3 October 2019: Lecture on "Innovation and policy in the Energy Revolution: some insights from Europe"

Michael Grubb
University College London

Organised by:
STIP Forum - Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA), Vigyan Prasar and India Habitat Centre (IHC)

Date: October 3, 2019
Time: 07:00 P.M.

Venue:
Causrina Hall
India Habitat Centre
Lodhi Road
New Delhi-110003 (INDIA)
(Entry from Gate No. 3)

Note:
RSVP: Mr. Tish Malhotra/Mr. N. N. Krishnan, Tel.: 011-24682176, 011-24682184 Email: dgoffice@ris.org.in

Location:

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27 September 2019: Talk on 'State Capacity for Cities: Staffing and Cadre Restructuring in Madhya Pradesh Municipalities'

Neelesh Dubey
Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
In the past eighteen years, starting in 1991 and linked to the Indian economic challenges of the time, there has been a broadly declining trend in government employment. Government departments are discouraged from creating new posts and have been expected to shed some of their operational costs by voluntary retirement, attrition (not hiring against posts vacated when incumbents retire), and by contracting out some of their functions.

However, the roles and functions of government continue to change and evolve, sometimes requiring increases and restructuring of staff. In the case of municipalities in Madhya Pradesh, this was felt to be necessary in light of the expanding profile, roles and responsibilities of municipalities in the state over the past decade.

During this period, the national JNNURM programme set a context in which municipalities could take some responsibility for planning their infrastructure needs in a socio-economic context, and secure funds to implement these projects. The programme also made state governments and municipalities commit to a set of institutional reforms which were largely to be implemented by the municipalities. Around the same time, the state government of Madhya Pradesh entered into a few large donor and multilateral funded infrastructure and governance improvement programmes, which were largely to be implemented at the city level by municipalities. The functional profile of the Madhya Pradesh municipalities also expanded, partly as a result of these programmes, to cover drinking water, urban poverty, housing and transport.

And yet, for much of this time, there was minimal change in municipal staffing. The staffing structure of municipalities is based on a structure that is approved by the state government, and any additional changes have to be approved by it. Upper-level posts are filled by the state, often by officers on deputation from other cadres or from state service employees, whereas the municipality recruits lower-level staff locally. This system has many problems, most importantly that municipalities fall short of skills, expertise and people in many critical areas.

In this context, the government of Madhya Pradesh undertook a comprehensive municipal cadre and staffing reform which has been partly implemented by the state and is the subject of this talk.

Date: September 27, 2019
Time: 12:00-1:30 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall
Centre for Policy Research,
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi–110021(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

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27 September 2019: Women's labor force participation and household technology adoption

Tarun Jain
IIM Ahmedabad

Organised by
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Delhi Center

Abstract:
We examine how women's employment leads to household technology adoption in the context of mid-century United States. We posit a non-monotonic relationship between women's education and household technology adoption, with middle education households purchasing appliances and high education households hiring domestic workers. Using WWII factories and draft rates as instruments for female labor demand, we find that a standard deviation increase in female labor force participation increases washing machine ownership by 0.413 standard deviations. Substitution of employed domestic labor with appliances is an important channel.

Date: September 27, 2019
Time: 11:30 A.M.

Venue:
Seminar 2
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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25 September 2019: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China

Clément Imbert
University of Warwick

Organised by
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Delhi Center

Abstract:
How does rural-urban migration shape urban production in developing countries? We use longitudinal data on Chinese manufacturing firms between 2001 and 2006, and exploit exogenous variation in rural-urban migration induced by agricultural price shocks for identification. We find that, when immigration increases, manufacturing production becomes more labor-intensive in the short run. In the longer run, firms innovate less, move away from capital-intensive technologies, and adopt final products that use low-skilled labor more intensively. We develop a model with endogenous technological choice, which rationalizes these findings, and we estimate the effect of migration on factor productivity and factor allocation across firms.

Date: September 25, 2019
Time: 03:30 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar 2
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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19 September 2019: General Equilibrium Impacts in Imperfect Agricultural Markets: Evidence from the Tanzanian Cotton Industry

Anubhab Gupta
University of California, Davis

Abstract:
This paper evaluates the general equilibrium effects of agricultural market structures by examining how market power of downstream intermediaries shape the economy-wide impacts of technological improvements in agriculture. Economic impact evaluations in developing countries usually do not include spillovers, and they do not explicitly consider market power. Using industry and original survey data from the Western Cotton Growing Area of Tanzania, I construct an index of oligopsony power of cotton ginners in their cotton purchase, and non-parametrically estimate the index as 0.28. A parametrized general equilibrium model of a cotton producing local economy using micro-household data shows that a technological improvement in cotton production has significant spillover benefits for households not directly involved in cotton production. Intermediary market power of downstream cotton ginners not only mitigates the direct benefits for poor cotton-producing households but also significantly diminishes the indirect benefits for non-cotton-producing households. The direct income increases of technology improvement for the cotton producers are reduced by 2.2 to 5.6 percentage points, and the indirect income increases for the non-cotton producing households are reduced by 0.5 to 0.8 percentage points. A realistic analysis of policies aimed at raising welfare in rural economies must consider effects of market power. Taking agricultural market structure into account opens up new policy considerations and opportunities, including the benefits of laws limiting or proscribing anticompetitive behavior to prevent formation of mergers and coalitions downstream from farms.

Date: September 19, 2019
Time: 03:05 P.M.

Venue:
Amex Room (Second Floor)
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location: