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All BRICS countries suffer from gender inequality in different dimensions. Three of the BRICS countries—India, China, and Russia—have highly skewed sex ratios, while the other two—Brazil and South Africa—do not have the problem of skewed sex ratios. Highly skewed sex ratios have major economic and social consequences, as indeed have gender inequalities in other dimensions. A comparative perspective on these inequalities is provided in this chapter. Within BRICS, India probably has most to gain by reducing such inequalities. Equally, Russia stands to gain most by changing the gender order that estranges men from most family spheres.

This study analyzes the effects of socio-economic factors on the real wage rates for male workers in India over the period 1983–2010. In particular, we examine the role of human capital by estimating the Mincerian wage equation. We construct a regional level pseudo-panel data set for our analysis. Our findings show that while the return to primary education is remarkably high, the returns to other, higher, levels of education are equally remarkably low for all of India taken together, becoming progressively so as the level of education increases. These findings are in contradistinction to those of the other studies on returns to education in India, all of which, however, have relied on cross-sectional data for their analyses. We also find relatively little effects of caste, tribe and religion on real wage rates in India, suggesting that these factors may not be as important as is sometimes believed.

The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sectoral migration, agriculture-industry relationship, wages in different sectors, and income distribution in an inter-connected way in the context of optimal development of an economy with an informal sector.

Some results in growth theory based on the Cobb-Douglas production function model are generalized when the production function is chosen to be the Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function. Such a generalization is of considerable interest because it is known that the Cobb-Douglas function cannot be used as a suitable model for some production technologies (like the US economy and climate changes). It is shown that in the steady state the growth rate of the output is equal to the Solow residual and that the capital deepening term becomes zero. The CES function is a homogeneous function of degree two and a result is obtained on the wage of a worker using the Euler’s theorem.

This paper examines the role of caste, tribe, and religion in determining energy inequality in India. We provide evidence by using the National Sample Survey Organisation data from the 68th round (2011–12) of 87,753 households. We estimate the inequalities in access to Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and electricity usage by the households belonging to the three major disadvantaged groups in India, viz., the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, and the Muslims. The results of our empirical analysis suggest that, after controlling for the determinants which impinge on the households’ microeconomic demand and regional supply characteristics, the households belonging to the scheduled tribe and scheduled caste communities do have significantly poorer access to LPG and electricity usage as compared to the upper caste households. The decomposition analysis of average differences in the predicted outcomes shows that it is the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households who would appear to face most discrimination. The Muslim households too face significant inequality in accessing LPG. Policy implications of the findings are considered. Postprint

The aim of this article is to study inequality and deprivations as reflected in the human sex ratio (commonly defined as the number of males per 100 females). The particular focus is on three emerging economies – Russia, India and China. The article compares and contrasts the experiences of these countries and discusses policy issues. It is noted that while the feminist perspective on the issues surrounding the sex ratio is important, it would be wrong to view these issues always or exclusively through the prism of that perspective. It is also suggested that India and China probably have better prospects of sustained economic growth in the foreseeable future than does Russia.

This article highlights certain facts about the sex ratio (the number of females per thousand males) of the population in some Indian states, especially in the north-east of the country. The states in the north-east are ethnically, linguistically and culturally very distinct from the other states of India. We note that while female children survive better in this region than elsewhere in India, women in the older age group seem to fare worse than men in these states. Some hypotheses are offered to explain sex ratios in these states.

This paper measures the degree of inequality in child mortality rates across districts in India, using data from the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Indian population censuses. The results show that child mortality is more concentrated in less developed districts in all three census years. Further, between 1981 and 2001, the inequality in child mortality seems to have increased to the advantage of the more developed districts (i.e., there was an increasing concentration of child mortality in less developed districts). However, the inequality in female child mortality rates seems to have declined between 1991 and 2001, even as it increased – albeit at a slower rate than before – for male child mortality rates. In the decomposition analysis, it is found that while a more equitable distribution of medical facilities and safe drinking water across districts did contribute towards reducing inequality in child mortality between 1981 and 1991, different levels of structural change among districts were responsible for a very large part of the inequality in child mortality to the advantage of the more developed districts in all three census years. Other variables which played important roles in increasing inequality included a measure of infrastructure development, female literacy, and a social group status variable. The paper concludes with some brief comments on the policy implications of the findings.

The paper addresses the question of optimal development of a developing economy. The framework presented, it is believed, can be of help in thinking about policies relating, inter alia, to population growth, inter-sectoral migration, agriculture-industry relationship, wages in different sectors, and income distribution in an inter-connected way in the context of optimal development of an economy with an informal sector.

This paper reports additional results to those presented in an accompanying paper that set out a framework for thinking about optimal development of a developing economy with an informal sector.

This paper studies the socio-economic determinants of access to cleaner cooking fuels and electricity by households in seven north Indian states in a multivariate framework. Together these states account for about 40 per cent of India’s population. We investigate, in particular, the role of any possible discrimination against the three major disadvantaged groups in the country – viz., the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and Muslims – in their accessing these goods. The results of our analysis suggest that discrimination against these groups, particularly against the Muslim households, does play an important role in their poorer access to both cleaner cooking fuels and electricity. The paper concludes with some policy suggestions.

The paper examines the determinants of the child and juvenile sex ratios in India in a multivariate framework, using district level data from the 1981, 1991, and 2001 Indian population censuses. The results strongly suggest that there are deep rooted cultural factors at play in the determination of the sex ratios at birth and at early ages, cultural factors that are not much responsive to the enhancement of women's agency or to economic development. However, the results also show that the behaviour of the juvenile sex ratio does respond to the enhancement of women's agency and to economic development. Policy implications of these findings are considered.

This paper provides a test—using an India data set—of both the Todaro-type probabilistic models of migration and a distinctly different view of the labour migration process which sees the rural–urban migration flow as consisting of two distinct streams, with separate incentives—one group migrating to the informal sector where wages are competitively determined and the other group to the formal sector with jobs mostly prearranged (and with rural–urban migration not contributing to an increase in unemployment in any meaningful sense). The policy implications of this alternative view of the labour migration process are clearly substantially different from those derived from the Todaro and the Harris–Todaro-type models. The evidence presented in this paper are seen to support this alternative view. The paper also considers the role of the social factors in migration decisions and examines the extent to which the variables which explain the migration for employment also explain the migration behaviour of those who gave various reasons other than employment for migration. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper first sets out a model of a less developed country (LDC), then shows how, with minor modifications, this model can be changed to become a model of a developed country (DC) consisting of a primary and a secondary sector. Open economy features are then introduced into both the DC and LDC models. The aim is to highlight the role of the Informal sector in both developed and less developed countries and show how changes in the world economy might impinge on the Informal sector in our DC and LDC differently. It is also hoped that the development of different models in the paper may be of some pedagogical use.

This paper examines some of the determinants of rural-to-rural migration in India. For female migration for marriage which accounted for nearly a half of the total rural-to-rural migration flow during the 1970s the results of the paper are not in discordance with the view of patrilocal exogamy as an insurance mechanism. However we also find indirect support for the view that where womens economic contributions are seen to be valuable in the context of the family and the village economy the outmigration of women for the purpose of marriage would ceteris paribus be lower. For migration for purposes other than marriage the scheduled caste status is seen to have an effect independent of its indirect effect on poverty. However with the exception of migration for the purpose of marriage we do not find the influences of our explanatory variables to differ greatly across gender. (authors)

This paper introduces dynamics and migration into a three-sector general equilibrium model of LDC which systematically incorporates an Informal sector and provides a framework alternative to the Harris–Todaro-type framework. The results of the paper underscore the dynamic nature of the Informal sector and suggest that the ranking of policies to improve welfare would be considerably different in this model compared to those in the Harris–Todaro-type models. It is also argued that the framework developed here can be extended to explore a number of other issues in the context of development. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This note sketches out the likely effects of a wage subsidy in a model of LDC which systematically incorporates an Informal sector. It is seen that the effects of a wage subsidy in this model differ considerably from those derived in the Harris‐Todaro‐type frameworks. Also, the ranking policies to improve welfare is likely to be considerably different in this model compared to this in the Harris‐Todaro‐type models.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the role of the informal sector in the Indian economy. The paper notes that in occupational distribution in India, particularly during the 1970s, it is the informal sector (I-sector) which accounted for most of the increase in non-agricultural employment and that this growth of I-sector employment occurred not only in activities traditionally thought to be associated with the I-sector expansion (such as trade, construction and services) but also importantly in manufacturing, and there is a strong presumption that the manufacturing segment of the informal sector expanded faster than its services segment. Evidence further suggests that the I-sector was not a passive absorber of labour but a dynamic sector responding successfully to changing demand in the economy and contributing significantly to income and output. The paper also offers a hypothesis that, simultaneously with these changes in economic structure, there is likely to have occurred a change in the composition of rural-urban migrants with the share of those who go to the informal sector and have only informal sector jobs as their targets (usually members of the poorer households in the rural areas) increasing and that of those who go to the formal sector (usually well-educated members of the relatively well-to-do land-owning families in the rural areas) declining; further, migration by the members of the poorer rural households is likely to have increased not because their rural income declined but because the informal sector income increased.

Reviews the literature on economic development and discusses the growth performance of developing countries over the last 40 years. Comments on the relationship between agriculture and industry and considers the relationship between state, development strategies and international trade. Reviews concerns regarding non‐renewable resources and environmental degradation in the context of growth. Discusses changes in world economy brought about by less developed countries transforming into newly industrializing countries, highlighting mechanisms for the relative rise and decline of nations in the world economy.

This paper develops a model of LDC that systematically incorporates an informal sector. The implications of the model presented in this paper, in particular, are seen to be directly opposed to the fundamental implications of the Lewis-type models. The model also questions the conventional wisdom that decreases in the formal-sector minimum wage and increases in the maximum size of firm above which this minimum is enforced will help workers in the informal sector, the essential argument being that these policies may have adverse terms-of-trade effects on the informal sector that offset their favorable labor-market effects. Copyright 1994 by Scottish Economic Society.

This paper provides a review of the theoretical literature on rural–urban migration in contemporary LDCs. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the Lewis model before going on to discuss the Todaro and the Harris–Todaro models and the large literature which these models have spawned. The question of job search in the context of migration and the role of family members in migration decisions are considered next. The paper then takes a closer look at the Informal sector and also sets out alternative migration functions to the ones usually employed in the literature. The paper concludes with a brief note on some of the important implications arising from our study.

The purpose of this note is to highlight certain facts about the sex ratio (the number of females per thousand males) of the population in some Indian states, especially those in the northeast of the country. The states in the northeast are ethnically, linguistically and culturally very distinct from the other states of India. We note that while female children survive better in the northeastern states than elsewhere in India, in older ages women seem to fare worse than men in these states. The sex ratio of the population in the age group birth to 6 years in the northeastern states is among the highest in the country, but that of the population in the age group 60 years and above is among the lowest. Some explanations are offered for the observed behaviour of the sex ratios in these states.

This paper examines the determinants of fertility, child mortality and female disadvantage in child survival in India, using a district-level panel data set linking 1981 and 1991 censuses. The results of the paper, inter alia, question the dominant view in this area which asserts that it is variables directly relating to women’s agency (specifically, the female literacy rate and the female labour-force participation rate) which have played the crucial roles here. Instead, it is variables reflecting the general level of development and modernisation which are seen to have had the greatest impact in reducing fertility and child mortality during the period of the study. So far as the female disadvantage in child survival is concerned, while both economic development and women’s agency variables are seen to have had significant effects in reducing this disadvantage, the results also suggest that with continued economic development, the two women’s agency variables lose their relative significance in influencing this disadvantage. The paper also finds that the "cultural" bias which results in female disadvantage in child survival operates most strongly against female children between the ages of 1 and 2. There has been a change here over time, with discrimination against older female children declining and that against the female children between ages of 1 and 2 increasing. The paper concludes with some brief comments on the policy implications of the findings.