discussions are presented, which took place in eleven districts in Bangladesh in mid-2006. It forms the first part of three phases of research in an integrated qualitativ...

by Peter Davis | On 01 Aug 2007

Microfinance Bill: Too Many Wrinkles

A regulator should promote social entrepreneurship and tap into the considerable expertise existing in the micro-finance sector. The aim should be to lower transaction costs and generate savings in re...

by Mukul Asher | On 30 Jul 2007

Women and Food Security in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns

The educated and socially empowered Asian Woman is the key to improving the nutrition and mental acuity of young children and that improvement sets in motion lifelong prospects for heightened learning...

by Nira Ramachandran | On 24 Jul 2007

Economic and Social Dynamics of Migration in Kerala, 1999-2004 Analysis of Panel Data

Panel studies based on the same set of sample households or individuals at two points of time 5 or 10 years apart are time consuming and are relatively rare in social science research. Such a method,...

by Zachariah KC | On 23 Jul 2007

Reproductive Health: Case Laws

This draft chapter of a reader on Health Care Case Laws in India addresses the following issues: Have reproductive rights been recognized in India? What has been the approach of the courts towards rep...

by Vijay Hiremat | On 04 Jul 2007

Health Domain of the Ultra Poor: An Exploration

Relatively small proportion of literature has focused upon health behaviours and types of health services used by the poor in rural Bangladesh, particularly ultra poor households.This study aimed to e...

by Shahaduz Zaman | On 14 Jun 2007

Social Capital and Economic Well-being

The proposition that social capital expands household welfare is tested by estimating the effects of social interactions on per capita expenditure among a sample of 810 households in northern Banglade...

by Farhad Ameen | On 30 May 2007

Peri-Urban Dynamics: Case studies in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai

Selected case studies of peri-urban dynamics are detailed, drawing from the experiences of Chennai (Pushpa Arabindoo), Hyderabad (Eric Leclerc and Camille Bourguignon) and Mumbai (Himanshu Burte and M...

by Veronique Dupont | On 16 May 2007

In Conversation with Mohammed Yunus

In Mumbai to open an office of the Grameen Foundation, Professor Yunus spoke on the growing role of microfinance in the global economy, the challenges the sector faces in moving from the informal t...

by Kala Rao | On 14 May 2007

Female Headship, Poverty and Child Welfare: A Study of Rural Orissa, India

First, on the basis of primary data collected in a rural setting in the State of Orissa, an attempt has been made in this paper to compare the socioeconomic status of male- and female- headed househ...

by Pradeep Kumar Panda | On 12 Feb 2007

Poverty Begins at Home? Questioning some (Mis)conceptions about Children, Poverty and Privation in Female-Headed Households

Grounded in a popular stereotype that female-headed households are the ‘poorest of the poor’, it is often assumed that women and children suffer greater poverty than in households which conform with a...

by Sylvia Chant | On 30 Jan 2007

Impact of Reservations of Panchayat Pradhans on Targeting in West Bengal

The effect of randomized reservations of Pradhan (chief executive) positions in West Bengal local governments (panchayats) for women and members of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) following t...

by Pranab Bardhan | On 27 Dec 2006

Women’s Right To Land, Assets, And Other Productive Resources: Its Impact On Gender Relations And Increased Productivity

It is often assumed that poverty reduction would lead to gender equality. Research however, points to the opposite, namely, that increasing prosperity can have perverse gender effects . It is therefor...

by Nitya Rao | On 26 Dec 2006

Change in Food and Nutrient Consumption Among the Ultra Poor: Is the CFPR/TUP Programme Making a Difference?

This study aims to investigate the impact of CFPR/TUP programme on the food and nutrient consumption. The report is presented in two parts- the first part is based on the comparison of food and energy...

by Farhana Haseen | On 19 Dec 2006

The Role of Self Help Group Bank Linkage Programme in Preventing Rural Emergencies in India

The Self-Help Emergency Prevention (SHEPherd) programme aims to use lessons from CRS/Orissa’s emergency responses in 1999 and 2001 to inspire an India-wide response to emergency prevention. The progr...

by Kim Wilson | On 03 Dec 2006

Performance Analysis of Fisherwomen Self-help Groups in Tamil Nadu

The present study attempted to assess the performance of Fisherwomen's self help groups (SHGs) in Tamil Nadu . Primary data required for the study were collected from 725 fisherwomen SHG members repr...

by R. Jayaraman | On 03 Dec 2006

Prospective Study of One Million Deaths in India: Rationale, Design, and Validation Results

Over 75% of the annual estimated 9.5 million deaths in India occur in the home, and the large majority of these do not have a certified cause. India and other developing countries urgently need reliab...

by Prabhat Jha | On 31 Oct 2006

Children of Women Prisoners in Jails: A Study in Uttar Pradesh

Imprisonment of mothers with dependent young child is a problematic issue. The effects of incarceration can be catastrophic on the children and costly to the state in terms of providing for their car...

by Planning Commission, India | On 30 Oct 2006

Targeting the Poorest in Microfinance: Poverty Outreach of BDP Ultra Poor Programme

Despite the general consensus that microfinance does not reach the poorest; recent evidence suggests that nearly 15% of microfinance clients in Bangladesh are among the poorest. It is from the realiza...

by Proloy Barua | On 25 Oct 2006

Studies on Self-Help Groups of the Rural Poor

In pursuance of a recommendation made by the Asian and Pacific Regional Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA), the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with some...

by | On 23 Oct 2006

Linking Banks and (Financial) Self Help Groups in India: An Assessment

A review of the progress and impact of the overall strategy for scaling up the SHG Bank Linkage Programme over the last decade. [Paper presented at the Seminar on SHG-bank Linkage Programme at New Del...

by Erhard. W. Kropp | On 23 Oct 2006

Using Change Rankings to Understand Poverty Dynamics: Examining the Impact of CFPR/TUP from Community Perspective

Studies of poverty dynamics relying solely on household income-expenditure surveys can yield noisy results, overestimating transient poverty and underestimating persistence of poverty, especially for...

by Munshi Sulaiman | On 23 Oct 2006

Integrating poverty reduction in IMF-World Bank Models

This paper outlines the Fund-Bank analytical frameworks and presents a critical appraisal indicating the importance of both demand and supply constraints in the countries undertaking Fund adjustment p...

by Brigitte Granville | On 27 Apr 2006

Coping with Risk or Courting More Risk?report on changing rural livelihoods during agrarian distress in Kerala

This paper deals with the agrarian distress experienced in parts of rural Kerala from the latter half of the 1990s, and the ways in which the distress affected the livelihoods of cultivating household...

by R. Ramakumar | On 26 Mar 2006

Uncertainity And Discrimination: Family Structure And Declining Sex Ratios In Rural India

This article builds upon the recognition that the declining child sex ratios are a result of an ongoing process of societal change. Looking at areas both in the north and in the south which have shown...

by Mattias Larsen | On 03 Sep 2005

Turning A Blind Eye: Costly Enforcement, Credible Commitment And Minimum Wage

In many countries, the authorities turn a blind eye to minimum wage laws that they have themselves passed. But if they are not going to enforce a minimum wage, why have one? Or if a high minimum wage...

by Arnab K. Basu | On 01 Sep 2005

Domestic Violence Aganist Women In Ernakulam District

Gender discrimination manifests itself as violence in the family, community, and society. It takes the forms of female foeticide, female infanticide, abuse of the girl child, social harassment, mental...

by Celine Sunny | On 16 Aug 2005