Taxation by Auction: Fund-Raising by 19th Century Indian Guilds

We describe a unique institution used by 19th century Indian guilds to raise funds: The guild members agreed that on a particular day all but one of their shops would be shut. An auction would be held to determine which one shop would remain open, and the winning bid would go to the guild funds. We compare this “taxation by auction” mechanism with more conventional tax schemes and show that under certain conditions, not only will a majority of the guild members prefer to be taxed via an auction, but that this form of taxation will be more equitable than other forms.Auctions, Fund-Raising, Indian Guilds, Taxation

Unfree Labour : did indenture reduce labour supply to tea plantations in Assam?

Migration to tea plantations in Assam in the 19th century used indentured contracts. These contracts differed by conditions of harshness. Migration under the Special Act gained notoriety by giving tea planter the right of private arrest. Using a new set of migration by types of contract, the paper assesses if harsh terms of indenture discouraged labour flows. We find that regions using the harsh contract saw lower response to rise in the price of tea. Disaggregating by types of recruiter, we find that the response to market recruitment was high in all regions, but response to recruitment using community networks is statistically insignificant, suggesting that informational asymmetries may be an explanation for continuing migration despite concerns raised by the nationalist movement, social reformers and policy makers

Contracts, Hold-Up, and Exports: Textiles and Opium in Colonial India

Trade and export, it is argued, spur economic growth. This paper studies the microeconomics of exporting. We build a heuristic model of transactions between exporters and producers and relate it to East India Company operations in colonial Bengal. Our model and the historical record stress two difficulties: the exporter and its agents might not uphold pricing agreements, and producers might not honor sales contracts. The model shows when procurement succeeds or fails, highlighting the tension between these two hold-up problems. We analyze several cases including the East India Company's textile venture, the famous Opium Monopoly, and present-day contract farming.

Contracts, Hold-Up, and Exports: Textiles and Opium in Colonial India

Trade and export, it is argued, spur economic growth. This paper studies the microeconomics of exporting. We build a heuristic model of transactions between exporters and producers and relate it to East India Company operations in colonial Bengal. Our model and the historical record stress two difficulties: the exporter and its agents might not uphold pricing agreements, and producers might not honor sales contracts. The model shows when procurement succeeds or fails, highlighting the tension between these two hold-up problems. We analyze several cases including the East India Company's textile venture, the famous Opium Monopoly, and present-day contract farming.

Performance Analysis of Secure Integrated Circuits using Blowfish Algorithm

Security is an essential feature of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Information has to be encrypted at the transmitter side to maintain secrecy and decrypted at the receiver side to retrieve the original information for secure data transmission over insecure computer data communication networks. This paper analyzes the performance metrics of blowfish algorithm with and without Wave Dynamic Differential Logic (WDDL) style to incorporate security against differential power analysis. It compares Encryption Time (Et), Decryption Time (Dt) and Total Time (Tt) of Blowfish, Modified Blowfish with and without WDDL logic for secure Integrated Circuits (SIC) [7, 8]. Modified Blowfish with and without WDDL logic yielded good results compared to Blowfish with and without WDDL logic implementation . This paper is implemented using Xilinx webpack9.2i with Verilog Hardware Description language (HDL)

Comparison of solar output of vertical and inclined solar panels in the high north

Abstract. This thesis presents a comprehensive literature review on the endurance of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in high north conditions and the optimized setup parameters for maximizing their output. To simulate data, PV panels were considered in the high north region of Oulu, Finland, and their output was measured under various setup parameters. The data was then analyzed using SketchUp simulation with the Skelion plug- in to determine the optimized setup parameters that yield maximum output. The findings of the study highlight the importance of tilt angles and orientation for maximizing energy production. The evaluation of different tilt angles, including vertical panels, roof-mounted panels with varying tilt angles, and inclined panels on a carousel, revealed that tilt angles closer to 45 to 47 degrees contribute to improved solar PV performance. Inclined panels exhibited peak outputs during the summer months, while vertically mounted panels performed better during spring. The optimal tilt angle was determined to be 45–47 degrees, enabling effective energy generation throughout the year. The study also emphasized the significance of south-facing panel orientation, which consistently yielded higher energy production compared to other orientations. Furthermore, the thesis suggests future research directions, including the incorporation of complex weather variables, analysis of regional variation and temperature patterns, and the integration of advanced technologies into solar PV system simulations. Overall, this research contributes valuable insights for the design, installation, and optimization of solar PV systems in high north conditions, promoting the adoption of efficient and sustainable solar energy solutions

Gender and Corruption

Using several independent data sets, we investigate the relationship between gender and corruption. We show using micro data that women are less involved in bribery, and are less likely to condone bribe taking. Cross-country data show that corruption is less severe where women hold a larger share of parliamentary seats and senior positions in the government bureaucracy, and comprise a larger share of the labor force.Corruption; Gender; Public policy

Ethnomedicine Against Jaundice Used by Gond Tribes of Adilabad District, Andhra Pradesh, India

The present investigation was performed in order to enumerate the medicinal plants that gond tribes uses for the treatment of jaundice in Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The study revealed that totally 12 plants belonging to 9 families were used to cure jaundice . The plants were used either separately or in combination with some other plant parts.

The Nonexistence of Instrumental Variables

The method of instrumental variables (IV) and the generalized method of moments (GMM) has become a central technique in health economics as a method to help to disentangle the complex question of causality. However the application of these techniques require data on a sufficient number of instrumental variables which are both independent and relevant. We argue that in general such instruments cannot exist. This is a reason for the widespread finding of weak instruments.