Is Fiscal Policy Contracyclical in India: An Empirical Analysis

The paper empirically examines the validity of Keynesian philosophy of contracyclical variation in fiscal policy to the macroeconomic activity in India. The macroeconomic activity is proxied by ‘output gap’ a concept defined to estimate the index of economic activity. Applying Johansen’s Full Information Maximum Likelihood test of cointegration, it was found that there exists a long run, stable relationship between fiscal policy stance and macroeconomic activity. Further, the causality detection in asymmetric vector autoregression model revealed that there exists feedback mechanism between fiscal policy stance and output gap, which reinforces the Keynesian theory that fiscal stance is contracyclical in nature. The policy implication of these results points to the fallacy of rule-based fiscal policy to contain fiscal deficit, based on the neo-classical assumption that fiscal deficit has detrimental effects through financial crowding out. The results reinforced the role of fiscal deficit not as an evil but as an instrument of short run demand management and also the significance of pump priming.Fiscal stance, Output gap, Contracyclical fiscal policy, Stationarity, Cointegration, Asymmetric vector autoregression

Ubiquitous diffraction resonances in positronium formation from fullerenes

Due to the dominant electron capture by positrons from the molecular wall and the spatial dephasing across the wall-width, a powerful diffraction effect universally underlies the positronium (Ps) formation from fullerenes. This results into trains of resonances in the Ps formation cross section as a function of the positron beam energy, producing uniform structures in recoil momenta in analogy with classical single-slit diffraction fringes in the configuration space. The prediction opens a hitherto unknown avenue of Ps spectroscopy with nanomaterials.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitte

The effect of Pressure in Higher Dimensional Quasi-Spherical Gravitational Collapse

We study gravitational collapse in higher dimensional quasi-spherical Szekeres space-time for matter with anisotropic pressure. Both local and global visibility of central curvature singularity has been studied and it is found that with proper choice of initial data it is possible to show the validity of CCC for six and higher dimensions. Also the role of pressure in the collapsing process has been discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, RevTeX styl

Fiscal decentralisation and gender responsive budgeting in Mexico: Some observations.

Fiscal decentralisation ; Gender ; Mexico

Gender responsive budgeting and fiscal decentralisation in India: A preliminary appraisal.

Fiscal decentralisation ; Gender

"Determining Gender Equity in Fiscal Federalism-- Analytical Issues and Empirical Evidence from India"

Despite the policy realm’s growing recognition of fiscal devolution in gender development, there have been relatively few attempts to translate gender commitments into fiscal commitments. This paper aims to engage in this significant debate, focusing on the plausibility of incorporating gender into financial devolution, with the Thirteenth Finance Commission of India as backdrop. Given the disturbing demographics--the monotonous decline in the juvenile sex ratio, especially in some of the prosperous states of India--there can be no valid objection to using Finance Commission transfers for this purpose. A simple method for accomplishing this could be to introduce some weight in favor of the female population of the states in the Commission’s fiscal devolution formula. The message would be even stronger and more appropriate if the population of girl children only--that is, the number of girls in the 0–6 age cohort--is adopted as the basis for determining the states’ relative shares of the amount to be disbursed by applying the allotted weight. A special dispensation for girls would also be justifiable in a scheme of need-based equalization transfers. While social mores cannot be changed by fiscal fiats, particularly when prejudices run deep, a proactive approach by a high constitutional body like the Finance Commission is called for, especially when the prejudices are blatantly oppressive. Indeed, such action is imperative. The intergovernmental transfer system can and should play a role in upholding the right to life for India’s girl children. That being said, it needs to be mentioned that it is not plausible to incorporate more gender variables in the Finance Commission’s already complex transfer formula. In other words, inclusion of a "gender inequality index" in the formula may not result in the intended results, as the variables included in the index may cancel one another out. Accepting the fact that incorporating gender criteria in fiscal devolution could only be the second-best principle for engendering fiscal policy, the paper argues that newfound policy space for the feminization of local governance, coupled with an engendered fiscal devolution to the third tier, can lead to public expenditure decisions that correspond more closely to the revealed preferences ("voice") of women. With the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, this policy space is favorable at the local level for conducting gender responsive budgeting.Fiscal Decentralization; Federalism; Fiscal Transfers; Gender