Socio-economic Impact Assessment of Livelihood Security in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture on the Tsunami-hit Lands of Andaman

Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to major natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides and bushfires. Tsunami, which is a recent addition to this list, had occurred in the early morning of 26th December 2004, after a massive earthquake of 9.2 magnitude on the Richter scale in Andaman & Nicobar islands, resulting in the submergence of large area of farmland, and subsequent drying up of water bodies. It caused moisture stress for the standing crops, livestock and fisheries and affected the livelihood of the people to a large extent. In this context, the present study has been carried out to make the socio-economic impact assessment of livelihood security in agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture on the tsunami-hit lands of Andaman. Data have been collected from 150 sample respondents and the survey has been conducted for two periods, pre-tsunami and post-tsunami. The results have indicated that tsunami has ravaged the households, standing crops, farm inputs such as seed, feed and implements, livestock and poultry population, their sheds, fish ponds, etc., thereby affecting the basic livelihood security of the people in Andaman. The rehabilitation measures taken by the government and NGOs have improved their livelihoods by reviving agriculture considerably in the subsequent years and by creating employment opportunities in various farm and non-farm activities. The paper has suggested creating profitable livelihood security to vulnerable sections of the society in the existing socio-economic penury with holistic intervention of the community, government and NGOs.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Mechanism Experiments and Policy Evaluations

Randomized controlled trials are increasingly used to evaluate policies. How can we make these experiments as useful as possible for policy purposes? We argue greater use should be made of experiments that identify behavioral mechanisms that are central to clearly specified policy questions, what we call “mechanism experiments.” These types of experiments can be of great policy value even if the intervention that is tested (or its setting) does not correspond exactly to any realistic policy option.

Behavioral Economics and Tax Policy

Behavioral economics is changing our understanding of how economic policy operates, including tax policy. In this paper, we consider some implications of behavioral economics for tax policy, such as how it changes our understanding of the welfare consequences of taxation, the relative desirability of using the tax system as a platform for policy implementation, and the role of taxes as an element of policy design. We do so by reviewing the logic of specific features of tax policy in light of recent findings in areas such as tax salience, program take-up, and fiscal stimulus.

Analyzing the Information Sharing Practices and Barriers in Supply Chain of Automotive Industries

Information sharing and technology remain one of the key factors of coordination amongst the parties in a supply chain. Supply chain efficiency is highly important as today�s competition is no longer between companies, but between supply chains. Information sharing can increase supply chain efficiency by reducing inventories and smoothing the production. The purpose of this study is to assess the status of the supply chain information sharing practices in Indian automotive industries. This study is focused on identifying the types of information shared, determining the level of information sharing , usage of Information Technology (IT) tools and identifying the barriers of information sharing. Data for this study is collected from the respondents of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian automobile industries. Frequency analysis is employed to derive the results from the survey

Why Don't People Insure Late Life Consumption? A Framing Explanation of the Under-Annuitization Puzzle

Economic

Gender issues and livelihood pattern of migrant women labourers of farm families

Migration of labour is getting feminized especially in the developing countries like India in the recent past, and more so in Odisha state that face acute migration where farm women migrate for a better livelihood option. In the milieu, the present study was carried out to document the gender issues and livelihood pattern of migrant women labourers of farm families from Odisha. The study sourced data from a survey conducted in the labour congregating areas of Bhubaneswar during 2011-12. Highest percentage of women labour migrants were within the age group of 26-35 (40%) and lowest number was found within 56-65 age group (4%). Ninety two per cent of the respondents were wage labourers and among them, a majority (52%) of women performed both construction and road work, and 40% performed only construction work. A majority of the respondents (42%) earned a monthly income ranging from rs.` 2 000 to `rs. 3 000 and their total monthly family income varied from `rs. 5 000 to `rs. 8 000. However, 68% of the respondents saved their income for the future requirements and 32% of the respondents were living hand-to-mouth life due to a large family size. The income of majority of respondents ranged from rs.` 2 000 to rs.` 3 000 per month and their family income was also within the range of rs. 2 000 to rs.` 8 000. Moreover, a meager amount of money was sent to the family at origin which is not even sufficient to purchase cereals and pulses. The study concludes that, adoption of effective and efficient region specific strategies through entrepreneurial skills coupled with some profitable agricultural business ventures will curtail the rate of rural migration

Why Don't People Insure Late Life Consumption: A Framing Explanation of the Under-Annuitization Puzzle

Rational models of risk-averse consumers have difficulty explaining limited annuity demand. We posit that consumers evaluate annuity products using a narrow "investment frame" that focuses on risk and return, rather than a "consumption frame" that considers the consequences for lifelong consumption. Under an investment frame, annuities are quite unattractive, exhibiting high risk without high returns. Survey evidence supports this hypothesis: whereas 72 percent of respondents prefer a life annuity over a savings account when the choice is framed in terms of consumption, only 21 percent of respondents prefer it when the choice is framed in terms of investment features.

Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence from Medicare Drug Plans

Consumers need information to compare alternatives for markets to function efficiently. Recognizing this, public policies often pair competition with easy access to comparative information. The implicit assumption is that comparison friction—the wedge between the availability of comparative information and consumers’ use of it—is inconsequential because information is readily available and consumers will access this information and make effective choices. We examine the extent of comparison friction in the market for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans in the United States. In a randomized field experiment, an intervention group received a letter with personalized cost information. That information was readily available for free and widely advertised. However, this additional step—providing the information rather than having consumers actively access it—had an impact. Plan switching was 28 percent in the intervention group, versus 17 percent in the comparison group, and the intervention caused an average decline in predicted consumer cost of about $100 per year among letter recipients—roughly 5 percent of the cost in the comparison group. Our results suggest that comparison friction can be large even when the cost of acquiring information is small, and may be relevant for a wide range of public policies that incorporate consumer choice.