Price Changes and Some Underlying Aspects of Measurement of Poverty

The paper deals with effects of price changes on measurement of poverty. It is shown that there are situations, when prices and nominal incomes change, a higher nutritional intake or an increase in commodity consumption of the poor can be associated with higher poverty gaps and a higher poverty index of the society. A positive relationship of this kind is quite counter-intuitive in the context of poverty measurement. This is caused by the adjustment of the poverty line and/or incomes of one situation by the prices of the other for the purpose of comparison.

     

Corporate social responsibility in emerging economies: Investigating firm behavior in the Indian context

Scholars have questioned the appropriateness of using a western‐centric framework to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in emerging economies. This study assesses the appropriateness of using such a framework in one emerging economy—India. More specifically, the drivers of CSR and their impact on firm‐level CSR activity in the Indian context are investigated and compared with those in developed economies. Content analysis of 369 CSR policy statements of publicly traded Indian firms revealed the factors that drive CSR activities of Indian firms are similar to those found in developed economies. However, the ways firms respond to the drivers of CSR are surprisingly different in the Indian context, and these differences can be traced to attributes of the Indian socio‐cultural context. Implications and recommendations for future research conducted in India, and in other emerging economies, are offered.     

An Asian Perspective on a World Environmental Organisation

We analyse the possible response from Asian developing countries (ADC) to the proposal for the formation of an international legal entity called World Environmental Organistion (WEO) designed to facilitate the internalisation of global environmental externalities. We argue that the WEO must recognise the fundamental indivisibility of the economic growthenvironment agenda in these countries. If suitable side payments in the shape of tariff concessions, relaxation of non‐tariff barriers and transfers of technology and cash are made and the WEO is seen to be relevant to the environmental problems of ADC, they may well participate in such a venture.     

Entrepreneurial orientation,intermediation services,microfinance, and microenterprises

This study was conducted to examine the influence of intermediation services on microfinance‐supported microenterprises. Information was collected by using a structured pretested questionnaire from a random section of 366 respondents (from 366 enterprises) from 2 Indian states. Econometric models were used to test the hypotheses, and reliability and validity testing and data analysis were also performed. It was noticed that proactiveness and risk‐taking ability of microenterprises were enhanced when intermediaries emphasize more on the business development services, financial intermediation services, and social intermediation services. Intermediation services of intermediaries impacted on entrepreneurial orientation of microenterprises where networking of microentrepreneurs positively moderated the relationship.     

Fixing income and price targets for the poor in india

The poverty line, generally defined as the minimum income level necessary to enable a person to consume a normatively stipulated basket of goods, is widely used to set income target for the poor. But mere provision of this target income will not lead the poor to adopt the normative consumption pattern. In order to induce them to do so, it is necessary to set suitable price targets along with the income target. An attempt has been made here to fix these targets assuming that the consumers' demand pattern can be represented by the linear expenditure system. A numerical exercise has been worked out for rural India.     

Misaligned Expectations and Non-Cooperative Behavior in Indian Microfinance: Evidence from a Survey

This study examined the causalities of non-performance of self-help groups (SHGs) in the context of polarised institutional expectations in the microfinance ecosystem in India. Institutional approach and stakeholder approach were followed for the investigation. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews (SIs) were conducted to collect data from various institutional stakeholders. It was found that the institutional expectations of each institution from other institutions in the microfinance ecosystem were polarized, misaligned and were antagonistic in nature. Institutional behaviours were governed by their expectations from the microfinance ecosystem. Therefore, the polarized and antagonistic expectations created non-cooperative behaviours and attitudes in the key institutions, which further created a weak performance of the microfinance programs.     

长江中游城市群知识创新合作网络研究

选取长江中游城市群28个城市作为研究区域,基于2006—2017年区域高水平合著论文构建知识创新合作网络,分析网络特征并探讨网络邻近性作用机制。结果表明：网络规模日趋扩大,联系日趋增强并趋于稳定,基本形成了以长沙、武汉、南昌为核心的多中心网络空间结构,且网络节点具有显著等级层次性。通过特征路径长度和集聚系数分析发现,网络具有小世界特征,但无标度特征不明显。QAP回归结果表明,地理、社会、技术和人力资本邻近都对知识合作网络有显著影响。     

Pricing policy and coordination for a two-layer supply chain of duopolistic retailers and socially responsible manufacturer

This paper explores channel coordination and profit distribution in a two-layer socially responsible supply chain that consists of a manufacturer and two competitive retailers. In manufacturer-Stackelberg game setting, the manufacturer exhibits corporate social responsibility and the retailers play Cournot and Collusion games. Besides comparing the optimal decisions of the retailers two game behaviours, the paper analyses the effects of social responsibility on the optimal decisions. It is found that two-part tariff contract resolves channel conflict and provides win–win outcome for a specific range of the franchise fee and it is always possible to find a particular profit split using Nash bargaining product. With increasing social responsibility of the manufacturer, the coordinated wholesale prices of the manufacturer may be both decreasing or ‘U’ shaped and decreasing when the market potentials of the retailers are almost the same or significantly different. Also, at least one coordinated wholesale price is less than the manufacturer's marginal cost. The proposed model is illustrated by a numerical example.     

Selective Mortality and Malnutrition in India

India presents itself as a paradox with low infant mortality and high malnutrition. This paper provides survival bias as an explanation of the paradox. Using pooled health surveys from 1993 to 2005 and a pseudo-panel selection model, this study finds that the change in Height-for-Age Z-Scores (HAZ scores) can be explained by mortality selection. Specifically, children with sample average characteristics that survive have 17.4% less HAZ scores than a child randomly drawn from the population indicating an overestimation of malnutrition in India. This is consistent with the hypothesis of weaker children surviving due to skilled delivery which pulls down the overall HAZ scores. The results are robust to controls for unobservable characteristics of groups of women. Son preference is also apparent in the results. The selection is more evident among male children and in the states where sex selection is historically seen as a problem in India.

     

Marketing Channel Choice and Marketing Efficiency Assessment in Agribusiness

In agribusiness, profitability critically depends on the choice of proper marketing channels. This article studies the factors influencing marketing channel choices of vegetable farmers. Vegetable farmers have generally 3 choices to sell their produce, which are formal and informal market participation vis-à-vis nonmarket participation. Ten independent variables are considered for the study and a multinomial logistic regression model is used for the analysis. The study finds 4 major variables that can influence farmers’ decision to shift from nonmarket participation to informal or formal market participation. The article further identifies 4 microlevel marketing channels and assesses their efficiency.