Narrow Results

The paper analyzes the size, growth and productivity performance of the unorganized manufacturing sector in India during the 1978–1979 to 2000–2001 period. The study shows evidence of an increase in the size of the sector with a slowdown in the reforms period. Evidence indicates that the rate of growth varies widely across the two-digit industries but the variation in growth rate is smaller during the 1990s. Textiles and machinery goods were the fastest growing segments of India's unorganized manufacturing sector in the reforms period. The partial factor productivity approach shows that labor productivity has improved in 2000–2001 over 1978–1979 while capital productivity reported a decline in the same period. The sector, on the other hand, registered a fall in total factor productivity (TFP) during the reforms period. It is found that technological progress has been the main contributor to the growth in TFP in the prereforms period while technical regress contributed to the decline in TFP in the reforms period. A completely different picture is noticed since the mid-1990s when the sector made significant progress in TFP primarily attributed to technological progress which outweighed the decline in technical efficiency. It is also found that capital intensity is an essential factor augmenting labor productivity levels in the sector, which is important for improving the wages paid to the workers in the sector.

Due to rigid rules, incomplete institutions and concentration on short-run fiscal discipline, economic and institutional diversity and insufficient reforms caused the progressive segmentation of the Eurozone. Insufficient integration process is due to lack of trust among member countries and the need to keep a hard budget constraint of national budgets to avoid uncontrolled inflationary pressure and moral hazard. Although understandable in the short run, this situation is causing serious economic and social costs and damages to the development of vulnerable countries. The paper enquires possible solutions to this dangerous stalemate, that could also provide useful suggestions for other countries.

China’s Healthcare Reforms: Who Will Survive?

Neovia Enrolls First Patient in Cancer Trial for Immunotherapy Enhancing Drug.

$5M Foundation Gift to Help Support US-China Energy Center at Berkeley Lab.

Scientists Make Breakthrough in 21st Century Killers Research.

Chinese Scientist Participates in Human Gene Editing Committee.

Monkeys Master a Key Sign of Self-awareness: Recognizing Their Reflections.

Poisonous Gas May Have Driven Prehistoric Mass Extinction.

Chinese Scientists in Rice Breakthrough.

This paper examines the impact of a liberalised foreign direct investment (FDI) regime in Indian hospitals on FDI inflows. The paper shows that there is hardly any FDI in Indian hospitals due to domestic constraints such as high initial establishment costs, low health insurance penetration, manpower shortages, high cost of medical equipment, and regulatory deficiencies. These constraints also impede domestic investment in hospitals. The paper concludes that a liberal foreign investment regime may not result in increased FDI inflows if regulatory and structural impediments continue to constrain investment in the host economy. Investment liberalisation must thus be supplemented by domestic regulatory reforms to create an environment that is conducive to all investors.

The massive real-estate price increases experienced in Israel over the last several years have elicited in policymakers the realization that they need to take action to reduce housing demand and prevent the Israeli housing market from collapsing. As a result, during May and October 2010, the Bank of Israel stepped in and increased the effective rate on mortgages and lowered the number of qualified applicants. In announcing the new regulations, the Bank of Israel’s main objective was to halt rising demand and to prevent further growth of the housing bubble. We use event study analysis to show that not only did the new regulations have no effect on housing prices but they in fact also markedly influenced the market value of the real-estate companies traded on the Tel-Aviv stock exchange.

Gandhi’s journeys across India, carrying his ideas of peace and non-violence, including leading different socio-political projects, have been explored by numerous scholarly writings. However, scholars have paid much less attention to his trips to north–east India and his crucial contributions towards its integration with the Indian Union. Between 1921 and 1946, Gandhi made four visits to Assam, comprising four other north–east states: Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Each of his visits intended to popularise the national movement in this remote region of colonial India. His first visit to Assam was 100 years ago in 1921. It was termed the Khadi tour to promote the use of Khadi in one of the weavers’ populous regions. After witnessing the exclusion of the north–east from the socio-political imaginary of nationalist political leaders, Gandhi through his active participation in the Congress session in Pandu, Gauhati in 1926 brought the region into the national discourse. In order to eradicate untouchability, Gandhi undertook a Harijan tour in 1934. He visited various naam-ghars (Vaishnavite worship places) in Jorhat and opened their doors for the untouchables. Along with these tours, Gandhi continuously worked to integrate north–east with mainland India with Gandhian state leaders like Gopinath Bordoloi. In contrast, the Muslim League leader and Assam Premier Sir Muhammad Saadulla worked through Land Settlement Policy promoting migrants from East Bengal. His last visit was a year before the independence in 1946 at the backdrop of Cripps Mission and grouping of Assam. This chapter focuses on Gandhi’s four trips to Assam and his meetings with the leaders of Assam on the question of integration of the north–east. It explores the role of the Congress leaders and the Muslim League’s attempt to merge parts of the north–east into East Pakistan. This chapter is based on archival resources collected from the State Archives of Assam, Legislative Assembly Records, and letters, writing and speeches of Gandhi related to Assam.

This note describes the work of TSG-55, indicating its main organizational stages and the number of reports presented. Brief descriptions of the topics of the presented reports are provided. These may be grouped into several categories: reports devoted to reforms; reports investigating the work of various mathematics educators; reports discussing the history of specific subjects in courses, textbooks, or other handbooks; periodicals, connected with mathematics education; and so on. Lastly, certain conclusions are drawn about the current state of this academic field.

Corporate governance reforms have been viewed as a means of improving the economic and social welfare of emerging economies and there have been efforts by the Nigerian government and its agencies to promulgate codes of best practices for companies in the country. There are critical questions regarding how effective these codes are in practice, and whether they are achieving the aims for which they were promulgated. Another pertinent issue is whether the codes of best practice actually complement and are complemented by the corporate legislation, because, ideally, meaningful corporate governance mechanisms should comprise of laws, regulations and principles working in synergy in order to achieve an overall atmosphere of effective corporate governance. This chapter discusses these issues and argues that corruption is a barrier to achieving the aims of corporate governance reforms and presents potential solutions to the problem of corruption in regard to creating effective corporate governance in Nigeria.