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The basic story of global inequality in the last three decades has been an overall decline, but one which is composed of quite intricate patterns. There has been a decline in between-country inequality as China and India have grown relative to the US and other rich countries. This has been accompanied by an increase in within-country inequality, but this is itself composed of rising inequality in some countries such as China, India, and the US, and declining inequality in other countries, including large economies in Latin America. Section II of the paper reviews these patterns, highlighting country diversity to make the central point that policy matters. Section III addresses a normative question—what relative weight should be given to within-country and between-country inequality in making an overall global assessment? This section brings on board recent philosophical discourse, including on inequality of opportunity in a global frame. Section IV returns to the 'policy matters' theme and takes up global constraints on national redistribution policy in a globalized world: for example, a race to the bottom on taxation to attract and keep capital and talent, and possible global institutional responses to alleviate these constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent growth pattern of India is set in the context of the parallel experience of China, the experience of poverty reduction is reviewed, and a number of papers illuminating India's development are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cars The typical urban household in China owns a TV, a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a computer, but does not yet own a car. In this paper, we draw on data for a panel of countries and detailed household level surveys for the largest emerging markets to document a remarkably stable relationship between GDP per capita and car ownership, highlighting the importance of within-country income distribution factors: we find that car ownership is low up to per capita incomes of about US$5000 and then takes off very rapidly. Several emerging markets, including India and China, the most populous countries in the world, are currently at the stage of development when such takeoff is expected to take place. We project that the number of cars will increase by 2.3 billion between 2005 and 2050, with an increase by 1.9 billion in emerging market and developing countries. We outline a number of possible policy options to deal with the implications for the countries affected and the world as a whole. — Marcos Chamon, Paolo Mauro and Yohei Okawa [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine patterns of self-reported diagnosis of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and prevalences of algorithm/measured test-based, undiagnosed, and untreated NCDs in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. Nationally representative samples of older adults aged ≥50 years were analyzed from wave 1 of the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (2007-2010; n = 34,149). Analyses focused on 6 conditions: angina, arthritis, asthma, chronic lung disease, depression, and hypertension. Outcomes for these NCDs were: 1) self-reported disease, 2) algorithm/measured test-based disease, 3) undiagnosed disease, and 4) untreated disease. Algorithm/measured test-based prevalence of NCDs was much higher than self-reported prevalence in all 6 countries, indicating underestimation of NCD prevalence in low- and middle-income countries. Undiagnosed prevalence of NCDs was highest for hypertension, ranging from 19.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 18.1, 21.3) in India to 49.6% (95% CI: 46.2, 53.0) in South Africa. The proportion untreated among all diseases was highest for depression, ranging from 69.5% (95% CI: 57.1, 81.9) in South Africa to 93.2% (95% CI: 90.1, 95.7) in India. Higher levels of education and wealth significantly reduced the odds of an undiagnosed condition and untreated morbidity. A high prevalence of undiagnosed NCDs and an even higher proportion of untreated NCDs highlights the inadequacies in diagnosis and management of NCDs in local health-care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International efforts to avoid dangerous climate change have historically focused on reducing energy-related CO2 emissions from countries with either the largest economies (e.g. the EU and the USA) and/or the largest populations (e.g. China and India). However, in recent years, emissions have surged among a different and much less-examined group of countries, raising concerns that a next generation of high-emitting economies will obviate current mitigation targets. Here, we analyse the trends and drivers of emissions in each of the 59 countries where emissions in 2010–2018 grew faster than the global average (excluding China and India), project their emissions under a range of longer-term energy scenarios and estimate the costs of decarbonization pathways. Total emissions from these 'emerging emitters' reach as much as 7.5 GtCO2/year in the baseline 2.5° scenario—substantially greater than the emissions from these regions in previously published scenarios that would limit warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C. Such unanticipated emissions would in turn require non-emitting energy deployment from all sectors within these emerging emitters, and faster and deeper reductions in emissions from other countries to meet international climate goals. Moreover, the annual costs of keeping emissions at the low level are in many cases 0.2%–4.1% of countries' gross domestic production, pointing to potential trade-offs with poverty-reduction goals and/or the need for economic support and low-carbon technology transfer from historically high-emitting countries. Our results thus highlight the critical importance of ramping up mitigation efforts in countries that to this point have been largely ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, populations are ageing and the estimated number of hip fractures will increase from 1.7 million in 1990 to more than 6 million in 2050. The greatest increase in hip fractures is predicted in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), largely in the Asia-Pacific region where direct costs are expected to exceed $US15 billion by 2050. The aims of this qualitative study are to identify barriers to, and enablers of, evidence-informed hip fracture care in LMICs, and to determine if the Blue Book standards, developed by the British Orthopaedic Association and British Geriatrics Society to facilitate evidence-informed care of patients with fragility fractures, are applicable to these settings. This study utilized semi-structured interviews with clinical and administrative hospital staff to explore current hip fracture care in LMICs. Transcribed interviews were imported into NVivo 12 and analysed thematically. Interviews were conducted with 35 participants from 11 hospitals in 5 countries. We identified five themes-costs of care and the capacity of patients to pay, timely hospital presentation, competing demands on limited resources, delegation and defined responsibility and utilization of available data-and within each theme, barriers and enablers were distinguished. We found a mismatch between patient needs and provision of recommended hip fracture care, which in LMICs must commence at the time of injury. This study describes clinician and administrator perspectives of the barriers to, and enablers of, high-quality hip fracture care in LMICs; results indicate that initiatives to overcome barriers (in particular, delays to definitive treatment) are required. While the Blue Book offers a starting point for clinicians and administrators looking to provide high-quality hip fracture care to older people in LMICs, locally developed interventions are likely to provide the most successful solutions to improving hip fracture care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: empirical evidence from high-income countries suggests that self-rated health (SRH) is useful as a brief and simple outcome measure in public health research. However, in many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) there is a lack of evaluation and the cross-cultural validity of SRH remains largely untested. This study aims to explore the prevalence of SRH and its association with mortality in older adults in LMIC in order to cross-culturally validate the construct of SRH. Methods: population-based cohort studies including 16,940 persons aged ≥65 years in China, India, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico in 2003. SRH was assessed by asking 'how do you rate your overall health in the past 30 days' with responses ranging from excellent to poor. Covariates included socio-demographic characteristics, use of health services and health factors. Mortality was ascertained through a screening of all respondents until 2007. Results: the prevalence of good SRH was higher in urban compared to rural sites, except in China. Men reported higher SRH than women, and depression had the largest negative impact on SRH in all sites. Without adjustment, those with poor SRH showed a 142% increase risk of dying within 4 years compared to those with moderate SRH. After adjusting for all covariates, those with poor SRH still showed a 43% increased risk. Conclusion: our findings support the use of SRH as a simple measure in survey settings to identify vulnerable groups and evaluate health interventions in resource-scares settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: : Infant body mass index (BMI) peak has received much interest recently as a potential predictor of future obesity and metabolic risk. No studies, however, have examined infant BMI peak in Asian populations, in whom the risk of metabolic disease is higher.Methods: : We utilized data among 1020 infants from a mother-offspring cohort, who were Singapore citizens or permanent residents of Chinese, Malay or Indian ethnicity with homogeneous parental ethnic backgrounds, and did not receive chemotherapy, psychotropic drugs or have diabetes mellitus. Ethnicity was self-reported at recruitment and later confirmed using genotype analysis. Subject-specific BMI curves were fitted to infant BMI data using natural cubic splines with random coefficients to account for repeated measures in each child. We estimated characteristics of the child's BMI peak [age and magnitude at peak, average pre-peak velocity (aPPV)]. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), BMI, sum of skinfolds (SSF) and fat-mass index (FMI) were measured during a follow-up visit at age 48 months. Weighted multivariable linear regression was used to assess the predictors (maternal BMI, gestational weight gain, ethnicity, infant sex, gestational age, birthweight-for-gestational age and breastfeeding duration) of infant BMI peak and its associations with outcomes at 48 months. Comparisons between ethnicities were tested using Bonferroni post-hoc correction.Results: : Of 1020 infants, 80.5% were followed up at the 48-month visit. Mean (SD) BMI, SSF and FMI at 48 months were 15.6 (1.8) kg/m 2 , 16.5 (5.3) mm and 3.8 (1.3) kg/m 2 , respectively. Mean (SD) age at peak BMI was 6.0 (1.6) months, with a magnitude of 17.2 (1.4) kg/m 2 and pre-peak velocity of 0.7 (0.3) kg/m 2 /month. Compared with Chinese infants, the peak occurred later in Malay {B [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64 mo (0.36, 0.92)]} and Indian infants [1.11 mo (0.76, 1.46)] and was lower in magnitude in Indian infants [-0.45 kg/m 2 (-0.69, -0.20)]. Adjusting for maternal education, BMI, gestational weight gain, ethnicity, infant sex, gestational age, birthweight-for-gestational-age and breastfeeding duration, higher peak and aPPV were associated with greater BMI, SSF and FMI at 48 months. Age at peak was positively associated with BMI at 48 months [0.15 units (0.09, 0.22)], whereas peak magnitude was associated with SBP [0.17 units (0.05, 0.30)] and DBP at 48 months [0.10 units (0.01, 0.22)]. Older age and higher magnitude at peak were associated with increased risk of overweight at 48 months [Relative Risk (95% CI): 1.35 (1.12-1.62) for age; 1.89 (1.60-2.24) for magnitude]. The associations of BMI peak with BMI and SSF at 48 months were stronger in Malay and Indian children than in Chinese children.Conclusions: : Ethnic-specific differences in BMI peak characteristics, and associations of BMI peak with early childhood cardio-metabolic markers, suggest an important impact of early BMI development on later metabolic outcomes in Asian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv), which belongs to the Panicoideae tribe of the Poaceae, is an important grain crop widely grown in Northern China and India. It is currently developing into a novel model species for functional genomics of the Panicoideae as a result of its fully available reference genome sequence, small diploid genome (2n=18, ~510 Mb), short life cycle, small stature and prolific seed production. Argonaute 1 (AGO1), belonging to the argonaute (AGO) protein family, recruits small RNAs and regulates plant growth and development. Here, we characterized an AGO1 mutant (siago1b) in foxtail millet, which was induced by ethyl methanesulfonate treatment. The mutant exhibited pleiotropic developmental defects, including dwarfing stem, narrow and rolled leaves, smaller panicles and lower rates of seed setting. Map-based cloning analysis demonstrated that these phenotypic variations were attributed to a C-A transversion, and a 7-bp deletion in the C-terminus of the SiAGO1b gene in siago1b. Yeast two-hybrid assays and BiFC experiments revealed that the mutated region was an essential functional motif for the interaction between SiAGO1b and SiHYL1. Furthermore, 1598 differentially expressed genes were detected via RNAseq- based comparison of SiAGO1b and wild-type plants, which revealed that SiAGO1b mutation influenced multiple biological processes, including energy metabolism, cell growth, programmed death and abiotic stress responses in foxtail millet. This study may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms by which SiAGO1b regulates the growth and development of crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background. Cancer incidence and mortality is increasing in the developing world. Inequities between low-, middle-, and high-income countries affect disease burden and the infrastructure needs in response to cancer. We surveyed early-career oncologists attending workshops in clinical research in three countries with emerging economies about their perception of the evolving cancer burden. Methods. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire was distributed at clinical trial concept development workshops held in Beijing, Lahore, Karachi, and Mumbai at major hospitals to acquire information regarding home-country health conditions and needs. Results. A total of 100 respondents participated in the workshops held atmajor hospitals in the region (India = 29, China = 25, Pakistan = 42, and other = 4). Expected consensus on many issues (e.g., emergence of cancer as a significant health issue) was balanced with significant variation in priorities, opportunities, and challenges. Chinese respondents prioritized improvements in cancer-specific care and palliative care, Indian respondents favored improved cancer detection and advancing research in cancer care, and Pakistani respondents prioritized awareness of cancer and improvements in disease detection and cancer care research. For all, the most frequently cited opportunity was help in improving professional cancer education and training. Conclusion. Predominantly early-career oncologists attending clinical research workshops (in China, India, and Pakistan) identified needs for increasing clinical cancer research, professional education, and public awareness of cancer. Decision makers supporting efforts to reduce the burden of cancer worldwide will need to factor the specific needs and aspirations of health care providers in their country in prioritizing health policies and budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure to meet health goals such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is partly due to the lack of appropriate resources for the effective implementation of health policies. The lack of coherence between the health policies and human resource (HR) strategy is one of the major causes. This article explores the relationship and the degree of coherence between health policy—in this case maternal health policy—processes and HR strategy in Vietnam, China and India in the period 2005–09. Four maternal health policy case studies were explored [skilled birth attendance (SBA), adolescent and sexual reproductive health, domestic violence and medical termination of pregnancy] across three countries through interviews with key respondents, document analysis and stakeholder meetings. Analysis for coherence between health policy and HR strategy was informed by a typology covering ‘separation’, ‘fit’ and ‘dialogue’. Regarding coherence we found examples of complete separation between health policy and HR strategy, a good fit with the SBA policy though modified through ‘dialogue’ in Vietnam, and in one case a good fit between policy and strategy was developed through successive evaluations. Three key influences on coherence between health policy and HR strategy emerge from our findings: (1) health as the lead sector, (2) the nature of the policy instrument and (3) the presence of ‘HR champions’. Finally, we present a simple algorithm to ensure that appropriate HR related actors are involved; HR is considered at the policy development stage with the option of modifying the policy if it cannot be adequately supported by the available health workforce; and ensuring that HR strategies are monitored to ensure continued coherence with the health policy. This approach will ensure that the health workforce contributes more effectively to meeting the MDGs and future health goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The long-range effects of the ongoing India-Eurasia collision and their role in the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of eastern China are not well understood. Here, we investigate deformation beneath the North China Craton and the Qilian Mountain region between the Haiyuan and Kunlun faults, both of which are located immediately to the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau. We present teleseismic shear wave splitting parameters from 299 broad-band stations. These stations provided good spatial coverage in mapping upper-mantle deformation beneath the North China Craton and the Qilian Mountain. The backazimuth dependence of fast directions from stations located within the Qilian Mountain region indicates a complex anisotropy pattern. A multilayer anisotropy and/or anisotropy with a dipping symmetry axis may exist beneath the Qilian Mountain. The overlapping or underthrusting of material evident in anisotropy from this region may be a long-range effect of the India-Eurasia collision. The central North China Craton showed spatially coherent fast directions and the shear wave velocity anomalies within the upper mantle. These patterns suggest horizontal deflection of a regional mantle upwelling, possibly originating from the mantle transition zone. Anisotropy with large delay times was observed in the vicinity of Shanxi rift system. High ∂ln VS/∂ln VP values for the upper mantle indicate that anisotropy in this area is enhanced by vertically aligned melt-filled fissures. Our results suggest that the dynamic processes beneath the central North China Craton are not directly related to the India-Eurasia collision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the much hyped 'rise of Asia' translating into global public good? The leading Asian powers, China, India and Japan, demand a greater share of the decision-making and leadership of global institutions. Yet, they seem to have been more preoccupied with enhancing their national power and status than contributing to global governance, including the management of global challenges. This is partly explained by a realpolitik outlook and ideology, and the legacies of India's and China's historical identification with the 'Third World' bloc. Another key factor is the continuing regional legitimacy deficit of the Asian powers. This article suggests that the Asian powers should increase their participation in and contribution to regional cooperation as a stepping stone to a more meaningful contribution to global governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nuclear arms control regime-centered on the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)-faces five challenges: failure of nuclear disarmament by the five NPT-licit nuclear powers (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States); possible cheating by non-nuclear signatories like North Korea and Iran; India, Israel, and Pakistan remaining outside the NPT; terrorists' interest in acquiring and using nuclear weapons; and the safety, security and proliferation risks of the increased interest in nuclear energy to offset the financial and environmental costs of fossil fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil, China, and India have seen falling poverty in their reform periods, but to varying degrees and for different reasons. History left China with favorable initial conditions for rapid poverty reduction through market-led economic growth; at the outset of the reform process there were many distortions to be removed and a relatively low inequality of access to the opportunities so created, though inequality has risen markedly since. By concentrating such opportunities in the hands of the better off, prior inequalities in various dimensions handicapped poverty reduction in both Brazil and India. Brazil's recent success in complementing market-oriented reforms with progressive social policies has helped it achieve a higher proportionate rate of poverty reduction than India, although Brazil has been less successful in terms of economic growth. In the wake of its steep rise in inequality, China might learn from Brazil's success with such policies. India needs to do more to assure that poor people are able to participate in both the country's growth process and its social policies; here there are lessons from both China and Brazil. All three countries have learned how important macroeconomic stability is to poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative to developed countries and some parts of the developing world, most notably sub-Saharan Africa, there are far fewer women than men in India and China. It has been argued that as many as a 100 million women could be missing. The possibility of gender bias at birth and the mistreatment of young girls are widely regarded as key explanations. We provide a decomposition of these missing women by age and cause of death. While we do not dispute the existence of severe gender bias at young ages, our computations yield some striking new findings: (1) the vast majority of missing women in India and a significant proportion of those in China are of adult age; (2) as a proportion of the total female population, the number of missing women is largest in sub-Saharan Africa, and the absolute numbers are comparable to those for India and China; (3) almost all the missing women stem from disease-by-disease comparisons and not from the changing composition of disease, as described by the epidemiological transition. Finally, using historical data, we argue that a comparable proportion of women was missing at the start of the 20th century in the United States, just as they are in India, China, and sub-Saharan Africa today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the trade policy response of Latin American governments to the rapid growth of Chinese and Indian exports in world markets. To explain more protection in sectors where a large share of imports originates in China and India, the “protection for sale” model is extended to allow for region-specific degrees of substitutability between domestic and imported varieties of a good. The results suggest that more protection toward Chinese and Indian goods can be explained by the higher substitutability of Chinese and Indian goods with domestic varieties. The data support the model, which performs better than the original protection for sale framework in explaining Latin America's structure of protection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Resource misallocation can lower aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). We use microdata on manufacturing establishments to quantify the potential extent of misallocation in China and India versus the United States. We measure sizable gaps in marginal products of labor and capital across plants within narrowly defined industries in China and India compared with the United States. When capital and labor are hypothetically reallocated to equalize marginal products to the extent observed in the United States, we calculate manufacturing TFP gains of 30%-50% in China and 40%-60% in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the changing dynamics of world politics as anchored on the diminishing dominance of the U.S. in the North, greater independence of Europe, India and China, as well as the efficacy of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and renewed interest in the value of non-proliferation treaties (NPT). While Northern and Western states such as the U.S., Great Britain, France and Russia are considered nuclear power, Southern states like India and China continue to challenge them. This nuclear arms race has been tempered by various nuclear agreements from 1945 to the present.

The article assesses the impact of economic growth of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), as well as South Africa, ASEAN countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, Mexico, South Korea and other non-emerging economies (BRICSAM), on global politics, security, economics and societies. A unifying characteristics of these states is their relative size in both global and regional dimensions. Analyses show that economies of BRIC/BRICSAM countries will be bigger than those of G6 in U.S. dollar terms. These countries also compete for international status as shown by their roles as regional hubs.

This essay explores the western conflict between artistic sexual aesthetics and the philosophical study thereof. The author cites Friedrich Nietzsche in highlighting the strange disinterested separation western art has placed between sexuality and art. The Eastern theatrical genre of ars erotica, as seen in China and India, is described and investigated as an example of the integration of sexual aesthetics and art scholarship.

This article analyzes Woodrow Wilson's role in the rise in anti-colonial revolt immediately following World War I. Wilson's idealism and emphasis on self-determination initially inspired many in the East to hope that European imperialism would come to an end. Wilson spent much of 1918 and early 1919 using the rhetoric of government by consent, though he may have only meant the territories within Europe ruled by empires. Eventually, his message penetrated the nascent political press and consciousness of China and India. However, disillusionment was quick to set in after the disappointments of the Versailles Peace Conference.

We use broad-band teleseismic data recorded at eight sites along a north–south profile from Karimganj (24.84°N, 92.34°E), south of the eastern Shillong Plateau, to Bomdilla (27.27°N, 92.41°E) in the eastern Lesser Himalaya, to determine the seismic characteristics of the crust in northeastern India. We also analyse data from the Chinese Digital Seismic Network station at Lhasa and INDEPTHII stations located on the southern Tibetan Plateau north of our profile, to extend the seismic images of the crust further northwards. Although the northeastern Indian stations and the Tibetan stations do not lie along a linear profile across the Himalaya, the well-recognized uniformity of the Himalaya along strike make this comparison of the two profiles meaningful. Receiver functions calculated from these data show that the crust is thinnest (∼35–38 km) beneath the Shillong Plateau. Receiver functions at Cherrapunji, on the southern edge of the Shillong Plateau, have a strong azimuthal dependence. Those from northern backazimuth events show that the Moho beneath the southernmost Shillong Plateau is at a depth of∼38 km while receiver functions from southern backazimuth events indicate that the Moho beneath the northernmost Bengal Basin is at a depth of∼44 km. Receiver functions from sites on the Brahmaputra Valley demonstrate that the Moho is deeper by∼5–7 km than below the Shillong Plateau, a result which agrees with the hypothesis that the Shillong Plateau is supported by shearing stress on two steep faults that cut through the crust. Further north of the eastern Himalayan foredeep, the Moho dips gently northwards, reaching a depth of∼48 km beneath Bomdilla in the Lesser Himalaya, and 88 km below Lhasa in Tibet. Using the crustal velocity models obtained from receiver function inversions, we redetermined focal depths of well-recorded earthquakes across this part of the Indo-Tibetan collision zone and find all of these to occur within the crust. Hence we find no evidence for bimodal depth distribution of earthquakes beneath this region of northeastern India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a comparative economic history of China and India and their response to economic challenge. Together, the population of the two countries comprises one-third of the world population. Today the two countries are economically in an underdeveloped stage, with low per capita income but with several impressive scientific and technological achievements. Many of the facts and issues about these two countries are gigantic, that is, population, size, history, and even the problems and complexities. But China and India did not respond to the forces of the industrial revolution that in Europe transformed nations from poor peasant societies to modern developed ones. During the course of a century and a half they failed to exploit the epochal innovations of modern economic growth. These two then-advanced nations failed to meet the challenge of modern economic growth. At the same time, both Governments did not have a wide consensus supporting them, and hence, even in the raising of resources to meet administrative expenses, coercion had to be exercised. By 1950, these factors led to a major transfer of power in the two countries. For different reasons, but with the same result, the contact of China and India with the West remains a tragic case of missed opportunity.