5 February 2020: Emerging ICT Policies and Regulations

V. Sridhar
International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore

Moderator
Rajesh Bansal, Carnegie India

Organised by:
Carnegie India

Abstract:
The convergence of various technologies, ubiquity of the Internet, emergence of app economy, and pervasiveness of social media have caused a paradigm shift in the information and community technology (ICT) industry. This poses several policy and regulatory challenges in the areas of industry structure, market power of firms, pricing of products and services, interconnection of networks, radio spectrum management, intellectual property rights, data privacy and security. In his recent book, Emerging ICT Policies and Regulations: Roadmap to Digital Economies, V. Sridhar provides a comprehensive overview of ICT regulation that integrates its complex technology, economics, and policy dimensions. Join us for a discussion with V. Sridhar on the policy and regulatory challenges posed by the expanding digital economy, based on the book.

Date: February 5, 2020
Time: 10:30 A.M.

Venue:
Conference Room,
Carnegie India,5th Floor,
C5, Edenpark,
Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (India)

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29 January 2020: A Glass Half Full: Changes in Indian Standards of Living since 2012

Sonalde Desai,
NCAER & University of Maryland

Discussant:
Partha Mukhopadhyay, Centre for Policy Research,

Abstract:
The National Sample Survey (NSS), the flagship survey providing information on standards of living in India, has recently come under criticism as the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) chose not to release the results of the 2017-18 NSS Consumption Expenditure Survey. The NSSO has noted that the data quality for this survey is unreliable. One of the challenges facing the interpretation of consumption data over this period is the difficulty in disentangling long-term, secular changes in consumption expenditure from the short-term shock caused by the November 2016 demonetisation, which led to a cash shortage and is believed to have adversely affected the incomes of small businesses, informal workers, and others dependent on cash, and therefore their consumption. In her paper, Desai uses data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) to provide an independent assessment of changes in living standards for 4,828 households in the states of Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand during 2011-12 and 2017, and compares these to the changes in living standards between 2004-05 and 2011-12, based also on the IHDS.

Date: January 29, 2020
Time: 02:00 P.M.

Venue:
T1 102, NCAER India Centre,
National Council of Applied Economic Research
Parisila Bhawan, 11, Indraprastha Estate
New Delhi-110002(INDIA)

Note:
For queries, please contact Ms Sudesh Bala at sbala@ncaer.org or on +91-11-2345-2722.

Location:

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5 February 2020: The effects of air pollution on health and productivity

Alex Tabarrok
George Mason University

Moderator:
Prachi Singh, Brookings India

Organised by
Brookings India

Abstract:
Globally, the last two decades have seen a phenomenal increase in the level of air pollution. Air pollution is responsible for 72% of the 9 million deaths per year from all types of pollution. Southeast Asia has the highest number of pollution-related deaths. In this talk, Prof. Tabarrok will present an overview of recent studies on air pollution, emphasising more credible research designs and the wide variety of ways in which it has subtler and worse effects than previously thought.

Date: February 5, 2020
Time: 04:00 P.M.

Venue:
Brookings India
No. 6, Second Floor,
Dr. Jose P. Rizal Marg,
Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi-110021

Note:
Please RSVP amenokee@brookings.edu, and contact zkazmi@brookings.edu for media inquiries.

Location:

23 January 2020: Hikmat - Lectures in Economics on "Corporate Purpose"

Oliver Hart
Harvard University

Organised by:
Ashoka University, Haryana and The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), New York

Date: January 23, 2020
Time: 06:30 P.M.

Venue:
Multipurpose Hall,
Kamladevi Complex,
India International Centre,
40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Location:

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21 January 2020: The Brexit Meltdown: Populism and the Dynamics of Global Decline

David Long
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Organised by
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi

Abstract:
Among the many accounts of the reasons and consequences of Brexit for the United Kingdom, nationalist populism is frequently accorded importance. In this paper, I consider the relationship of the rise of populist discourse to the impact of global decline. While populism is a all-too-obvious recent trend in democratic politics, in a number of contexts – whether the US, Russia or even Turkey – it is associated both materially and ideationally with notions of a glorious past, a less than satisfactory present, and the looming unknown of the future. The paper will unpack the discourse of decline and examine the rhetorical device where the people ‘take back control’ and ‘make great again’, to use but two populist catchphrases.

Date: January 21, 2020
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall, Ground Floor
R&T Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

Location:

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24 January 2020: Intergenerational Mobility in India: Estimates from New Methods and Administrative Data

Sam Asher
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Organised by
The Centre for Development Economics and Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract:
Estimating intergenerational mobility in developing countries is difficult because matched parent-child income records are rarely available and education is measured very coarsely. In particular, there are no established methods for comparing educational mobility for subsamples of the population when the education distribution is changing over time. We resolve these problems using new methods in partial identification and new administrative data, and study intergenerational mobility across groups and across space in India. Intergenerational mobility for the population as a whole has remained constant since liberalization, but cross-group changes have been substantial. Rising mobility among historically marginalized Scheduled Castes is almost exactly offset by declining intergenerational mobility among Muslims, a comparably sized group that has few constitutional protections. These findings contest the conventional wisdom that marginalized groups in India have been catching up on average. We also explore heterogeneity across space, generating the first high-resolution geographic measures of intergenerational mobility across India, with results across 5600 rural subdistricts and 2300 cities and towns. On average, children are most successful at exiting the bottom of the distribution in places that are southern, urban, or have higher average education levels.

Date: January 24, 2020
Time: 03:05 P.M.

Venue:
New Seminar Room no. 116, First Floor
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location:

20 January 2020: Can Hope Elevate Microfinance? Evidence from Oaxaca, Mexico

Travis J Lybbert
University of California, Davis

Organised by
The Centre for Development Economics and Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract:
Recent evidence suggests that the average effects of microfinance on borrowers is more modest than previously claimed. We carry out an experiment to test whether an intervention designed to increase aspirational hope among borrowers can elevate microfinance impacts. In collaboration with a microfinance lender in Mexico, we produced a documentary featuring successful borrowers within the organization and designed and implemented a hope curriculum rooted in positive psychology (Snyder, 1994), which conceptualizes hope as aspirations, agency, and pathways. Bank officers incorporated this curriculum into their regular weekly meetings with a randomly treated half of 52 women’s savings and credit groups with 780 women over the course of one year. We find that the intervention modestly increased indices measuring both aspirational hope and microenterprise performance over this time period. The intervention significantly increased employment and plans to hire new employees. Increases in microenterprise sales and profits were positive but statistically insignificant.

Date: January 20, 2020
Time: 03:05 P.M.

Venue:
New Seminar Room no. 116, First Floor
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location:

23 January 2020: Workshop on “Assessing recent initiatives to promote China studies in India”

Organised by:
Institute of Chinese Studies and India International Centre

Programme

Abstract:
It is well understood that India needs to greatly strengthen its knowledge and understanding of China, particularly in the context of today’s world, through systematic encouragement of China studies in India. However, various assessments conducted of the state of China studies in India agree that we are still greatly lagging behind in this respect. This is in spite of the fact that different stakeholders have undertaken initiatives, particularly in the last 10 to 15 years,to promote or support China studies in India in a variety of ways.

The Institute of Chinese Studiesis engaged in conducting a detailed examination of these recent initiatives. In this connection, it has been in contact with a number of the stakeholders, including government agencies, public and private universities, think tanks, concerned foundations and trusts, as well as institutions abroad. The idea is to come up with an assessment of the problems and shortcomings of China studies in India, and recommendations based on this, that do not merely repeat earlier critiques or confine themselves to generalizations, but that can provide anup-to-date picture of the situation based on the experience of the last few years.

As an integral part of this exercise, the ICS is organizinga one-day workshop in New Delhi on 23 January, 2020. The objective is to enable individuals and representatives of institutions who have been engaged in trying to promote Chinese studies in India to share their experience and their views on what has been achieved so far, what are the challenges that they are facing,and what remains to be done. A direct and frank discussion among the different stakeholders will be of great importance in coming up with a comprehensive and objective assessment of the state of China studies in India at this juncture and recommendations on how to take it forward.

To facilitate maximum discussion, the plan is to have theme-based sessions, in which 4-5 panelists with a moderator will be asked to present their views and in which adequate time will be reserved for interventions from other participants in the workshop. The themes have been chosen based on the inputs received so far from our respondents, and reflect issues of common concern.

Date: January 23, 2019
Time: 09:30 A.M.

Venue:
Conference Room II,
India International Centre,
40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Location:

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20 January 2020: Future Seekers in Aspirational India

Dipankar Gupta

Organised by
Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH)

Abstract:
In this presentation, I would like to begin with some of the major socio-economic trends in urban and rural India in order to set the context for the current aspiration-driven churn in our country. It is necessary to appreciate how extensively the transformation of the rural economy has contributed to urban aspirations. Next, I should like to discuss in sequence the linkages between education, jobs and skills in contemporary India and what constraints young people encounter as they set out to meet their future. There is certainly a lot of promise in the air but there are also apprehensions which are real. At the same time, it should also be clear that earlier explanatory approaches that relied heavily on caste or traditional norms have little traction in understanding social processes that accost us now. Much of the data presented will be from secondary sources, such as the Agricultural Census, the National Census, MSME, the National Sample Survey, the National Census, Manpower Data, India Human Development Report. But through it all, it is actual field experiences that were inspirational points that alerted the speaker to look at macro data sources to understand the magnitude of the issues involved. It is the blending of first hand with secondary data that together will make for the bulk of my talk.

Date: January 20, 2020
Time: 05:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Room (Ground Floor)
Centre for Science and Humanities (CSH),
2, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road,
New Delhi - 110 011

Note:
For registration, RSVP mentioning your full name to be sent to: neeru.gohar@csh-delhi.com. More info: julien.levesque@csh-delhi.com
Due to security protocols, please pre-register over email and carry an ID proof to be granted access to the venue.

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