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Summary In the context of climate change and its effect on poverty, previous studies have shown that productivity shocks in agriculture, such as rainfall variability, affect wages adversely. None of the studies, however, consider the heterogeneity in the impact of these shocks on agricultural wages by gender, a feature which has been studied for demand shocks in urban labor markets for developed countries. Using National Sample Survey data for India from 1993 to 2007, a district-level panel dataset is created to examine how a rainfall shock affects the gender wage gap. The study shows that both female and male wages are positively related to rainfall shocks. Hence, future studies must study the impact of labor market shocks in rural areas on both female and male wages separately. It also finds that the female-to-male wage ratio is significantly positively associated with a rainfall shock in regions where rainfed rice is cultivated, i.e., low (high) rainfall reduces (increases) the female-to-male ratio. The study demonstrates that this result is due to a positive association of demand for female labor with rainfall in these rainfed rice-growing regions. This finding is consistent with the greater marginal value of female labor in rice cultivation, which is also a crop highly sensitive to rainfall variability under rainfed conditions. The paper concludes that the effect of a rainfall shock on the gender wage gap depends upon the gender roles underlying the technology of production, which varies across cropping systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewing chronic poverty in terms of extended duration, severity and multidimensional deprivation, this paper uses existing literature to draw attention to those people in India for whom poverty is intractable. Two sets of approaches are used: an area-based approach and an historically marginalized groups-based approach. The area-based approach maps the location of the chronically poor by identifying states and regions that have been especially vulnerable to poverty in terms of severity and multidimensionality. It focuses on drylands and forest-based regions. The historically marginalized groups approach draws attention to groups who have suffered multiple deprivations for long periods. Chronic poverty is disproportionately high among casual agricultural laborers, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. In conclusion, the paper briefly reviews the factors that contribute to chronic poverty and the efficacy of policies to reduce such deprivation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The larger part of the economy in most developing countries is outside the regulative control of the state. When defined in this way, it has two types of expression: first, self-employment (with some wage-work) in unregistered or unincorporated small enterprises; second, unregistered and unregulated activity and workers inside and around large registered organizations such as firms, public sector enterprises, and the state itself. This paper reviews the literature, mainly but not exclusively from India, with three objectives. First, it questions what brings order to such economic activity and how economic and social insecurity is instituted. Second, it examines the counter intuitive proposition that social security rights are de facto, if not de jure, dependent upon work rights. Third, it explores the dynamics of, and responses to, informalization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]