Papers by Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis
South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth... more South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth compared to other regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Known as the ‘South Asian enigma’ this feature is partly attributed to the low status of women in South Asian societies. This paper examines this tenet in the context of India, with particular emphasis on possible differences between rural and urban scenarios. The empirical evidence reveals some important differences, which are relevant for policies relating to women’s empowerment against a backdrop of rapid urbanization.
The Indian Economic Journal
Food Insecurity, Vulnerability and Human Rights Failure, 2007
In April 2001 the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) approached the Supreme Court of India... more In April 2001 the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) approached the Supreme Court of India arguing that the government has a duty to provide greater relief in the context of mass hunger. The litigation has now become the best known precedent on the right to food internationally. This paper reviews the litigation with a view to understand various strategies used by the litigants to create and enforce far-reaching entitlements in a near legal vacuum on the right to food. This is followed by a discussion on the lessons from this case for a rights-based approach to development at large.
Financial Development, Institutions, Growth and Poverty Reduction, 2008
The WTO, Developing Countries and the Doha Development Agenda, 2004
Financial Development, Institutions, Growth and Poverty Reduction, 2008
This study is an attempt towards an integration of financial development and its effect on the re... more This study is an attempt towards an integration of financial development and its effect on the real sector via the transmission mechanism with special reference to developing and emerging market economies. It finds two cointegrating relations between the financial development, output growth and allocation of credit which makes sense from the standpoint of economic theory. The paper also addresses the issue of causality between finance and growth for the aggregate and broad sectors of the economy. The relations, however, are not similar across the broad sectors of the economy and thus have separate policy implications for different sectors.
The purpose of this paper is to extract from the cross-country growth analysis insights about the... more The purpose of this paper is to extract from the cross-country growth analysis insights about the performance,of individual South Asian countries and the region as a whole. It provides a descriptive analysis of regional growth performance relative to performance in other regions, and of country performance within the South Asia region relative to the regional norm. In addition, it
We estimate the effect of women's participation in microfinance programs on domestic violence by ... more We estimate the effect of women's participation in microfinance programs on domestic violence by control over credit, using a unique dataset collected from 69 villages in Bangladesh during 2006-2007. We use the Two Stage Least Squares-Fixed Effect (2SLS-FE) method to correct for potential endogeneity problems originating from nonrandom program placement, village level heterogeneity and unobservable household attributes. Our results show that women's participation in microfinance does not diminish domestic violence against them significantly because of their limited control over the use of credit. In our data, only 13% of women can use their credit and in average experience 1.002% less physical violence for increasing 1% of their credit amount.
Journal of Asian Economics
... investment to value added is several times higher in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and ... more ... investment to value added is several times higher in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States than in financially undeveloped countries such as Bangladesh, India, Panama, and Turkey. ... The finance-growth nexus: evidence from bank branch deregulation. ...
This paper by Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis and Saumitra Bhaduri of the Madras School of Economics attem... more This paper by Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis and Saumitra Bhaduri of the Madras School of Economics attempts an early evaluation of the effect of the ongoing reforms in the financial sector, especially those related to the capital market. The authors address the question of whether the abolition of the Controller of Capital Issues (CCI), the gradual easing or removal of a few other restrictions on interest rates and reserve requirements and reductions of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), have led to an improvement in the allocation of investment in India during the 1990s. They test the hypothesis that a more market oriented financial sector should be able to direct investment towards industries, and firms within an industry, which are growing or profitable, so that the growth rate of the economy is maximised. Their econometric analysis leads them to the findings that for the chemicals, automobiles, electronics and food industries, the allocation effect of investment is in the expected direction. But in other industries, e.g., cement, drugs & pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, machinery, paper and metal products, etc., this does not hold. Given that financial reforms in India are still at an early stage, the authors are careful to qualify their findings accordingly. I have no doubt that this study will stimulate further empirical analysis in this very complex area of policy reform.
South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth... more South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth compared to other regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Known as the ‘South Asian enigma’ this feature is partly attributed to the low status of women in South Asian societies. This paper examines this tenet in the context of India, with particular emphasis on possible differences between rural and urban scenarios. The empirical evidence reveals some important differences, which are relevant for policies relating to women’s empowerment against a backdrop of rapid urbanization.
Urbanization and Development, 2010
Do local improvements in infrastructure provision improve city competitiveness? What public finan... more Do local improvements in infrastructure provision improve city competitiveness? What public finance mechanisms stimulate local infrastructure supply? And how do local efforts compare with national decisions of placing interregional trunk infrastructure? In this paper, we examine how the combination of local and national infrastructure supply improve city competitiveness, measured as the city's share of national private investment. For the empirical analysis, we collect city-level data for India, and link private investment decisions to infrastructure provision. We find that a city's proximity to international ports and highways connecting large domestic markets has the largest effect on its attractiveness for private investment. In comparison, the supply of local infrastructure services-such as municipal roads, street lighting, water supply, and drainage-enhance competitiveness, but their impacts are much smaller. Thus, while local efforts are important for competitiveness, they are less likely to be successful in cities distant from the country's main trunk infrastructure. In terms of financing local infrastructure, we find that a city's ability to raise its own source revenues by means of local taxes and user fees increases infrastructure supply, whereas as inter governmental transfers do not have statistically significant effects.
Urbanization and Development, 2010
Urbanization and Development, 2010
By many estimates, the world has just crossed the point where more than half the world's populati... more By many estimates, the world has just crossed the point where more than half the world's population is urban, a trend driven by rapid urbanization in developing countries. Urban centres offer economies of scale in terms of productive enterprise and public investment. Cities are social melting pots, centres of innovation and drivers of social change. However, cities are also marked by social differentiation, poverty, conflict and environmental degradation. These are all issues that not only matter to cities but also lie at the heart of development. As such the time is right to consider afresh the relationship between cities and development. This paper introduces a significant new collection of multidisciplinary papers focused on urbanization and its implications for development. It raises four questions: (i) What is so special about the urban context? (ii) Why is urbanization and urban growth important to development at the present conjuncture? (iii) What are the strengths and limitations of our current state of knowledge about urbanization and development from the policy perspective and finally, (iv) how can a multidisciplinary perspective on the urban context add value to development research and policy?
Linking the Formal and Informal Economy, 2006
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Papers by Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis