20 June 2013: The Role of Insurance Companies in Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Way Ahead to Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

Anthony Jacob
Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company Limited

Date: June 20, 2013
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
GIZ Conference Room,
21, Jor Bagh,
New Delhi 110 003(INDIA)

Note:
Please confirm your participation to Suchitrita Bhattacharya at igssp@giz.de until 19th June 2013.

21 June 2013: Trade Hyperglobalization and its Future?

Arvind Subramanian
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and Center for Global Development (CGD)

Abstract:
The paper documents a number of key features about the trade since the mid-1990s including hyperglobalization, the dematerialization of globalization, reflected in the growing importance of services trade, the democratization of globalization, whereby openness has been embraced widely, criss-crossing globalization (the similarity of North-to-South trade and investment flows with flows in the other direction), the rise of a mega-trader (China), and the proliferation of regional trade agreements and the imminence of mega-regional ones. It discusses the proximate and deeper challenges confronting the trading system in this regard, outlines the kind of cooperation that will be required to sustaining globalization, and the role that India needs to play in this regard.

Date: June 21, 2013
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
ICRIER Conference Room,
Core 6A, 4th Floor,
India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road,
New Delhi – 110 003(INDIA)

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5 June 2013: Is India Hedged Against Systemic Risk?

Gurbachan Singh
Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi

Abstract:
India has large twin deficits, high prices of some real assets, and (less talked about) fragile financial interdependence between banks and the government. These are all ingredients of systemic risk. However, India so far has had a reasonably good record of avoiding financial crises. This is due to five mitigating factors: (a) financial repression in banks, (b) unanticipated jumps in the inflation rate, (c) somewhat regular bailouts, (d) misplaced confidence, and (e) good GDP growth. The first three factors have persistent and arguably high costs. The fourth factor is not a reliable “hedge” against systemic risk. Finally, growth can camouflage the problem, but is not a structural solution. The paper suggests the need to reduce vulnerabilities and the role of costly or unreliable mitigating factors. It suggests a set of consistent and far reaching policies that are long-term in nature.

Date: June 5, 2013
Time: 03:30 P.M.

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

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21 May 2013: Drivers of India's Monetary Policy

Urjit R. Patel, Deputy Governor
Reserve Bank of India

Date: May 21, 2013
Time: 12:30 P.M.

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

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6 May 2013: Growth Challenges facing Policymakers Today

Danny Leipziger
George Washington University

Abstract:
The policy environment within which countries are currently operating is a constrained one with joblessness and low growth pervading the advanced economies. The challenges of generating growth among emerging and developing countries are thus different than in the past. This has led many to suggest changing growth paradigms and a revised view on the role of the government. Danny Leipziger will share his perspectives on the policy challenges that countries are facing and the difficulties of avoiding the middle income trap and dealing with significant shifts in the nature of global demand.

Date: May 6, 2013
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.

17 April 2013: Women's Status and Children's Height in India: Evidence from Joint Rural Households

Dean Spears
Princeton University

Abstract:
Children in India are puzzlingly short relative to their level of economic development. Stunting among Indian children is important because childhood height predicts adult human capital and health. One candidate explanation for why Indian children are so short is the very low social status of Indian women who, as mothers, feed and care for children in the early life period that largely determines their height. However, the literature lacks a well-identified test of this conjecture. This paper applies a novel strategy to identify an effect of women's status on children's height. Anthropological and demographic literature suggest that within joint Indian households, women married to older brothers have higher intra-household status than women married to younger brothers. We study children of these women: children of higher ranking daughters-in-law are taller, on average, than children of lower ranking daughters-in-law in rural Indian joint households. We provide empirical evidence that lower ranking daughters-in-law indeed have lower status in joint households and rule out several competing explanations for our findings.

Date: April 17, 2013
Time: 12:30 P.M.

Venue:
Second Floor Conference Room
The World Bank,
70 Lodi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

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Note:
Please confirm your attendance by email to Jyoti Sriram at jsriram@worldbank.org by tuesday April 16.

15 April 2013: Workers Without Borders? Culture and the Political Economy of Temporary versus Permanent Immigration

Sanjay Jain
Cambridge University

Abstract:
This paper examines the role of cultural factors in driving the politics, size and nature (temporary versus permanent migration) of migration policy. We demonstrate that there exists a broad political failure that results in inefficiently high barriers restricting the import of temporary foreign workers, while admitting an inefficiently large number of permanent migrants, to fill a labor shortage. Strikingly, we show that countries that are poor at cultural assimilation may be better positioned to take advantage of temporary foreign worker programs than more culturally diverse and tolerant countries. In some circumstances, relaxing restrictions on the mobility of temporary migrant workers across employers has the potential to raise host country welfare, even though it increases migrant wages and lowers individual firms' profits. We also demonstrate the existence of multiple equilibria: some countries have mostly temporary migration programs and see a low degree of cultural assimilation by migrants, while other countries rely more on permanent migrants and see much more assimilation.

Date: April 15, 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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