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Existing study argues that labour market flexibility accompanied by trade liberalisation helped in building complementary relationship between formal and informal sectors in India. However, no direct relation is established between the labour market flexibility and trade liberalisation with respect to inter- and intra-sectoral movement of labour. The present study enquires whether the extent of labour mobility between and within formal–informal sectors affects the formal–informal growth linkages due to the tariff cut on traded goods, as a part of trade liberalisation in India. The findings based on static CGE analysis indicate that in absence of labour market segmentation (i.e. in absence of both wage rigidity and skill specificity) with full mobility of labour, formal sector growth is higher vis-à-vis the growth of those activities under segmented labour market with full mobility of labour. Amongst growing informal sector activities, output growth is lower in absence of segmented labour market with full mobility of labour. Finally, restricted labour mobility leads to largest expansion of formal activities, but further exacerbates the growth of informal activities. The study reveals that improvement in functional income distribution is mixed across households, depending on the degree of labour mobility, which implies labour market adjustment is costly due to structural reforms, that pitches for government intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trickle down of growth from one region to another or spillover effect is implicit in the very idea of 'balanced regional development' which has always been one of the declared objectives of national policy in India. This paper is an attempt to analyze the performance of northeastern states in India in terms of their Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) growth and also to examine the growth spillover effects among the same for the period 1981-2007. The results of the study reveal that there is a considerable variation in the performance of individual states in terms of NSDP growth, with most states growing faster than the regional average. Also, a mixture of trickling down and polarization effects of economic growth is found within the northeastern region. Neither of the two opposite hypotheses holds in general. The present study contributes to the literature by exploring the dynamics of growth linkages among the northeastern states in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Human capital is a portfolio of rich skills that the labour possesses. Human capital has attracted significant attention from scholars. Nevertheless, empirical findings on the utility of human capital have often been divided. To address the research gap in the literature, the authors attempt to understand how human capital plays a significant role in financial development and economic growth nexus. Design/methodology/approach: The authors rely on secondary data published by the World Bank. The authors use econometric tools such as the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model and related statistical tests to study the relationship between human capital, India's financial growth and gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Findings: Study findings suggest that human capital and financial development contribute significantly to economic growth. Further, the authors found that human capital has a positive and significant moderating effect on the path of joining financial development and economic growth. Practical implications: The study contributes to the human capital debate. Despite the rich body of literature, the study based on World Bank data confirms the previous findings that investment in human capital is always useful for the financial and economic growth of the nation. Originality/value: This paper reveals some unique findings regarding effect of financial development and economic growth nexus which opens the window of new dimension to think about their nexus. It also provides a different pathway to foster the economic growth by using human capital and financial development as together, especially in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the linkages of various financial inclusion parameters on economic growth for an emerging economy viz., India to review the policy measures implemented in this sphere. In this context, in addition to standard measures of financial inclusion, this study incorporates auxiliary indicators also like mobile and card statistics, usage of electronic channels, pension and insurance subscribers to obtain a comprehensive assessment of the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth in the Indian economy. Bayesian vector autoregression is applied that is established to provide robust results even in small sample sizes and examines the role played by individual measures of financial inclusion separately on overall growth. It is evidenced that factors like branch network, electronic remittance services, and insurance schemes display a significant role in affecting economic growth in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study provides evidence on export advantages of horticultural commodities based on competitiveness, trade balance and seasonality dimensions. Design/methodology/approach: The study delineated horticultural commodities in terms of comparative advantage, examined temporal shifts in export advantages (mapping) and estimated seasonality. Product mapping was carried out using the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) and Trade Balance Index (TBI). Seasonal advantages were examined through a graphical approach along with the objective tests, namely, modified QS-test (QS), Friedman-test (FT) and using a seasonal dummy. Findings: Cucumbers/gherkins, onions, preserved vegetables, fresh grapes, shelled cashew nuts, guavas, mangoes, and spices emerged as the most favorable horticultural products. India has a strong seasonal advantage in dried onions, cucumber/gherkins, shelled cashew nut, dried capsicum, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. The untapped potential in horticulture can be addressed by handling the trade barriers effectively, particularly the sanitary and phytosanitary issues, affecting the exports. Proper policies must be enacted to facilitate the investment in advanced agricultural technologies and logistics to ensure the desired quality and cost effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: Commodity-specific studies on value chain analysis would provide valuable insights into the issues hindering exports and realizing the untapped export potential. Originality/value: There is no holistic and recent study illustrating the horticulture export advantages covering a large number of commodities in the Indian context. The study would be helpful to the stakeholders for drawing useful policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and China are two Asian emerging economies, the unprecedented growth of which have led many to argue that in the face of slowdown in growth of the North these emerging economies will act as the new growth drivers for the South. However, not much empirical evidence is available to support this argument. This article estimates the growth linkages between the developing Asia and the two Asian emerging economies in terms of co-integration and causation in their growth rates. Both short-term and long-term relationships are tested between growth of China and India with growth of the developing countries of Asia for the period 1970-2009. The issue of whether these countries can provide market for the South is also examined. The results show that whereas China has acted as a growth driver for the developing Asia, no empirical evidence of this is found for India.L'Inde et la Chine sont deux pays asiatiques émergents dont la croissance sans précédent laisse penser à beaucoup que, dans le contexte du ralentissement au Nord, ces économies émergentes agiront comme de nouveaux moteurs de croissance pour le Sud. Il existe cependant peu de preuves empiriques à l'appui de cette thèse. Cet article propose une estimation des liens de croissance entre l'Asie en développement et les deux économies asiatiques émergentes, en termes de co-intégration et de causalité entre leurs taux de croissance. Nous testons les liens, à court et à long terme, entre la croissance de la Chine et de l'Inde et celle des pays d'Asie en développement sur la période 1970-2009. La question de savoir si ces pays peuvent constituer un marché pour le Sud est également examinée. Les résultats montrent que la Chine joue effectivement le rôle de moteur de croissance pour l'Asie en développement, mais qu'il n'existe aucune preuve empirique que l'Inde joue le même rôle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural households in developing countries often depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, many also pursue off‐farm economic activities either to complement their farm income or because they lack access to agricultural land. Rural off‐farm employment is often informal and temporary. Searching for jobs can be associated with high transaction costs, which may be a constraint on some households' participation in off‐farm employment. The increasing spread of mobile phones may help to reduce these transaction costs. Here, we test the hypothesis that mobile phone ownership increases rural households' participation in off‐farm employment and—through this mechanism—also improves household income. We use nationally representative panel data from rural India and regression models with household fixed effects to control for confounding factors and unobserved heterogeneity. We find that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with the likelihood of participating in various types of off‐farm employment, including casual wage labour, salaried employment and non‐agricultural self‐employment. This association is larger in female‐headed than in male‐headed households. The estimates also show that mobile phone ownership is positively associated with household income, partly channelled through the off‐farm employment mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at developing econometric models to manage the price risk of Dry and Wet Cocoa beans with the help of ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) and VAR (Vector Auto Regressive). The monthly price of Cocoa beans is collected for the period starting from April 2009 to March 2020 from the office of CAMPCO Limited, Mangalore, and the ICE Cocoa futures price from the website of investing.com. The augmented dickey fuller test is used to test the stationarity of the series. The ACF and PACF correlograms are used to identify the tentative ARIMA model. Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Schwarz criterion (SBIC), Sigma square, and adjusted R2 are used to decide on the optional AR and MA terms for the models. Durbin–Watson statistics and correlograms of the residuals are used to decide on the model's goodness of fit. Identified optimal models were ARIMA (1, 1, 0) for the Dry Cocoa beans price series and ARIMA (1, 1, 2) for the Wet Cocoa beans price series. The multivariate VAR (1) model found that the US and London Cocoa futures prices traded on the ICE platform will influence the price of Dry Cocoa in India. This study will be helpful to forecast the price of Cocoa beans to manage the price risk, precisely for Cocoa traders, Chocolate manufacturers, Cocoa growers, and the government for planning and decision-making purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the role of the enforcement of property rights, human capital formation, and the efficiency of various components of state governments' developmental expenditure on states' economic growth and interstate income inequality. Together with private sector investment in rural areas, property rights enforcement, human capital, government expenditures on economic services, and health and education are found to have positive effects on states' growth. We also observe that the interstate difference in the provisioning of government economic services is the leading factor in contributing to interstate income divergence in India. These findings can serve as vital technical inputs for formulating economic policies to achieve faster economic growth and mitigate regional income inequality in transitioning developing economies like India and hold greater relevance for other developing economies on their way to experiencing similar social and economic transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile telephony penetration has reached up to the remote location of globe enabling access to communication to each individual. This communication access and technology can also assist individuals to gain financial inclusion specifically in emerging economies like India. This study aims to address the issue of financial inclusion and inclusive economic growth through the development of mobile penetration in India. The study targets financially excluded Indian urban poor segment and aims to address the missing linkages between mobile telephone, digital transaction, and financial inclusion during demonetization. The study follows qualitative research design. Qualitative research design aims to address the nexus between financial inclusion and mobile telephony from the demand side. The study conducts 52 in‐depth interviews collected under naturalistic observations from the urban poor segment of society across major cities of India. Open coding method is followed to analyze the in‐depth interviews to assimilate information from various emerging themes. Qualitative data analysis identifies various themes to understand the usage of mobile telephony for any financial transaction, financial planning by the urban poor segment. The study explores various reasons behind financial exclusion of urban poor segment and how mobile telephony adoption can be utilized to attain financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explain the role of globalisation on the regional income growth disparities in the states of India and provinces in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Design/methodology/approach: The authors use two approaches to analyse regional growth disparities: growth accounting and the panel spatial Durbin model. Findings: The growth accounting shows that contributions of growth of capital intensity (GKI) and total factor productivity growth (TFPG) distinguish the high-income (HI) regions from medium-income (MI) and lower-income (LI) regions in India. In the PRC, the contributions of GKI and TFPG in MI regions are slightly higher than HI regions, but significantly higher than the LI regions. The empirical results find that foreign direct investment (FDI), domestic investment, human capital, and interaction of FDI and human capital explain income growth states/provinces in India and the PRC. A region's income growth and FDI inflows spread the benefit to neighbourhoods in both countries. Originality/value: The paper contributes by performing a comparative analysis of Indian states and the PRC's provinces by capturing the neighbourhood effects of economic growth, FDI, investment and human capital and also the interaction effects of FDI with human capital and domestic investment. A comparison of the decomposition of income growth to the growth of factor inputs and efficiency in Indian states and the PRC's provinces also adds to the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livelihood diversification through greater non-farm activities has been considered as an important mechanism to propel growth, lower rural poverty and augment farm income across developing countries. Little, however, is known about its implications for nutritional outcomes such as dietary diversity. Using a nationally representative panel survey of rural households in India, and night-time light intensity as an instrumental variable (IV) for non-farm income, we show that engaging in non-agricultural livelihood has a positive effect on overall food expenditure, especially on non-cereal items, enabling greater dietary diversity. These findings have crucial policy implications for nutrition transition in India where agricultural incomes have been stagnant during the last decade. Our findings further contribute to the existing knowledge of agriculture-nutrition pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a contribution to understanding income generation and inequality in India's agricultural sector. We analyze the National Sample Surveys of agriculture in 2003 and 2013 using descriptive and regression based methods, and estimate income inequality in the agricultural sector at the scale of the nation and its 17 largest states. We show that: (a) there are significant state‐level differences in the structures/patterns of income generation from agriculture, (b) there is a negative relationship between the amount of land owned by the household and share of wages in total income, (c) income inequality in India's agricultural sector is very high (Gini Coefficient of around 0.6 during the period), and (d) about half of the income inequality is explained by the household‐level variance in income from cultivation, which in turn is primarily dependent on variance in landownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: By disentangling the impact of positive and negative shocks of GDP, FDI and oil consumption on electricity consumption, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether this bifurcation significantly determines the level of electricity consumption in the short run and long run. Design/methodology/approach: Using the recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) bounds approach, the study investigates the changes in the level of electricity consumption over a period of 1980–2015. The inclusion of a dummy variable for the possible structural break makes the electricity demand function more reliable. After checking the stationarity of data series, the study has employed the bounds test, which confirms the existence of the long run stability in the system. Further, using the VECM, the causality among the comprised variables has also been examined. Findings: The findings confirm that not only the positive shocks but also the negative shocks in GDP have a positive and significant impact on electricity consumption in the long run. Similarly, the increased FDI has widened the scope of electricity consumption in the region, whereas the negative shocks' impact is found negative in the long run. In comparison to GDP and FDI, the influence of the increased oil consumption on electricity demand is found negative and significant in India, which reveals that electricity acts as a significant substitute for oil consumption in the long run. Originality/value: To the best of the literature evidences available, none of the studies in the past has examined electricity demand in an NARDL framework. The study may help in estimating the demand for electricity consumption comprehensively, as this approach captures the separate influence of favourable and unfavourable changes while determining the level of electricity consumption. This approach may be crucial for policy makers, especially in an energy importer country, such as India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, developing economies are becoming the preferred destination of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. We draw insights from Dunning's eclectic paradigm to explore how FDI inflow is influenced by the quality of the physical infrastructure and human resources of the host country. We investigate various India-specific infrastructural factors affecting FDI inflow between 1991 and 2010. Our empirical findings indicate that factors like railway transportation and road network as well as the quality of human resources played a crucial role in attracting FDI. However, air transportation or communication infrastructure is yet to play a significant role. Our study makes a modest attempt to identify areas of concern and scope for the further improvement of India's infrastructure facilities to attract foreign investment in the future. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the nexus between the vast dimensions of financial inclusion and economic development of the emerging Indian economy.Design/methodology/approach In this study, vector auto-regression (VAR) models and Granger causality test were followed to test the main research question in Indian context. The data were collected on various dimensions of financial inclusion and economic development for the period 2004-2013.Findings Empirical results and discussion suggest that there is a positive association between economic growth and various dimensions of financial inclusion, specifically banking penetration, availability of banking services and usage of banking services in terms of deposits. Granger causality analysis reveals a bi-directional causality between geographic outreach and economic development and a unidirectional causality between the number of deposits/loan accounts and gross domestic product. The results obtained favor social banking experiments in India with a deepening of banking institutions.Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the banking institutions and specifically to the emerging and developing economies.Practical implications This study analyzes the quantitative value of social banking experiments and governments’ efforts to enhance financial inclusion in terms of economic growth.Social implications Financial inclusion plays a key role in developing a strong and an efficient financial infrastructure, which facilitates the growth of an economy. The findings of the study reveal that there is a strong association between banking penetration and growth. The discussion leads in the favor of deepening of the banking institutions, and therefore, policymakers can look forward to these findings to maintain a sustainable-inclusive-developed economic system in an emerging economy like India.Originality/value This study is original in nature and includes recent evidence and efforts to promote financial inclusion in the Indian economy. The findings of this study will be of value to banks and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the dynamics of the income-distribution pattern in India during the post-1991 economic reforms. It considers district-level per-capita income data across agriculture, manufacturing, services, and various constituent sub-sectors, and finds evidence in favour of a uniform process of growth across sectors and regions, which has helped to reduce poverty. In particular, the article finds that growth in agricultural income and access to finance are important for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automobile and auto-ancillary manufacturing in India is highly concentrated, with four auto clusters receiving approximately 91% of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this sector. Technological spillovers, factor endowments, etc., were identified as some of the factors influencing firm co-location. This paper observes the impact of agglomeration as well as state-specific endowments on the development of automotive clusters in India. In order to determine the motives deriving location choices of foreign automobile firms in India, one agglomeration and nine control variables were identified and tested using Dynamic Linear Programming Regression (DLPR) model. Presence of incumbent Indian automobile firms, higher per capita income and higher demand for vehicles turned out to be some of the important determinants of location choices of foreign automobile firms in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant boom occurred in the Indian financial market and growth in the post-liberalization era. This motivates us to analyze the impact of stock market and credit market (two components of financial market) for the growth of financial market. This paper attempts to show the linkage between stock and credit markets and their impact on the Indian economy taking the period after post-liberalization. The period of analysis is from 1994 to 2010; we identify the three variables as stationary and find a relationship between the financial market and gross domestic product (GDP) and a long-run effect of lagged differences in credit market on GDP. It has been inferred that stock market development has larger and more significant long-run mutual effects on economic growth than credit market development in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aimed to examine whether the Japanese automakers find India an 'Investment Friendly Nation' based upon their experience in India so far. It analyses the `Japanese Management Style' and observed the advantages and disadvantages it offers through a comparative analysis with the management style prevalent in the Indian auto companies especially in two major auto companies in India such as Maruti Suzuki and Honda. It sought to identify' the major challenges faced by the Japanese car makers while investing in India and the steps taken in form of policies and practices to tackle such challenges. The findings included that Japanese companies would emphasise on long term vision and planning. Quality and customer satisfaction are key to their growth and market penetration. Japanese auto majors values `trust' especially in joint ventures like Maruti Suzuki. Skilling workers especially at lower end is important for success in auto sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the determinants of long run finance development in India over the period of April 1994 to April 2011. The investigation is carried out by unit root, cointegration, ARDL bound test approach and VECM. The ARDL finds the existence of long run equilibrium relationship between finance development and economic growth. The VECM confirms the existence of bidirectional causality between finance development and economic growth. It also confirms the existence of unidirectional causality from stock market development to economic growth and from finance development to inflation. The paper at the end suggests that financial development should be considered as the policy variable to enhance economic growth in the Indian economy, especially during the globalization era of 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the diverse trends of foreign direct investments (FDI) of India and China. It explores on the determinants of inflows of FDI in the two countries and their responses. It mentions concerns about FDI policies and statistics. Moreover, charts depicting FDI inflows and gross domestic product (GDP) growth of both countries are also featured.

This article examines, empirically, whether financial deepening has contributed to poverty reduction in India. Using unbalanced panel data for 28 Indian states and union territories covering seven time periods (1973, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1999 and 2004), we empirically analyse whether financial deepening has any effect on poverty. Empirical results clearly indicate that financial deepening significantly decreases poverty, controlling for international openness, inflation rate and economic growth. These results are robust to changes in the poverty ratios in rural areas, urban areas and the whole economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the process of convergence and catching-up among major Indian states during 1980/81-2004/05-a period of economic liberalisation and accelerated economic growth, and also analyses the factors that enhance economic growth and lead states towards an identical steady state. In particular, we examine the role of agricultural conditions in this process. Results indicate absolute divergence in income levels across states. However, after controlling for structural characteristics of states there is a strong tendency of convergence among states. Physical infrastructure and human capital are found to enhance economic growth, but alone are not sufficient for convergence. For convergence, the investment in physical infrastructure and human resources should be accompanied by a reduction in employment pressure on agriculture by improving labour market linkages of agriculture with non-agricultural sectors, and by promoting growth-enhancing labour-intensive agricultural technologies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and India are rapidly growing, labor-abundant economies with very different export mixes. China is more integrated into global production sharing for manufactures, while services exports are more important for India. Even assuming India integrates more comprehensively into global production chains, there will be opportunities for rapid growth in both countries. Improvement in the range and quality of their exports can create substantial welfare benefits for the world, and for China and India, and can offset the terms-of-trade losses otherwise associated with rapid export growth. Most countries will need to respond to increased competition in some sectors, and to greater opportunities in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the agrarian questions on India's semi-arid tropical agriculture in India. One agrarian question asks what kind of capitalist transformation has taken place in the semi-arid tropics and this transformation has been dynamized both through commercial capital and through profits, rent, savings and investment. The second agrarian question asks how agriculture provides resources to the non-agricultural sector in the course of development. This second question was answered by U. Thorat, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who said agricultural savings are still required in forms that can be invested in the rural non-farm economy.

This paper focuses on the vulnerability of rural households to poverty when a negative crop shock occurs. The analysis is based on the ICRISAT panel survey of households in a semi-arid region in south India during 1975-84. Using a dynamic panel data model that takes into account effects of crop shocks, an assessment of vulnerability of different groups of households is carried out. What is somewhat surprising is that even sections of relatively affluent households are highly vulnerable to long spells of poverty when severe crop shocks occur. As such crop shocks are frequent in a harsh production environment, there must be a shift of emphasis in anti-poverty measures from meeting income shortfalls among the poor to enabling the vulnerable to protect themselves better against these shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While several studies in regional economics and development economics have repeatedly suggested that selected regions are capable of exerting powerful growth impulses on national growth and development, there are studies in the literature which have raised doubts about the existence of transmitting growth impulses from one region to another. The objectives of this paper are to test whether there are any significant growth-transmission effects across Indian states and to examine whether institutional improvements induced through economic reform have improved such transmission effects. Using data from both pre- and post-1991 economic reform, this study suggests that the growth impulses passing from one state to another have been limited, although it appears to have increased in the post-reform period What is evident from this study is that the structure of the state economies, in terms of their sectoral composition, and the quality of their human capital and infrastructure, is a relevant variable from the policy point of view in boosting the growth spillover effects from the leading to the lagging states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part II. Presents an essay that analyzes the group-based and individual piecework arrangements that were steadily becoming the modal form of payment for a variety of agricultural tasks in Gujarat, India. Discussion of differing opinions on broad structural similarities between areas that reveal an employment trend in favor of task-based contracting; Details of work governmentality in theory and in practice; Implications of the study for theories of agrarian change.

There are divergent explanations but common empirical themes in the study of rural entrepreneurship in South and Southeast Asia. Most studies are based on empirical data collection in one country and present their data within an analytical framework that is specific to the particular Asian sub-region concerned. Studies on the entrepreneurial class in South Asia tend to focus on the structural aspects of entrepreneurial behaviour, while studies on the entrepreneurial class in Southeast Asia tend to focus on the cultural aspects of their behaviour. By comparing the findings of field-work among Hindu, Muslim, and Chinese rural capitalists in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, this paper argues that there is sufficient common ground in the type of empirical subject studied for a unified, comparative framework to be developed which will give us a better understanding into the emergence of the entrepreneurial class in both South and Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to analyse the impact of a credit-linked crop insurance scheme--the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS) of India--on crop credit or short-term agricultural credit, especially to small farmers. A dominant view on rural credit institutions is that they are unwilling to extend adequate credit to small farmers on account of the problems of information and enforcement, and that a crop insurance scheme--because it faces similar problems--would make little difference. A common device used in rural credit markets with a view to limiting the consequences arising out of agricultural risk, information asymmetries and enforcement problems is collateral. Small farmers in developing countries do not own adequate land and other assets which can be used as collateral, and consequently face a situation of inadequate availability of credit. The question is whether crop insurance can serve as a substitute (perhaps partial) for collateral. In view of the above facts, this paper addresses the issues whether the CCIS led to a significantly higher flow of institutional credit to farmers, especially small farmers, and whether there was any improvement in the repayment of loan--in other words, whether there was any collateral effect. The analysis is based on empirical data from Gujarat (India). The findings show that there is a significant increase in the flow of credit to insured farmers after the introduction of the CCIS. The expansion is in both coverage and size--there was an increase in the number of borrowers, and also in credit per borrower as well as per hectare. The share of small farmers (with land holdings of 2 ha or less) in the total loan increased from 19 per cent to 27 per cent. There was a significant increase in the repayment of loan in absolute terms--repayment per farmer and repayment per hectare. But it is not clear if the propensity to repay improved. The expansion of credit appears to be what one may call a collateral effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the possible conflict between the creation of long-term employment and the redistribution of land in densely populated countries. Effects of alternative agrarian policies on the variables of employment generation; Information on the Japanese model of land reform; How the growth of agricultural employment was obtained in Punjab, India.