The framework for the 2004 study was the same as one that was used for the 2003 study because of its potential not only to evaluate a state’s relative development and use of ICT but also allowed a better understanding of a state’s strengths and weaknesses with respect to ICT. IT spending as a percent of GDP in the case of Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, United States and United Kingdom had then ranged between 5.3 to 6.5 per cent; the study tried to answer why did these progressive, cost and growth conscious countries spend lavishly to get networked?
This study attempts to estimate and analyse the level of health-care expenditure incurred by the state governments and households in the rural sector of the major states in India. It studies the interlinkage between public spending and household spending on health care. The utilisation of public and private facilities has also been analysed to provide a comprehensive view of the health sector in the context of the ongoing fiscal adjustment programmes. The household expenditure on health accounts for a major share of about 70-80 per cent of the total health expenditure in India. As a percentage of income, households spend about 5.40 per cent while the government spends only about 1.09 per cent in rural India, according to the 1993-94 data. The structure of spending reveals that the state governments spend largely on personnel in terms of salaries and wages, and households spend primarily on medicines, clinical charges, etc. This suggests that health spending by governments and that by households are complementary and not substitutes. The results of this study indicate a negative association between the overall economic development and prevalence rates of morbidity across the states. The analysis of household expenditure on the treatment of both short-duration and long-duration illnesses by various income levels clearly indicates that as income rises, the expenditure on health care also increases. A substantial proportion of poorer households in rural India depend on public health facilities for the treatment of short-duration and major morbidity. However, patients depend on private health facilities at higher levels of income. Similarly, dependency on indigenous practitioners is also found to decline at higher levels of income. Thus, any move to levy user charges or attempts to recover cost from public health facilities would impose a heavy financial burden on the poorer households and may discourage them from seeking any medical care.
In the globalised world, international borders ought to be mere lines on the map. But recent studies have shown that informal trade barriers still exist, and inhibit trade, particularly so in the developing countries. This can arise due to a host of factors such as complex customs procedures, which sometimes change, and capacity constraints, given limited facilities and/or corruption at the border. However, non-tariff barriers of various sorts and structural impediments are less obvious and perhaps more interesting, but also much more difficult to measure directly. In this context, this paper attempts to quantify the relevant costs resulting from informal barriers that impinge upon trade between India and Bangladesh through the land customs stations (LCSs) at Petrapole (West Bengal) and Benapole (Bangladesh). The study is based on primary data collated through surveys conducted in West Bengal. Our estimates show that the aggregate delay pertaining to all the phases of exports turns out to be approximately four days for a single shipment. It also shows that the additional transaction costs in terms of delays and speed money incurred by the Indian exporters during trading with Bangladesh is about 10 per cent of shipment value. The present study has shown that informal barriers/para-tariff in India-Bangladesh trade are already high and further trade liberalisation without improving the infrastructure would be counterproductive. The paper ends with feasible policy recommendations to make trade between India and Bangladesh more vibrant.
Using NCAER survey data on Human Development in rural India (HDI) (1994), supplemented by other sources, the paper examines the extent of household expenditure on education by different groups of population and the determinants of family expenditures on education. It also measures the elasticity of household expenditure on education to changes in household income on the one hand and government expenditure on education on the other. It has been found that there is nothing like ‘free’ education in India. Household expenditures on education are sizeable; households from even lower socio-economic background—Scheduled Castes/Tribes, low income groups—all spend considerable amounts on acquiring education, including specifically elementary education, which is expected to be provided free to all by the State. Important items of household expenditures consist of books, uniforms and fees. Even in the case of government primary and upper primary schools, students seem to be paying huge amounts of fees—examination and other fees. It is also found that households do not discriminate much against spending on girls’ education; substantial differences exist in household expenditures between expenditure on children attending government schools, government-aided schools and private schools. Among the determinants of household expenditures, household characteristics—particularly household income and the educational level of the head of the household—are found to be important. Other important determinants include demographic burden of the household (size of the household), caste and religion. Generally, gender is believed to be a very significant determinant of household expenditures on education. This is not necessarily true in all cases. School related variables chosen—the incentives such as mid-day meals, uniforms, textbooks and stationery, etc., and the availability of school within the habitation—are also quite important. Coefficients of elasticity clearly show that government expenditures and household expenditures do not substitute each other, instead they complement each other. So if the government wishes to mobilise household finances for education, it is important that the government increase its own allocation to education considerably. Conversely, and more clearly, if government budgets on education are reduced, household expenditures may also decline resulting in severe under investment in education.
A 23-sector, 3-factor and 9-household group computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with neo-classical closure has been used to analyse the impact of international oil price shock on the welfare and poverty of socio-economic household groups. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out to look into the impact of change in the elasticity of substitution between imports of crude oil and domestically produced oil on the household groups.
