30 January 2014: Universal Pensions in the US: Economic Security, Fiscal Challenges and Possible Lessons for India

Kenneth S. Apfel
University of Maryland & NCAER

Abstract:
Over the course of the past 75 years, the United States instituted a well-developed multi-tiered retirement security system. The anchor of the US system is Social Security – a program that provides universal lifetime benefits to nearly all older Americans. All of the tiers of the US retirement system are currently facing serious challenges.

Will the US system be in a position to continue to provide basic income adequacy for older persons? Is the US retirement system affordable in the 21st Century? And are there lessons that can be learned from the US experience, as India develops its own pension policies for the 21st Century? In his presentation, Professor Apfel will:

1)Examine the extent that demographic and economic changes have placed pressures on Social Security benefit programs, private pensions and individual retirement savings,
2)Make recommendations for future US policy changes and
3)Identify the key issues that need to be addressed by any effective national retirement system.

Date: January 30, 2014
Time: 03:30 P.M.

Venue:
NCAER Conference Room
National Council of Applied Economic Research
Parisila Bhawan, 11, Indraprastha Estate
New Delhi-110002(INDIA)

Location:

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Note:
Please join us for tea after the seminar. For queries, please contact Ms Sudesh Bala at sbala@ncaer.org or on 011-2345-2669.

23 January 2014: Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households

Nachiket Mor

Abstract:
The RBI Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households was chaired by Dr. Nachiket Mor. At its core, the Committee makes the case for an approach that moves away from an exclusive focus on any one model linked to existing banks to one where new entrants are permitted and multiple models and partnerships are allowed to emerge, particularly between national full-service banks, regional banks of various types, non-bank finance companies, and financial markets. It recommends that every resident should be issued an Electronic Bank Account almost automatically at the time of receiving their Aadhaar number so that at least on this front it becomes possible to aspire for near universality over the next two years as the Aadhaar process completes its task.

The Committee recommends that the RBI more rapidly license, with lowered entry barriers but otherwise equivalent treatment, more functionally focussed banks such as Payments Banks, Wholesale Consumer Banks, and Wholesale Investment Banks. These new bank types are the next logical steps in the transformation of existing PPIs (such as Airtel Money) and NBFCs, respectively. The Committee also recommends that the existing Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms be applied in a such a what that they allow and incentivise providers to specialise in one or more sectors of the economy and regions of the country, rather than requiring each and every bank to enter all the segments, while ensuring that the banking system a whole delivers on the full PSL requirements. On customer protection, the Committee proposes a shift in the current approach to one that places greater onus on the financial services provider to provide suitable products and services.

Date: January 23, 2014
Time: 04:00 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 2014: The Economic Impacts of Temperature on Industrial Productivity: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

Anant Sudarshan
Harvard University

Abstract:
An issue of critical importance in climate and development policy involves understanding the economic impact of changes in surface temperatures. Most of what we know about the impacts of climate change is restricted to evidence on agriculture, human health and natural disasters. This paper suggests that surface temperatures might influence economic output more broadly through their impact on worker productivity. We provide empirical evidence in support of this hypothesis in the context of manufacturing sector output in India. We exploit a national level dataset of individual manufacturing plants in India to show that (i) plant level manufacturing output responds negatively to high temperatures; (ii) the magnitude of losses is economically significant (of the order of 2 percent of daily output per degree celsius); (iii) output response is non-linear in temperature and primarily associated with high temperature days and (iv) temperature response is greatest in plants where the worker value-added is high. This response pattern agrees with the physiological response of human beings to temperature documented from heat stress studies in the lab. We strengthen our conclusions by also directly collecting daily worker productivity measures from selected case study sites. Our results suggest that integrated assessment models may underestimate the global economic costs of climate change by neglecting to account for reduced worker productivity during high temperatures.

Date: January 24, 2014
Time: 11:30 A.M.

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

Location:

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24 January 2014: Indian Mujahideen: Computational Analysis and Public Policy

V. S. Subrahmanian
University of Maryland, USA

Abstract:
In his talk entitled Indian Mujahideen: Computational Analysis and Public Policy, Prof Subrahmanian will provide a glimpse of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) from its inception to the present day. Using a data set on 770 variables describing both IM’s environment and their attacks over the years, he will describe how data mining has helped discover conditions that can predict future IM attacks. He will indicate how the data also naturally leads to a possible policy to help rein in future attacks by IM. Though many challenges remain, he will suggest some ways in which this policy may be implemented on the ground.

Date: January 24, 2014
Time: 05:30 P.M.

Venue:
WWF Auditorium,
172-B, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi - 110003(INDIA)

Location:

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17 January 2013: Sanitation and externalities in Delhi slums - an empirical investigation

Jeffrey Hammer
Princeton University

Abstract:
This paper presents geographically based data from a study of four unrecognized slums in Delhi. It establishes a correlation of environmental conditions with the incidence of gastro-intestinal disease. One is directly related to public infrastructure and one to peoples open defecation practices, both raising clear problems of externalities. Problems of sampling for measuring geographic external effects are discussed as are comparisons of public good provision with alternative policy proposals that focus on private goods.

Date: January 17, 2013
Time: 11:30 A.M.

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

Location:

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14 January 2013: The State of Local Governments & Delivery of Public Services in India

Rani D. Mullen
Centre for Policy Research & College of William & Mary, USA.
Mani Shankar Aiyar
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

Abstract:
Dr. Mullen will present on the recently published paperback version of her bookDecentralization, Local Governance, and Social Wellbeing in India (Routledge India, 2014) & Mr.Aiyar will presenton the recently published 20th Anniversary Report of the Expert Committee on Leveraging Panchayats for Efficient Delivery of Public Goods& Services. Their talk will focus on the state of decentralization among India’s states, progress on local governments’ delivery of socio-economic development programs, and barriers to effective functioning of Panchayats.

Date: January 14, 2013
Time: 03:00 P.M.

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

Location:

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15 January 2014: Bharat Ram Memorial Seminar on Banker’s New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to do About it

Martin Hellwig
Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Germany

Organised by:
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) jointly with
Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations, Human Resources, Economic & Social Development (SRC)

Date: January 15, 2014
Time: 10:00 A.M.

Venue:
FICCI,
Federation House,
Tansen Marg,
New Delhi-110001(INDIA)

Location:

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