Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

About: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research is a facility organization based out in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Monetary policy & Inflation. The organization has 307 authors who have published 1021 publications receiving 18848 citations.

Short-term Migration and Consumption Expenditure of Households in Rural India

Abstract: In 2007–2008, short-term migrants (STMs) constituted 4.35% of the rural workforce in India and a total of 9.25 million rural households included STMs. Using nationally representative data for rural India, this paper examines differences in consumption expenditure across households with and without a household member who is a STM. We use an instrumental variable approach to control for the presence of a STM in a household. We find that households with a STM have lower monthly per capita consumption expenditure and monthly per capita food expenditure compared to households without a STM. STMs are not unionised, they work in the unorganised sector, they do not have written job contracts, and state governments are yet to ensure that the legislation protecting them is properly enforced. This could be one of the reasons why we do not observe higher levels of expenditure in households with such migrants.

Impact of ASEAN-India Preferential Trade Agreement on Plantation Commodities: A Simulation Analysis

Abstract: This study analyses the impact of the asean-India Preferential Trade Agreement on plantation commodities – coffee, tea and pepper – using the smart and gravity models. This reveals that the agreement may cause a significant increase in India’s imports of plantation commodities from the asean countries, which is mostly driven by trade creation rather than trade diversion. The proposed tariff reduction may lead to some loss of tariff revenue to the government. However, the gains in consumer surplus outweigh the loss in tariff revenue resulting in a net welfare gain. Simulations based on both the models yield broadly similar results regarding the magnitude of total increase in imports. During the years to come, the plantation sector will have to realign the production structure according to the changing price signals. It is thus important to devise appropriate adjustment assistance schemes for plantation workers who might face displacement.

Board of Directors and Opportunistic Earnings Management: Evidence from India

Abstract: Using a sample of 500 large companies over a two-year period, we examine the impact of board characteristics on opportunistic earnings management in India, a large emerging economy. In addition to board independence, we analyze how characteristics that proxy for the 'quality' of inside and outside directors affect the role of boards in curbing earnings management. Our results indicate that it is not board independence per se, but rather board quality that is important for earnings management. We find that diligent boards are associated with lower earnings management, while boards that have directors with multiple appointments exhibit higher earnings management. With respect to inside directors, our results indicate that chief executive officer (CEO) duality and presence of controlling shareholders on the board increases earnings management. We also find that domestic institutional owners, one of our key control variables, act as a compensating control mechanism to mitigate the detrimental influence of controlling shareholders on earnings management. Our results complement the existing literature by analyzing the role of the board in reducing earnings management in emerging economies such as India, where the structures of business organizations are different from those in developed markets.

The Effect of Family Background on Individual Wages and an Examination of Inequality of Opportunity in India

Abstract: The paper attempts to explore the role of family background in contributing to the overall economic inequality in Indian society. Drawing on the recent work on equality of opportunity, and using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS, 2004–05), paper finds that the opportunity share of inequality in wage earnings in India ranges from 11% to 17% across different age based cohorts. Given the conservative view of what constitutes responsibility, the analysis is likely to identify only the lower bound of opportunity inequality. The paper also calls for redistributive policies favoring those who suffer from inferior circumstances.