Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata

About: Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 64 authors who have published 165 publications receiving 1662 citations.

Social class related inequalities in household health expenditure and economic burden: evidence from Kerala, south India

Abstract: In the Indian context, a household's caste characteristics are most relevant for identifying its poverty and vulnerability status. Inadequate provision of public health care, the near-absence of health insurance and increasing dependence on the private health sector have impoverished the poor and the marginalised, especially the scheduled tribe population. This study examines caste-based inequalities in households' out-of-pocket health expenditure in the south Indian state of Kerala and provides evidence on the consequent financial burden inflicted upon households in different caste groups. Using data from a 2003-2004 panel survey in Kottathara Panchayat that collected detailed information on health care consumption from 543 households, we analysed inequality in per capita out-of-pocket health expenditure across castes by considering households' health care needs and types of care utilised. We used multivariate regression to measure the caste-based inequality in health expenditure. To assess health expenditure burden, we analysed households incurring high health expenses and their sources of finance for meeting health expenses. The per capita health expenditures reported by four caste groups accord with their status in the caste hierarchy. This was confirmed by multivariate analysis after controlling for health care needs and influential confounders. Households with high health care needs are more disadvantaged in terms of spending on health care. Households with high health care needs are generally at higher risk of spending heavily on health care. Hospitalisation expenditure was found to have the most impoverishing impacts, especially on backward caste households. Caste-based inequality in household health expenditure reflects unequal access to quality health care by different caste groups. Households with high health care needs and chronic health care needs are most affected by this inequality. Households in the most marginalised castes and with high health care need require protection against impoverishing health expenditures. Special emphasis must be given to funding hospitalisation, as this expenditure puts households most at risk in terms of mobilising monetary resources. However, designing protection instruments requires deeper understanding of how the uncovered financial burden of out-patient and hospitalisation expenditure creates negative consequences and of the relative magnitude of this burden on households.

Does Financial Development Cause Economic Growth? The Case of India

Abstract: This article examines whether financial development has ‘caused’ economic growth in India since 1996. The dynamic interactions between the growth of real Gross Domestic Product and indicators of fi...

Financial Development and Economic Growth in India An Analysis of the Post-reform Period

Abstract: This article examines the impact of the developments in the financial sector on economic growth in India in the post-reform period. The model of Mankiw et al. (1992) was extended to establish a relationship between financial development and economic growth. The model was then estimated using quarterly data for the period 1993 to 2005 for India, using the techniques of cointegration and vector error correction method. Cointegration results show that capital–output ratio and rate of growth of human capital have positive effects on real rate of growth of GDP, irrespective of the indicator of stock market development. An increase in the market capitalization dampens economic growth, whereas turnover has no significant effect, and an increase in the money market rate of interest has a positive effect on economic growth. Real wealth, debt burden, real effective exchange rate and the rate of growth of labour have negative effects. Vector error correction method shows that the ECM term relating to market capitali...