This book covers a wide range of the issues in development studies. Recognizing the existence of manifold challenges in achieving and sustaining economic development, it is divided into four sections—(i) The Macroeconomy: Foreign Trade, Structural Transition and the Environment, (ii) Health and Standard of Living, (iii) Education, Human Capital and Evolution of the Employment Quality in India, and (iv) Banking and Credit: Access, Efficiency and Stability. The book brings together a right mix of senior and young economists who use cutting edge econometric techniques and/ or revisit a perennial question with much sharper focus and tools to unravel insights that are important and will inform tomorrow’s theorisation and policy making. The volume looks at important questions like spatial concentration of low infant and child health outcomes, trade liberalisation and export quality, intergenerational occupational mobility, multidimensional poverty incidence in rural India, robustness of the banking sector, to name a few. To do so, the contributions use novel and esoteric methods like machine learning, spatial econometrics, system GMM, quintile regression and counterfactual decomposition (QRCD), and so on. The rich collection holds importance for researchers and policy makers alike, and also for practitioners working in different developmental sectors.

We run a laboratory experiment to test the concept of coarse correlated equilibrium (Moulin and Vial in Int J Game Theory 7:201–221, 1978), with a two-person game with unique pure Nash equilibrium which is also the solution of iterative elimination of strictly dominated strategies. The subjects are asked to commit to a device that randomly picks one of three symmetric outcomes (including the Nash point) with higher ex-ante expected payoff than the Nash equilibrium payoff. We find that the subjects do not accept this lottery (which is a coarse correlated equilibrium); instead, they choose to play the game and coordinate on the Nash equilibrium. However, given an individual choice between a lottery with equal probabilities of the same outcomes and the sure payoff as in the Nash point, the lottery is chosen by the subjects. This result is robust against a few variations. We explain our result as selecting risk-dominance over payoff dominance in equilibrium.

Published online 20 February. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-020-09647-x

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In A. Chattopadhyay and S. Ghosh (ed) Population dynamics in Eastern India and Bangladesh: Demographic, health and developmental issues, Springer Nature, 2020: pp. 49-69

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This study examines fertility-related behaviour in the adjacent regions of West Bengal (a state in eastern India), and Bangladesh. Bordering districts of both political regions are hypothesised to be homogenous with respect to fertility behaviour. The starting premise of the paper is that common history and language has led to diffusion of fertility practices from West Bengal to Bangladesh, with the common Bengali language encouraging diffusion of reproductive practices between the bordering districts of the two countries.

The study uses Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and District-level Household Survey data for 1992, 2002, and 2012. Despite some reservations—as DHS is directed to produce state level estimates, while DLHS is geared to yield district-level estimates—the similarity in sampling strategies and coverage of all districts (in West Bengal) and divisions (in Bangladesh) implies that the two data sets may be pooled, particularly in the absence of any alternatives.

Using the regression discontinuity method, we have tested whether fertility behaviour in (i) bordering districts differs from non-border districts in both countries, and (ii) bordering districts of both countries are similar estimating multi-level linear and logistic models. Outcome variables are contraceptive prevalence rate, usage of modern contraception methods, and number of ever born children. We obtain results revealing similarities in fertility behaviour between border divisions of Bangladesh and West Bengal, indicating possible cross-border diffusion of fertility practices.

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Based on data from the National Sample Survey Office’s surveys on healthcare, this study critically evaluates the impact of the National Health Mission on improving utilisation of maternal healthcare services in Bihar, which had very poor maternal and child health outcomes at the start of the mission. In particular, it investigates factors affecting the utilisation of maternal care services and choice of facilities between the pre- and post-NHM periods; assesses the success of the Janani Suraksha Yojana in enhancing institutional delivery, particularly in public facilities; and estimates the out-of-pocket expenditure on maternal care in the pre- and post-NHM periods and identifies factors affecting such expenditure levels.

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Study was funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

This book provides a broad overview of the current research on various aspects of development, with a focus on India. The content and treatment of the subject of development in this volume is distinctive in many ways. It is a balanced mix of theory and practical elements, dealing with a number of issues at micro as well as macro levels. The analyses of the current socio-economic problems are attempted in an elegant yet simple manner which makes it equally useful for an aspiring researcher in economics or any inter disciplinary field. The methodologies of the articles include analytical verbal argumentative logic, theoretical constructs or different versions of statistical, econometric or programming techniques. It also contains well written survey articles, which are useful in grasping the fundamental research issues and in tracing the progress of research in an area. The general scope of the book is very wide as the readership can include researchers, scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, policy makers and practitioners. Though the contributors are primarily scholars in the field of Economics or Statistics, the book contains useful takeaways for those working in the area of Development. It will also be of interest to policy makers and practitioners interested in development issues, and to post graduate students in Economics or any field, in social science, management or development.

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This book explores how the ethically inconsistent behaviour in workplaces can be rooted in moral fibers of the decision-makers, and/or in their varying moral foci depending on the philosophical cornerstones, on which those rest. It explores further whether such decisions may be shaped or modified by contextual factors leading, possibly, to bounded ethicality. Based on a primary survey approaching the academicians, administrators, and other service-holders from India and abroad, it analyses the problem, its determinants and variations across socio-economic and demographic factors.

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Exploring the issues of pricing of Indian green stocks (2009-2016) finds them to earn excess-returns that cannot be justified as rewards to positive externalities associated with green investment. A presence of intrinsic bubble is documented with enough scope for mispricing, adverse selection and resultant downsizing in valuation. The consequent withdrawal of investment from green stocks would have its implications for firms and the global economy.

This book focuses on emotional intelligence, which has emerged as a factor in superior on-the-job performance and ability to lead an effective life. Based on an emerging country, namely India, the book deviates from traditional approaches by focusing on non-cognitive rather than cognitive skills to explain and predict performance and achievements. It finds that those with strong intrinsic non-cognitive skills, like trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability, initiative and commitment have a better chance of becoming effective leaders with enhanced service-orientation, empathy and conflict management skills –traits desired by any organization striving for efficiency. It also demonstrates that while such imponderable, intrinsic skills matter, they cannot replace discernible psycho-social factors and hence, effective hiring strategies must focus on behavioural competence along with cognitive skills.

The book also discusses organizations’ desire to ensure a working environment that is vibrant and positive in an attempt to prevent unconstructive or disruptive factors and to ensure improved performances over time. The book is a valuable resource for corporate personnel, as well as for researchers and practitioners in the field.

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