26 March 2013: Dirty but Comfortable? : Everyday state’s view of waste water in Delhi’s informal settlements

Anna Zimmer
University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Abstract:
Delhi’s informal settlements suffer from lack of access to solid waste and waste water collection infrastructure, resulting in day to day exposure of residents to waste water. This presentation explores the views and attitudes of the everyday state – the government employees and political representatives in frequent interaction with residents – regarding this issue. While these actors have specific insights in the workings of government that make problem solving in informal areas difficult, they also blame inhabitants of informal settlements for the situation to a large extent. Often, it appears as if their view of residents in informal settlements is that “they are comfortable living in a dirty place”! Differences exist however between attitudes towards slums (jugghi-jhompri clusters) and unauthorised colonies. The aim of this presentation therefore is to identify commonalities, but also shed light on the distinct positions of both types of settlements and their residents in the urban fabric.

Date: March 26, 2013
Time: 03:45 P.M.

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

Note:
For further information, please contact: Marie-Hélène Zerah at marie-helene.zerah@ird.fr or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha@cprindia.org

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25 March 2013: Efficacy of Monetary Policy Rules for India

Deepak Mohanty
Reserve Bank of India

Abstract:
In this paper I estimate three alternative forms of Taylor Rule for India. In view of the increasing market orientation of monetary policy with the repo rate emerging as the single policy rate to signal the stance of monetary policy, I leave with the thought whether conditions are appropriate for a move towards a rule based monetary policy in India.

Date: March 25, 2013
Time: 03:15 P.M.

Venue:
Economics Lecture Theatre
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

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21 March 2013: Technological Change and Political Mobilization: Evidence from North India

Nishant Chadha
Shiv Nader University

Abstract:
This paper empirically examines the role played by a technological change in Indian agriculture (adoption of High Yielding Variety [HYV] seeds) in the political mobilization of cultivators in Northern India in 1970s and 1980s. Using panel data from the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) from 1962-1989, I fi nd that the districts that had the largest impact of the green revolution also had the biggest increase in the vote share of the Bhartiya Lok Dal (BLD), a newly formed peasant party. This change is accompanied by a fall in political fractionalization, even as e ffective political competition increased over the period. I hypothesize that technology adoption consolidates rural votes by aligning the policy preferences of previously disparate rural groups. Examination of public good provision shows that an increase in the vote share of the BLD in a district is associated with an increase in the proportion of villages in the district that have a school (at all levels).

Date: March 21, 2013
Time: 03:00 P.M.

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

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11 March 2013: The Identification Problem: Some Solutions and Some Applications

Esther Duflo
MIT

Date: March 11, 2013
Time: 10:00 A.M.

Venue:
Lecture Theatre
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

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5 March 2013: Intellectual Property, Competition Law, and Economic Development - What Balance Works for Developing Countries?

Eleanor Fox
New York University School of Law

Abstract:
All over the world, a “war” has erupted between advocates of strong intellectual property protection and advocates of strong competition law that would trump IP rights and bring more and cheaper medicines, smart phones and tablets to the market. These battles are playing out in commissions and courts in the European Union and the United States. The presentation will explain the patent/antitrust wars and how they are playing out, and will address the question – what principles and perspective will best serve developing countries?

Date: March 5, 2013
Time: 03:00 P.M.

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

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1 March 2013: Can Institutions be Reformed from Within? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment with the Rajasthan Police

Esther Duflo
MIT

Abstract:
Institutions in developing countries, particularly those inherited from the colonial period, are often thought to be subject to strong inertia. This study presents the results of a unique randomized trial testing whether these institutions can be reformed through incremental administrative change. The police department of the state of Rajasthan, India collaborated with researchers at US and Indian universities to design and implement four interventions to improve police performance and the public's perception of the police in 162 police stations (covering over one-fifth of the State's police stations and personnel): (1) placing community observers in police stations; (2) a freeze on transfers of police staff; (3) in -•service training to update skills; and (4) weekly duty rotation with a guaranteed day off per week. These reforms were evaluated using data collected through two rounds of surveys including police interviews, decoy visits to police stations, and a large-scale public opinion and crime victimization survey, the first of its kind in India. The results illustrate that two of the reform interventions, the freeze on transfers and the training, improved police effectiveness and public and crime victims' satisfaction. The decoy visits also led to an improvement in police performance. The other reforms showed no robust effects. This may be due to constraints on local implementation: the three successful interventions did not require the sustained cooperation of the communities or the local authorities (the station heads) and they were robustly implemented throughout the project. In contrast, the two unsuccessful interventions, which required local implementation, were not systematically implemented.

Date: March 1, 2013
Time: 11:30 A.M.

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

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28 February 2013: Common Tongue: The Impact of Language on Educational Outcomes

Tarun Jain
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad

Abstract:
This paper investigates the impact of official language policies on educational outcomes using state formation in India. Colonial-era province formation led to the assignment of some districts where the district’s language was the same as the official language of the province and some where it was not. The difference in educational achievement is large between these two areas. Linguistically mismatched districts have 18.8% lower literacy rates and 27.6% lower college graduation rates in post-colonial census. The paper uses the 1956 reorganization of Indian states on linguistic lines as a natural experiment to estimate the impact of changing the official language on educational outcomes. Historically mismatched districts experience greater growth in educational achievement after reorganization relative to districts that spoke the official language before 1956. These results suggest that political reorganisation can mitigate the impact of mismatched language policies.

Date: February 28, 2013
Time: 03:00 P.M.

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

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