Ownership form and contractual ineficiency: Comparing performance of cooperatives and private factories in the Indian sugar industry.

This paper explores the role of differing contractual relationships between sugarcane farmers and sugar factories in india resulting from differing ownership structures. In Maharashtra most sugar factories are cooperatively owned by cane farmers, while in Utter Pradesh most factories are privately owned and purcahse cane from independent peasant farmers. The key incetive problem is that residual claimants to factory profits are inclined to exploit their monopsony power and underprice cane supplied by farmers. This results in undersupply of cane to factories, the extent of which depends on who owns the factory, besides the distribution of land between small and big growers. Predictions of the model are empirically verified from panel data spanning 1982-95 for private and coop factories in the two states. We find that the respective cane price distortions overwhelm the effect of changes in cane quality, technological change, prices or irrigation in accounting for differences in growth of the industry between different ownership forms and regions over this period.

Trade liberalization, imported inputs and factor efficiencies: Evidence from the auto components industry in India

Firm-level data have been used to estimate changes in factor efficiencies_imported inputs being one of them-- over three sub-periods, 1977-84, 1985-91 and 1992-99 respectively denoting eras before liberalization, partial liberalization of the automotive industries and economy-wide liberalization. We see that the average size of firms has increased from that in the protected regime as the degree of liberalization has advanced. We find that the substitutability among inputs changed over the three sub-periods. We also find that the marginal products of all the inputs are very heterogeneous among firms in each period. The distributions of marginal product of labour and domestic materials and has moved to the left in the later periods while that of capital has moved to the right. The distribution of marginal product of imported materials first moved to the right and then to the left as compared to the first period. Overall the smaller firms benefited more in the earlier periods and bigger ones in the last period.

Negative Reality of the HIV Positives: Evaluating Welfare Loss in a Low Prevalence Country

Using primary household data from India we estimate family utility function parameters that measure the relative importance of consumption, schooling of children and health (both physical and mental) and find that mental health is far more important than consumption or children’s schooling in determining household utility. We then estimate that the monetary equivalent of the welfare loss to an HIV family is Rs. 66,039 per month, whereas the losses to an HIV male and female are Rs. 67,601 and Rs. 65,120 per month respectively. These figures are huge given that the average per capita consumption expenditure of the families in our sample is just Rs. 1,019 per month. This huge magnitude is not surprising as it includes private valuation of one’s own life as well as the cost of stigma for being HIV positive. In addition, the annual loss from external transfers (through debt, sale of assets and social insurance) accounts for 2.6% of annual health expenditure and 0.12% of GDP in 2004. The significance of mental health in welfare evaluation can be gauged from the fact that, for an average HIV family, a whopping 74% of the welfare loss comes from aspects of mental health.HIV/AIDS; Mental Health; Physical Health; Welfare Loss; Family Preference

Negative reality of the HIV positives: Evaluating welfare loss in a low prevalence country

Using primary household data from India we estimate family utility function parameters that measure the relative importance of consumption, schooling of children and health (both physical and mental) and find that mental health is far more important than consumption or children's schooling in determining household utility. We then estimate that the monetary equivalent of the welfare loss to an HIV family is Rs. 66,039 per month, whereas the losses to an HIV male and female are Rs.67,601 and Rs. 65,120 per month respectively. These figures are huge given that the average per capita consumption expenditure of the families in our sample is just Rs.1,019 per month. This huge magnitude is not surprising as it includes private valuation of one's own life as well as the cost of stigma for being HIV positive. In addition, the annual loss from external transfers (through debt, sale of assets and social insurance) accounts for 2.6 of annual health expenditure and 0.12 of GDP in 2004. The significance of mental health in welfare evaluation can be gauged from the fact that, for an average HIV family, a whopping 74 of the welfare loss comes from aspects of mental health.

Integrating mental health in welfare evaluation: An Empirical application

This paper presents simple measures of individual and family mental health indices based on axiomatic foundations and integrates mental health into a neoclassical model that allows for proper substitution possibilities in the family preferences and quantifies its significance in family utility. We find that mental health effects are far more important than the effect of consumption or children's schooling in determining family utility. We illustrate the usefulness of our approach by considering the case of HIV/AIDS experience in India. Using our approach, we find that while there are no significant differences in per capita consumption and schooling between HIV and NON HOV families, the cost of HIV/AIDS are still considerably large due to the inclusion of mental health. Integrating mental health in a utility maximization framework helps us quantify these costs.

Child labor and household wealth: Theory and empirical evidence of an inverted-U

Some studies on child labor have shown that greater land wealth leads to higher child labor, thereby casting doubt on the hypothesis that child labor is caused by poverty. This paper argues that the missing ingredient is an explicit modeling of the labor market. We develop a simple model which suggests an inverted-U relationship between land holdings and child labor. A unique data set from India that has child labor hours information confirms this hypothesis. It is shown that the turning point beyond which more land leads to a decline in child labor occurs at 3.6 acres of land per household, which is well below the observed maximum value of and-holding.child labor, land-holding, education, labor markets

Integrating Mental Health in Welfare Evaluation: An Empirical Application

This paper presents simple measures of individual and family mental health indices based on axiomatic foundations and integrates mental health into a neoclassical model that allows for proper substitution possibilities in the family preferences and quantifies its significance in family utility. We find that mental health effects are far more important than the effect of consumption or children’s schooling in determining family utility. We illustrate the usefulness of our approach by considering the case of HIV/AIDS experience in India. Using our approach, we find that while there are no significant differences in per capita consumption and schooling between HIV and NON HIV families, the cost of HIV/AIDS are still considerably large due to the inclusion of mental health. Integrating mental health in a utility maximization framework helps us quantify these costs.

Child Labor and Household Wealth : Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U

Some studies on child labor have shown that, at the level of the household, greater land wealth leads to higher child labor, thereby casting doubt on the hypothesis that child labor is caused by poverty. This paper argues that the missing ingredient may be an explicit modeling of the labor market. We develop a simple model which suggests the possibility of an inverted-U relationship between land holdings and child labor. Using a unique data set that has child labor hours it is found that, controlling for child, household and village characteristics, the turning point beyond which more land leads to a decline in child labor occurs around 4 acres of land per household.child labor ; land-holding ; labor markets

Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Cutaneous Metastasis to Back : A Case Report

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary tumour of the liver. It mostly metastasise to lungs, followed by abdominal lymph nodes and bones. However, cutaneous metastases of HCC are very rare, accounting for 0.2% to 2.7% of all cutaneous metastases. The most common location is the head (usually the face), followed by the chest, the abdomen, and the limbs, but metastasis to back is very uncommon.Presentation of Case: A 63 year old man presented with history of mild fatigue and right upper abdominal pain for two months and a swelling in the back for 15 days. He was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. With biopsy and immunohistochemistry, it was confirmed that the swelling in the back was a cutaneous metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma, which is very rare.Conclusion: Because cutaneous metastases are a very uncommon manifestation of HCC and metastasis to back is even more rare, the present case should increase awareness of their existence

Forest Degradation in the Himalayas: Determinants and Policy Options

This paper summarizes findings from a decade-long project on forest degradation in the mid-Himalayan region of India and Nepal. The analysis is based on LSMS data for Nepal and field work in Indian states of Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh comprising sample surveys of forests, households and village communities, besides commissioned anthropological studies for select villages. The purpose was to ascertain the nature and magnitude of deforestation and degradation from ground-level forest measurements, its implications for living standards of local communities, the contribution of different factors commonly alleged such as local poverty, inequality, economic growth, demographic changes, property rights and lack of collective action by local communities. Principal findings, policy implications and questions for future research are discussed.