District level poverty estimation: a spatial approach

The paper uses the procedure for estimating regional consumer price index numbers based on the estimation of item-specific region wise Engel curves. Given the problem of unavailability of official district level poverty lines, the same are estimated by multiplying the official state level poverty line by the district level price indices estimated taking state as the base region. The poverty measures adjusted for the district level poverty lines, give a clearer picture for the spatial variations in levels of living across the districts of West Bengal, an eastern state of India.Poverty line, Delta method, Cost of living

Earnings efficiency and poverty dominance analysis: a spatial approach

The paper estimates an earnings frontier by the method of Corrected Ordinary Least Squares (COLS) and categorizes households as efficient or inefficient based on some benchmark efficiency score and the estimated frontier. The spatial distribution of the poor and non poor households is then explored by construction of a poverty segregation curve across efficiency zones. Robust poverty comparisons across the efficient and inefficient groups reveal that poverty is in fact higher for the efficient group compared to the inefficient one. The paper thus indirectly supports the “poor but efficient hypothesisâ€.Earnings Frontier, Poverty, Stochastic Dominance, Treatment Effect.

Global Macroeconomic Performance: A Comparative Study Based on Composite Scores

This paper proposes a composite indicator designed to summarise in a single statistic a variety of different facets of macroeconomic performance and assesses relative performances of countries with respect to six macroeconomic variables, viz., the growth rate of real GDP, real per capita GDP, unemployment rate, fiscal balance, rate of inflation, and current account balance. An appropriate mathematical model to aggregate these variables to form composite scores has been implemented by adopting the MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) technique of TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). This allows a parsimonious representation of a variety of different facets of macroeconomic performance and its inter-temporal comparison across countries. The distinctive features of the indicator relate to the domains covered, the normalisation methodology and the weights used for aggregation. Some existing indices like the Okun index and the Calmfors index turn out to be special cases of our proposed index. The data comprising a wide spectrum of countries and spanning the pre- and post- crisis years allow us to capture the effect of the recent global financial and economic crisis on the overall macroeconomic performance of countries relative to others. Not only do the relative performance scores show tremendous variability during the post-crisis years, but the measures of disarray are also at their highest, despite there being overall stability in the country rankings in terms of indicators, which are traditionally relied on, like GDP growth or per-capita GDP. A single graphical plot easily identifies countries that have performed consistently over time, and those whose overall macroeconomic performances have deteriorated sharply relative to others during the post-crisis years

Effects of Market Reforms and External Shocks on Indian Stock Indices: Evidence on Structural Breaks and Weak-Form Efficiency

This study explores stock market efficiency in India after allowing for potential structural changes induced by reforms processes and/or external shocks. The endogenous determination of structural break dates, using mostly Clemente, Montanes, & Reyes (1998) (CMR) methodology, allows us to identify important events in this respect. External shocks such as occasional stock market scams, policy and political regime changes, oil price shocks and the effect of global market meltdowns have caused abrupt or one time changes in the series mean (additive outlier model), while the reforms processes stand out to be the single most important cause for the gradual shifts in the level of stock indices (innovation outlier model). This underlines the importance of institution building and the domestic policy stance in countering external shocks

Design fatigue curves based on small crack growth and crack closure

The propagation behavior of short cracks cannot be studied by linear elastic methods because of the large plastic region near the crack tip, as well as a break down in correlation of the stress intensity factor with the fatigue crack growth rates. The proposed fatigue design approach incorporates a distance parameter in conjunction with linear elastic fracture mechanics and effectively integrates long and short crack growth test data. This distance parameter is a material constant, which allows for the effects of (a) large-scale plasticity, (b) crack closure, and (c) fatigue crack threshold. Furthermore, this parameter successfully predicts fatigue crack growth behavior of short cracks. The practical application of this method is for studying fatigue crack initiation in pressure vessels and is based on the concept that initiation occurs only when the material ahead of the crack tip is damaged enough by cyclic straining. In this paper, the initiation and growth of small cracks have been investigated along with consideration for crack closure. These results provide the design fatigue curves for some typical structural materials and lead to realistic estimates of fatigue lives for materials used in pressure vessels. The techniques outlined in this paper are equally applicable to materials used in aerospace and automotive industries

Characteristic investigation of cutting-force measuring dynamometers

410-417Despite having significant role to measure the forces in tillage, medical and various diagnostic studies, force dynamometers are extensively employed in cutting-force monitoring and measurement. In this paper, an investigation of various cutting-force measuring dynamometers based on characteristics and design has been carried out. Characteristic based investigation helps in deciding about various important parameters in the development of cutting-force measuring dynamometers. Literature available has been studied to cleanly select the characteristic of dynamometer that govern their fundamental design. Various characteristics of dynamometer materials have been discussed. Shape of deforming elements used by researchers in the development of dynamometer has been discussed. Sensing elements that are often used in the development of cutting force measuring dynamometers have been studied with relative merits. Process of calibration for dynamometer with its importance has also been considered. Various metrological features obtained by researchers have been discussed and conformity of calibration procedure to standards like ISO 376 along with IS: 4169-1988 have been considered. The present work will give a newer insight to the researchers in the field benefitting them to understand the characteristic parameters, to make decision in their selection correctly and to have the knowledge of procedural design for the same