Work participation,gender and economic development: A quantitative anatomy of the Indian scenario

This article analyses forces which influence the degree of participation of population in economic activity in a developing economy. In the first stage the relationship between economic development and work participation is examined. The core of the analysis is based on a cross‐sectional study of 306 districts of India, using a composite index of development. The entire analysis is conducted separately for males and females on the one hand, and the rural and urban segments on the other. The oft‐referred‐to inverse relationship between female work participation and economic development emerges to be true in initial stages of development in the rural segment, but not so in the case of the urban segment. In the second stage the role of key socioeconomic and demographic factors, in addition to that of development, has been investigated using a recursive multi‐equation regression model. Finally, keeping in mind the crucial role of education in this context, work participation is analysed in terms of ten disaggregated educational categories.     

Pre‐capitalist modes of production in non‐European societies

This article is an intervention in the debate on feudalism in non‐European societies. The scholarly isolation of those working in the field is deplored; the difficulties associated with the concepts of mode of production and social formation are discussed; strong exception is taken to the position that the feudal mode of production is a universal category applicable to all societies; and it is further argued that universal laws of feudalism, comparable to those of capitalism, have never been identified. The author suggests that Marxist historians should abandon the concept of mode of production. Rather, history should be studied in terms of a succession of dominant relations of production.     

Do Means of Program Delivery and Distributional Consequences Affect Policy Support? Experimental Evidence About the Sources of Citizens’ Policy Opinions

Political Behavior - Recent scholarship argues that citizens’ support for specific government programs in the United States is affected by the means through which benefits are delivered as...     

Sadot mbandha and abhisadot mbandha

The few abbreviations employed in the body of the article are explained in the bibliography.The main point of this article was briefly stated at the Sanskrit syntax session of the South Asia Language Analysis conference held at Ithaca and Syracuse in June 1987.     

What Will Improve Governance?

Misgovernance in India ranks among its toughest problems to solve. Despite decades of seemingly progressive legislation, there is a simmering dissatisfaction even among those for whose benefits the legislation is designed. The electoral debacle of the UPA government in the parliamentary election of 2014 can be partly attributed to the disenchantment that a vast majority of people felt toward the governance issues. We argue that dynastic politics is the hallmark of many political parties in India and it prevents the emergence of meritorious leadership. Just as we need the process of creative destruction in the economic arena for sustained growth, we need a similar process in the political arena so that local leaders are chosen on the basis of their performance. The success of the new government at the center will depend on whether they succeed in jettisoning centralized decision making and moving the political process in this direction.     

Review

Abstract

The black economy, also known as the parallel or underground economy, is an intrinsic part of Indian economic life today: almost no one can escape its tentacles. Many attempts have been made to define, understand, analyze, diagnose, and apply appropriate remedies for this malaise. However, it has not been possible to define the concept clearly and unambiguously, get an accurate estimate of the size of the problem, fully understand the mechanisms of how it affects the overall economy, or find suitable policies for its containment and eventual elimination. It is one of the most intractable problems facing policy makers in India and other countries. The historical perspective is important in understanding the growth and persistence of the black economy in the developing countries, and colonialism with its distortions of the economies of the colonized countries is often overlooked as a contributing factor.