Scholars and policymakers have unanimously recognized the adverse economic and welfare consequences of inflation. However, relatively less attention is given to inflation volatility and its consequences. Inflation episodes are often more volatile (i.e. inflation fluctuates a lot) in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) as compared to advanced countries. This stylized fact raises the question of how costly is it for the EMDEs, such as India, when they suffer such greater volatility of inflation. At this seminar , Shesadri , Associate Fellow, NCAER presented his paper that evaluates the welfare consequence of high inflation volatility by measuring the resulting loss of output. It shows that developing countries incur far greater loss of GDP—nearly twice—than advanced countries as a result of the high volatility of inflation. This finding re-emphasizes the importance of inflation targeting in the monetary policy frameworks of EMDEs, not dissimilar to the recent approach adopted by the Reserve Bank of India. Rudrani Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy as the discussant of this seminar, provided valuable inputs. Shesadri will also be presenting this paper at the forthcoming thirteenth Annual EEFS Conference to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Women remain severely under-represented in political institutions across the world. The International Political Science Association reports that as of January 2013 women representatives accounted for just over 20 percent of all parliamentarians in the world. Set against the just-completed largest election in the world in India, it is useful to ask why are there so few female representatives in political positions relative to their share in the population and electoral rolls? The gap between men and women has narrowed least in political representation when compared to the gaps in education, legal rights and economic opportunities. Despite the magnitude of the problem, there is little definitive understanding of the factors that might be causing this. Mudit Kapoor discussed his recent study for India, done jointly with Shamika Ravi, on women as political candidates in a representative democracy. The study analyzes data from 50 years of assembly elections at the constituency level from the states of India. The seminar provided a platform for some very interactive discussions led by Dr Maitreyi Bordia Das, Lead Social Development Specialist at the World Bank, Washington, D.C. who was invited at the discussant.
At a seminar held at NCAER, Heather A McKay and Hal Salzman from Rutgers University spoke on “The Changing Role of Community Colleges in the US: Possible Lessons for Higher Education in India.
Community colleges address a mid-level skill gap in the US economy, providing post-secondary technical skills and training for a broad range of occupations. The changing global economy, technology, and employer demands are influencing educational institutions in the US and community colleges in particular, to change their traditional roles and pedagogy. In the emerging models in the US there may be potential technology/pedagogy transfer which could be very relevant for India as it engages in its higher education reform through Rutgers University Students Assembly (RUSA) and other initiatives.
In this seminar, McKay discussed several state-of-the-art community college programmes in the US and how they might relate to the proposed RUSA reforms. Salzman spoke more broadly on the emergence of new approaches to “development,” especially outside of urban, industrial economy models. Researchers and educationists from NCAER and other institutions in Delhi participated in the discussions that were moderated by Meeta W Sengupta from Center for Civil Society, New Delhi.
NCAER presented the quarterly forecast of the major macroeconomic variables based on NCAER’s modelling work at this seminar held in its campus. NCAER’s quarterly report titled “Quarterly Review of the Economy” was released on this occasion.
The QRE provides a comprehensive review of developments in the economy in the agriculture, industry, services, trade, finance, prices, public finance, and macroeconomic sectors. The reports also provide annual macroeconomic forecasts. A review of the economy is prepared each quarter and provided to the subscribers of the Review and to the media.
