Articles by Indervir Singh
Millennial Asia, 2020
This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on... more This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on primary data. It analyses the coping strategies of people in response to fall in their income. The article reveals that there was a large drop in income and employment with the announcement of lockdown. While there is some recovery with easing of the lockdown, the income at the time of survey is still substantially lower than its pre-lockdown level. Casual labour households with the largest fall in income and employment are the most affected. Income and employment losses are also higher among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) households. In the absence of any income, the households either had to live off their savings or had to borrow money for their basic needs. With rapidly depleting savings, borrowing approached its limits, and with slow recovery of income, households may need substantial government assistance to save them from deprivation.
Economic and Political Weekly, 2020
High economic growth has failed to improve the status or the participation of women in the labour... more High economic growth has failed to improve the status or the participation of women in the labour market in developing countries. Taking into account the case of low labour force participation among women in rural Punjab, an analysis of existing policy prescriptions—of improving agricultural growth and crop diversification as a panacea to the problem—is revealed to be insufficient in improving the female labour force participation rate. In order for policy to successfully address these issues, it must consider the constraints imposed by gender norms.
Economic and Political Weekly, 2020
High economic growth has failed to improve the status or the participation of women in the labour... more High economic growth has failed to improve the status or the participation of women in the labour market in developing countries. Taking into account the case of low labour force participation among women in rural Punjab, an analysis of existing policy prescriptions—of improving agricultural growth and crop diversification as a panacea to the problem—is revealed to be insufficient in improving the female labour force participation rate. In order for policy to successfully address these issues, it must consider the constraints imposed by gender norms.
Millennial Asia, 2020
This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on... more This article traces income and employment changes through various phases of the lockdown based on primary data. It analyses the coping strategies of people in response to fall in their income. The article reveals that there was a large drop in income and employment with the announcement of lockdown. While there is some recovery with easing of the lockdown, the income at the time of survey is still substantially lower than its pre-lockdown level. Casual labour households with the largest fall in income and employment are the most affected. Income and employment losses are also higher among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) households. In the absence of any income, the households either had to live off their savings or had to borrow money for their basic needs. With rapidly depleting savings, borrowing approached its limits, and with slow recovery of income, households may need substantial government assistance to save them from deprivation.
Indian Journal of Economics and Business, 2012
The paper attempts to examine the direct and indirect impact of caste related social norms on occ... more The paper attempts to examine the direct and indirect impact of caste related social norms on occupational choice in India. Two caste groups, Jat and Bania, are compared for this purpose. Banias and Jats live at the same place and enjoy similar social and economic status, however they show difference in their choices of occupations. These differences cannot be explained on the basis of differences in education, asset or returns on investment only. The findings show that when a society is divided into groups, and there are significant barriers to separate those groups, the choice of members of a group is influenced by perceived identity and knowledge base of the group.
Millennial Asia, 2011
This article tries to unravel the linkages between the prevalence of a peaceful environment and t... more This article tries to unravel the linkages between the prevalence of a peaceful environment and the status of economic development amongst different states of India. The central contention hypothesized in the article is that the: crime rate has negative effect on economic growth. However, only those crimes that affect the investment behaviour, lead to lower growth rate. To test the hypothesis, the rate of murder is used as an indicator of crime. Further, the motive of murder is used to distinguish between growth affecting crime and other types of crime. Generally, results indicate large variations in crime rate amongst the states in India. The pooled cross-sectional regression results verified that economic growth is negatively affected by the rate of murder for gain or due to property dispute. Other motives of murder do not show any significant impact on growth rate. The analysis suggests that there is a pressing need to combat crime, having negative impact on investment, to trigger economic growth of the regions.
Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, 2013
The paper highlights a case study of a rural girls college located in a remote village of Gurdasp... more The paper highlights a case study of a rural girls college located in a remote village of Gurdaspur district in Indian Punjab. The idea of this unique college was conceptualised by one Baba Aya Singh, a social and religious activist, from a village near the college way back in 1925. It was really a revolutionary idea because female education in India, particularly higher education, was a distant dream at that time. The college was, however, started with only 14 rural girls after about half-a-century when the great visionary Baba Aya Singh had a dream to educate the rural girls. Access to and affordability of higher education is the uniqueness of this college. The student has to pay only Rs. 5800 (about US {\$} 65) per annum, which includes both the tuition fee and boarding and lodging. It is equally significant to note that the entire expenses of the college are met by this and the produce of agricultural land of the college. The college does not take any outside help. The meritorious senior class students teach the junior class students. The college in its own humble, but significant, way made a revolutionary contribution to the education of poor rural girls who, otherwise, would not have dreamt of college education. Apart from, classroom teaching and bookish knowledge, the students are taught social, ethical and management skills in a most natural manner. The product of the college has proved to be the agents of change and rural transformation.
University Practice Connect, Azim Premji University, 2018
University Practice Connect, Azim Premji University, 2020
Book Chapters by Indervir Singh
In SS Gill, L Singh and R Marwah (Eds.), Economic and Environmental Sustainability of the Asian Region (Routledge, London), 2010
In L. Singh & N. Singh (Eds.), Economic Transformation of a Developing Economy: The Experience of Punjab, India (Springer, Singapore), 2016
The paper studies the screening, monitoring and enforcement mechanism of the commission agents in... more The paper studies the screening, monitoring and enforcement mechanism of the commission agents in rural informal credit market of Punjab. The commission agents due to imperfect information invest considerable time and efforts to screen the borrowers. However, the time invested and efforts made in screening are not the same in all the regions, and the moneylenders from a region with less number of default cases invest lesser time and make fewer efforts to screen the borrower. Though the legal system is used as an enforcement mechanism in many cases, the moneylenders do not consider it efficient. The social norms and other informal mechanisms are often used to enforce the contract, even though the effectiveness of these methods is found low in regions with large number of defaults. The farmer unions, in some cases, are reported to have obstructed the contract enforcement and also played a role in renegotiation of the contract. The study also argues that the use of informal methods of enforcement, which are instigated by inefficient legal enforcement rather than their low cost, may result in inefficiencies.
In V Santhakumar and S Gangopadhyay (Eds.), Law and Economics: Practice, Volume II (Sage Publication, New Delhi), 2013
miscs by Indervir Singh
Economic and Political Weekly, 2016
Working Papers by Indervir Singh
Papers by Indervir Singh
Routledge eBooks, Oct 17, 2023
Journal of Asian and African Studies
The study examines changes in earnings of the workers over 1 year. The results show differential ... more The study examines changes in earnings of the workers over 1 year. The results show differential impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on income of the workers. The findings suggest that workers, whose occupations were restricted in the initial phase of lockdown, continue to do worse even after lifting the restrictions. Females, casual workers and the less educated are among the worst affected by the economic shock. They continue to lag behind with no sign of catching up with other groups. The study asks for short- and long-term policy measures to address the issue.
South Asia Economic Journal
The present article examines the screening and monitoring strategies used by lenders to solve the... more The present article examines the screening and monitoring strategies used by lenders to solve the problem of imperfect information in the rural informal credit market. The study uses data from a primary survey conducted in Punjab, India. The survey focuses on informal lending between commission agents and farmers. Data were collected from 120 randomly selected commission agents from four blocks. Each of the blocks represents a different development level. The results show that commission agents invested significant time and resources for screening and monitoring the farmers. The screening and monitoring were found to be more stringent in areas that were underdeveloped and had higher default risk. Commission agents could shift a significant share of the screening cost to the borrowers, thereby increasing their self-enforcement range. The study argues that high screening cost hurts small farmers. The regression results found a significant reduction in the default rate and the unrecove...
Theoretical and Applied Economics, 2021
The paper argues that the co-workers of a corrupt public official are in the best position to pro... more The paper argues that the co-workers of a corrupt public official are in the best position to provide proof of corruption. It, with the help of a game-theoretic model, discusses the incentive structure that will allow a co-worker to disclose the information on a corrupt public servant. The study argues that incentives for the co-worker may work best if they are based on the cost of disclosing the information and are contingent upon successfully proving corruption.
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Articles by Indervir Singh
Book Chapters by Indervir Singh
miscs by Indervir Singh
Working Papers by Indervir Singh
Papers by Indervir Singh