A Case Study: Impact of International Liberalization on the Indian Economy

This paper, using the Solow growth model looks at the impact of liberalization on India’s economic growth. Additionally, using empirical data, it analyzes the patterns, processes, and characteristics of India’s economic growth. The Solow model explains the long run economic growth via the change in the Solow residuals. This paper defines the Solow residual as International trade. This paper will show that International trade and fewer regulations on exports and imports have ignited high economic growth in India. After the late 1980s, India saw an immense increase in international trade. Led by low tariff rates, India saw a hike in exports and imports and more importantly, foreign investments. With the backing of facts and figures, this paper will show that India has actually benefited in terms of economic growth from international trade. With liberalization, India has not only had success in the macro level, but it has also impacted people in terms of per capita income in the micro level. This paper is broken down into 4 sections. The first section gives an introduction to India and its relevance to the Solow model. The second section explores the theoretical framework of the Solow model. The third section uses the empirical data to examine the impact of liberalization on India (pre and post reformation). Finally, the fourth section is the analysis and conclusion section which compares India to other South Asian counties and gives policy recommendation

Measuring Development through Women’s Empowerment: A Case of Comparison, Brazil & Bolivia

In the past several decades there has been a growing awareness of the importance of women’s empowerment in overall development. It is not sufficient to consider only economic growth, but rather we must also look to human development (and specifically that of women) when observing progress in any country. This can be difficult to define and measure, as one must be sensitive to cultural and historical differences as well as overall standards of living for a society. However, even considering these differences, it is essential that women be equal partners in the development process for their nations to truly be successful on both the international and domestic fronts. In this paper, the author explores the evolution of today’s focus on women and what important patterns of development exist when it comes to women and girls. These fall mainly into four categories—education, health and family, economics and labor, and political activism and representation. This discussion leads to a regional overview of Latin America and an examination of how women stand in each of these categories, baring in mind important cultural roles that still remain. Building on this, the author moves to an in-depth comparison of two countries considered to be on opposite ends of the development spectrum: Brazil, long considered the emerging economy of the region, and Bolivia, a nation that has long suffered from some of the most severe poverty in Latin America. The author explores the general state of women’s empowerment in each country by category and questions how they compare. The author concludes that based on these findings Brazil is not as far in advance of Bolivia as one would think, but that there has been significant development in both countries as well as continuing room for major growth

An Analysis of China’s Economic Reform Using the Neo-Classical Model of International Trade

In the last 30 years China has integrated itself within the global economy, not only contributing to sustained growth within the country’s economy, but also to continuous growth of the economies of its trading partners. This paper discusses the momentous changes regarding China’s economic transformation and movement from a centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. The overarching goal of this paper is to delve into the conceptual foundation for understanding international trade as an engine of growth. The paper compares the economic development in the periods before, during and after economic liberalization, and provides data and graphs to illustrate and verify the economic gains from trade. The theoretical model employed in this paper is the neo-classical model of international trade interpreted by Paul Samuelson. This paper will also discuss China’s accession to the World Trade Organization and the benefits that are inherent in an organization that promotes free trade. The last section of the paper examines the economic growth prospects of China in the near future, as well as the areas of concern that Chinese officials will need to address in order to foster sustained economic growth

International Trade As An Engine of Economic Growth Revisited: A Case of Egypt

The promotion of free trade is one of the oldest policy implications offered by international economic theory. While significant disconnects have historically existed between the politics and the economics of trade policy, the rapid economic growth experienced by the export-oriented Asian countries during the 1960s and 1970s amidst a largely stagnating and trade-restrictive developing world provided a precedent for effective development policy, especially within the world’s less developed countries (LDCs). Free trade arguments have since been championed by a majority of global institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF hereafter), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD hereafter), and the World Trade Organization (WTO hereafter). The argument goes that a reduction in trade barriers will induce greater economic efficiency within LDCs by offering cheaper world prices to domestic consumers (increasing consumer welfare) while creating conditions of competition for domestic producers (forcing domestic production to shift towards the most efficient sectors based upon availability of domestic factors)

Testing the Application of Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem to Contemporary Trade Between Malaysia and Singapore

Since members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement in 1992, trade between Singapore and Malaysia has continued to grow. Historically the economies of these two countries have had different characteristics, however, with Singapore known as a capital abundant country and a world financial center, while Malaysia has traditionally been relatively labor abundant and capital scarce. Because of this sharp contrast in their economies, one would expect that testing the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem using trade data between Singapore and Malaysia would provide stark evidence of the H-O Theorem. That is to say that rather than find an exceptional case, as some past studies have done, this paper has attempted to find a country pair that seems to most closely resemble an idealized trade environment for the H-O Theorem. Thus, should a test find that the key hypotheses of the theory--namely that capital abundant countries export capital intensive goods, and labor abundant countries export labor intensive goods--are not evidenced in the data, then a serious re-evaluation of the theory may be necessary. The paper will first review past tests of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem to determine what relevant studies have been done to date. Following that, export data will be reviewed for several different sectors, dividing them up as either capital intensive or labor intensive. What we would expect is that Singapore is exporting capital intensive goods to Malaysia, and Malaysia is exporting labor intensive goods to Singapore. Further, labor intensive exports will be analyzed as a proportion of capital intensive exports to determine how the labor/capital export ratio compares to the labor/capital abundance ratio for each country

Twin Deficit Revisited: Evidence From India, Pakistan And Mexico

In recent years twin deficit has been a subject of investigation for several authors including Darrat (1988), Day (1998), Evans (1986).  In the decade of 1980s when US deficits behaved much like twins rather than distant cousins, there was a great interest in further research.  Several attempts have been made to explain the reasons of expected casuality between trade and budget deficits.  This paper attempts to test this casuality for trade and budget deficits for the annual data of India, Pakistan and Mexico

Cash Shortages and Black Money: A Look at India\u27s 2016 Demonetization Effect, One Year Later

The decision of demonetization announcement in November 2016, by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, was surprising to the general public and controversial to the economic thinkers. While the opponents of such a step have gone through actual calculation of the cost of demonetization in terms of potential GDP loss (2% as predicted by the former Prime Minister and Oxford Economist, Manmohan Singh) some supporters have pointed out the big benefits of this step. In recent days a talk of demonetization has become a “hot potato” that very few want to hold on to. Politically this has become a subject of acute contention and disagreement with some friends turning into foes just for the position they hold on this issue. In this paper we want to be economically eclectic, and attempt to analyze the real economic costs and benefits of this experiment by keeping away from politics. We intend to ask questions such as, why was this done? What were the consequences faced by the general public when this step was taken? Did we achieve the objectives? and What are the economic opportunity costs of doing this in future? Of course, we do not think that anyone can find all the answers, but the investigation itself is considered to be worthwhile

Surfactant protein D inhibits HIV-1 infection of target cells via interference with gp120-CD4 interaction and modulates pro-inflammatory cytokine production

© 2014 Pandit et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Surfactant Protein SP-D, a member of the collectin family, is a pattern recognition protein, secreted by mucosal epithelial cells and has an important role in innate immunity against various pathogens. In this study, we confirm that native human SP-D and a recombinant fragment of human SP-D (rhSP-D) bind to gp120 of HIV-1 and significantly inhibit viral replication in vitro in a calcium and dose-dependent manner. We show, for the first time, that SP-D and rhSP-D act as potent inhibitors of HIV-1 entry in to target cells and block the interaction between CD4 and gp120 in a dose-dependent manner. The rhSP-D-mediated inhibition of viral replication was examined using three clinical isolates of HIV-1 and three target cells: Jurkat T cells, U937 monocytic cells and PBMCs. HIV-1 induced cytokine storm in the three target cells was significantly suppressed by rhSP-D. Phosphorylation of key kinases p38, Erk1/2 and AKT, which contribute to HIV-1 induced immune activation, was significantly reduced in vitro in the presence of rhSP-D. Notably, anti-HIV-1 activity of rhSP-D was retained in the presence of biological fluids such as cervico-vaginal lavage and seminal plasma. Our study illustrates the multi-faceted role of human SPD against HIV-1 and potential of rhSP-D for immunotherapy to inhibit viral entry and immune activation in acute HIV infection. © 2014 Pandit et al.The work (Project no. 2011-16850) was supported by Medical Innovation Fund of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India (www.icmr.nic.in/)

Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).

Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)

Improved risk stratification of patients with atrial fibrillation: an integrated GARFIELD-AF tool for the prediction of mortality, stroke and bleed in patients with and without anticoagulation.

OBJECTIVES: To provide an accurate, web-based tool for stratifying patients with atrial fibrillation to facilitate decisions on the potential benefits/risks of anticoagulation, based on mortality, stroke and bleeding risks. DESIGN: The new tool was developed, using stepwise regression, for all and then applied to lower risk patients. C-statistics were compared with CHA2DS2-VASc using 30-fold cross-validation to control for overfitting. External validation was undertaken in an independent dataset, Outcome Registry for Better Informed Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (ORBIT-AF). PARTICIPANTS: Data from 39 898 patients enrolled in the prospective GARFIELD-AF registry provided the basis for deriving and validating an integrated risk tool to predict stroke risk, mortality and bleeding risk. RESULTS: The discriminatory value of the GARFIELD-AF risk model was superior to CHA2DS2-VASc for patients with or without anticoagulation. C-statistics (95% CI) for all-cause mortality, ischaemic stroke/systemic embolism and haemorrhagic stroke/major bleeding (treated patients) were: 0.77 (0.76 to 0.78), 0.69 (0.67 to 0.71) and 0.66 (0.62 to 0.69), respectively, for the GARFIELD-AF risk models, and 0.66 (0.64-0.67), 0.64 (0.61-0.66) and 0.64 (0.61-0.68), respectively, for CHA2DS2-VASc (or HAS-BLED for bleeding). In very low to low risk patients (CHA2DS2-VASc 0 or 1 (men) and 1 or 2 (women)), the CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED (for bleeding) scores offered weak discriminatory value for mortality, stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding. C-statistics for the GARFIELD-AF risk tool were 0.69 (0.64 to 0.75), 0.65 (0.56 to 0.73) and 0.60 (0.47 to 0.73) for each end point, respectively, versus 0.50 (0.45 to 0.55), 0.59 (0.50 to 0.67) and 0.55 (0.53 to 0.56) for CHA2DS2-VASc (or HAS-BLED for bleeding). Upon validation in the ORBIT-AF population, C-statistics showed that the GARFIELD-AF risk tool was effective for predicting 1-year all-cause mortality using the full and simplified model for all-cause mortality: C-statistics 0.75 (0.73 to 0.77) and 0.75 (0.73 to 0.77), respectively, and for predicting for any stroke or systemic embolism over 1 year, C-statistics 0.68 (0.62 to 0.74). CONCLUSIONS: Performance of the GARFIELD-AF risk tool was superior to CHA2DS2-VASc in predicting stroke and mortality and superior to HAS-BLED for bleeding, overall and in lower risk patients. The GARFIELD-AF tool has the potential for incorporation in routine electronic systems, and for the first time, permits simultaneous evaluation of ischaemic stroke, mortality and bleeding risks. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362) and for ORBIT-AF (NCT01165710)