Researchers Publication

The national discourse can ill-afford the danger of being hijacked by the poor quality of data. Last week demographers from around the world gathered in Delhi to mark 25 years of National Family Health Surveys (NFHS). It was both a celebratory and sombre moment. Policymakers and researchers celebrated tremendous achievements of four rounds of the...   Read More

Putting more money in the hands of the poor who have a high propensity to consume should be the aim of our fiscal policy. Abhijit Banerjee Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer have just been awarded the 2019 economics Nobel for their work on combating poverty. Banerjee Raghuram Rajan and others have also underlined the seriousness...   Read More

Breaking away from the age-old tradition of immersing idols in rivers such as Yamuna this year set a new trend in Delhi. Following the directive of the National Green Tribunal-appointed committee idol immersion in the Yamuna this Dussehra was largely avoided albeit reluctantly by the ritual loving public. Instead the idols were immersed in artificially...   Read More

While we do not question the basic premise that air pollution has adverse health impact we are sceptical about the figures quoted and the methodology adopted in estimating the cost. In the past three years several studies have linked air pollution with health effects. For instance the State of Global Air 2019 published by the...   Read More

On 29 July 2019 the government amended and added to the terms of reference (TOR) of the 15th Finance Commission (15th FC) asking it to “... examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up..." The amendment has been interpreted as an attempt by the Centre to...   Read More

The high logistics costs in India as compared to those in countries that have similar business environments and are going through the same stage of growth is a matter of serious concern for both the country’s manufacturing sector and its comprehensive development as a whole. Several reasons are cited for the high logistics costs in...   Read More

Globalisation has opened up economic opportunities for developing countries in the form of outflow of value-added services, low-cost raw materials , human resource skills, improved market access for their exports, efficiency gains in their economies through technology transfer and spill-over, and resource re-allocations. Consequently, various developing countries, including India, have increasingly begun to position themselves...   Read More

The prevalence of high logistics costs in India as compared to other countries with a similar environment and level of development is a matter of concern as it poses challenges for the manufacturing growth and comprehensive development of the country. Several reasons are cited for the high logistics costs in India, including an unfavourable policy...   Read More

Before making any policy intervention, it is important to estimate the overall logistics costs, including the various associated components/elements in order to understand and identify the problem areas and arrive at meaningful solutions. This NCAER report symbolises a major step in the direction of quantification of logistics costs. Such an exercise, in fact, needs to...   Read More

India’s relatively wet climate offers hope even in today’s dire situation. What is needed is the enforcement of programmes aimed at conserving our most precious resource Water water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink.” These words from an evocative poem by the famous 18th century English poet Samuel Coleridge echo the helplessness of a harried...   Read More

Arvind Subramanian’s paper ‘India’s GDP Mis-estimation’ published in June this year caused a lot of controversy. I was initially sceptical of his argument. But now having heard him at the India Policy Forum at NCAER on July 10 where he presented more data on India’s slowdown I am convinced about the significance of his research....   Read More