Water scarcity and livelihoods in Bihar and West Bengal, India
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of water scarcity on livelihood patterns of rural households in three districts of Bihar and West Bengal was analyzed through a cross-sectional survey of 1600 households, and the authors found signific...
Abstract: Through a cross-sectional survey of 1600 households, we analyse the impact of water scarcity on livelihood patterns of rural households in three districts of Bihar and West Bengal. We find signific...
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated social adaptive capacity and the relationship to ecological conditions in 29 small-scale fishing communities in Madagascar and Kenya in the Western Indian Ocean, and found that isolation from a market and climate stress had a significant negative relationship with social adaptive capacities, while a higher level of education and the presence of market traders (middlemen) had a positive relationship.
17 citations
TL;DR: Water marginality in rural and peri-urban areas in South Africa was investigated in this article, where the authors provided valuable insights on how, and why, water marginality occurs, and proposed strategies for sustainable solutions.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a nation-wide appraisal of eco-environmental and socioeconomic ramifications of subsidizing farm-power services in India, to highlight future requirements to conserve groundwater reserves so as to ensure sustainable irrigation supply services.
10 citations
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed village-level water management plans against extreme climatic events with a case study approach in semi-arid villages of Nashik district in Maharashtra state of India, where water scarcity issues are deepened by the limited surface water storage capacities against high rainfall, mismanagement of available water resources, and inadequate groundwater potential to support primary livelihood prospects in the villages.
Abstract: Remote villages of the Sahyadri region in the Maharashtra state of India are witnessing water scarcity issues regarding drinking and irrigation. Issues are deepened by the limited surface water storage capacities against high rainfall, mismanagement of available water resources, and inadequate groundwater potential to support primary livelihood prospects in the villages. To combat this, the study developed village-level water management plans against extreme climatic events with a case study approach in semi-arid villages of Nashik district in Maharashtra state of India. Hydrological components were scientifically investigated over the five land-use classifications viz., agriculture (having 78% land area), hills (16%), water bodies (3%), built-up (1.5%), and forest (1.5%). Results indicated a sharp decline in water availability across check dams from the South-West monsoon season (storage volume attaining 567.2 thousand cubic meters (TCM) between June and September) to the following summer (0.2 TCM between March and May). Despite receiving high rainfall, (~2000 mm annually), water scarcity issues persisted accounting for outflows (in terms of evaporation, evapotranspiration, and surface runoff) as high as 94% during South-West monsoon to 64% during post-monsoon. Consequently, events of flash floods remained rampant during the South-West monsoon followed by hydrological drought (from January to May). The study concluded that preparing seasonal water budget projections could better examine the temporal variations of the various hydrological components, surface water storage capacities, and water management provisions. Such strategies may increase awareness among land and water resource managers, policy-makers, and politicians to formulate region-specific water management and security plans.
9 citations
TL;DR: The authors show that rational, tax surveillance-minded individuals express greater support for welfare spending than uncivic ones when tax surveillance is tight, and provide empirical evidence of these preferences using data from Italy, a country that has long posed a puzzle for public economists.
Abstract: We model how the interplay between tax surveillance institutions and civic capital shapes taxpayers' support for welfare state. We show that, when tax surveillance is tight, rational civic-minded individuals express greater support for welfare spending than uncivic ones. We provide empirical evidence of these preferences using data from Italy, a country that has long posed a puzzle for public economists for its limited civic capital and large welfare state.
9 citations
References
More filters
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for causal inference in settings where assignment to a binary treatment is ignorable, but compliance with the assignment is not perfect so that the receipt of treatment is nonignorable.
4,129 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that the instrumental variables (IV) estimand can be embedded within the Rubin Causal Model (RCM) and that under some simple and easily interpretable assumptions, the IV estimand is the average causal effect for a subgroup of units, the compliers.
Abstract: We outline a framework for causal inference in settings where assignment to a binary treatment is ignorable, but compliance with the assignment is not perfect so that the receipt of treatment is nonignorable. To address the problems associated with comparing subjects by the ignorable assignment—an “intention-to-treat analysis”—we make use of instrumental variables, which have long been used by economists in the context of regression models with constant treatment effects. We show that the instrumental variables (IV) estimand can be embedded within the Rubin Causal Model (RCM) and that under some simple and easily interpretable assumptions, the IV estimand is the average causal effect for a subgroup of units, the compliers. Without these assumptions, the IV estimand is simply the ratio of intention-to-treat causal estimands with no interpretation as an average causal effect. The advantages of embedding the IV approach in the RCM are that it clarifies the nature of critical assumptions needed for a...
3,978 citations
TL;DR: In the last two decades, much research has been done on the econometric and statistical analysis of such causal effects as discussed by the authors, which has reached a level of maturity that makes it an important tool in many areas of empirical research in economics, including labor economics, public finance, development economics, industrial organization, and other areas in empirical microeconomics.
Abstract: Many empirical questions in economics and other social sciences depend on causal effects of programs or policies. In the last two decades, much research has been done on the econometric and statistical analysis of such causal effects. This recent theoreti- cal literature has built on, and combined features of, earlier work in both the statistics and econometrics literatures. It has by now reached a level of maturity that makes it an important tool in many areas of empirical research in economics, including labor economics, public finance, development economics, industrial organization, and other areas of empirical microeconomics. In this review, we discuss some of the recent developments. We focus primarily on practical issues for empirical research- ers, as well as provide a historical overview of the area and give references to more technical research.
3,175 citations
TL;DR: It is found that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year, and nearly half of those people live in India and China.
Abstract: Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare.
2,944 citations
"Water scarcity and livelihoods in B..." refers background in this paper
...Nearly 4 billion individuals across the world currently experience severe water scarcity (Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2016)....
[...]
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The most important developments in econometrics in the past ten years have occurred in the area of qualitative response (QR) models as discussed by the authors, and there are two factors which explain the recent upsurge of QR models in economic applications: 1) Economists deal with many variables, thus necessitating the need to formulate more complex models involving more than one discrete variable and more than two responses, as well as using more independent variables.
Abstract: One of the most important developments in econometrics in the past ten years has occurred in the area of qualitative response (QR) models. There are two factors which explain the recent upsurge of QR models in economic applications: 1) Economists deal with many variables, thus necessitating the need to formulate more complex models involving more than one discrete variable and more than two responses, as well as using more independent variables. The estimation of such complex QR models has only recently been made possible by the development of advanced computer technology. 2) An increasingly large number of sample surveys have been recently conducted and their results made readily available on magnetic tapes. This paper will present the basic facts about QR models. It starts with the discussion of the simplest model - the model for a univariate dichotomous dependent variable, and then moves on to multi-response models. The following three problems are discussed: 1) how to specify a model which is consistent with economic theory and which is at the same time statistically manageable; 2) how to estimate and test hypotheses on the parameters of a model; and 3) what criteria to use for choosing among competing models.
1,995 citations
"Water scarcity and livelihoods in B..." refers background in this paper
...Predicting take-up of livelihood profiles The Probit equation can be written as (Amemiya, 1981):...
[...]
...The Probit equation can be written as (Amemiya, 1981): where, Tji = binary variable for representing livelihood profile i for the jth household T∗ji = latent variable representing Tji that defines take-up of a livelihood profile i by the household j (i.e. Tji = 1 if T ∗ ji > 0 and Tji = 0…...
[...]