SUSTAINABLE PENSION REFORM IN INDIA: TOWARDS A MARKET-BASED SYSTEM

Market-based pensions are developing slowly in India because of distorting tax rules and draconian investment regulations. Recent reform proposals point in the right direction but fail to address the fundamental issues. Instead of creating large-scale pension policy blueprints, India needs to develop better tax rules, reduce regulation and let markets develop products to meet the needs of the people.     

IMPLEMENTING PROPERTY TAX REFORM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Lessons from the Property Tax in Indonesia1

Indonesia is currently undergoing a major property tax reform. The reform has been undertaken in two steps. First, a new Land and Building Tax was enacted in 1986. This new law dramatically simplified the property tax structure and replaced seven different land-related taxes. Second, the Government initiated a major institutional exercise to strengthen property tax administration. This resulted in a major reorganization of the tax department, the adoption of a “collection-led” implementation strategy, and the introduction of an innovative payment point collection system (SISTEP). Since the enactment of these legal and institutional reforms, property tax revenues have increased dramatically from Rp.154 billion in 1985/86 to over Rp.900 billion in 1991/92. Collection efficiency has improved and enforcement activities have resulted in a historic property seizure for property tax delinquency in October 1991. This paper analyzes the results of the Indonesian property tax reform and identifies lessons for developing countries interested in strategically implementing property tax reform.     

AN ANALYSIS OF PROJECTED URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT COSTS IN INDIA*

There is considerable apprehension concerning the cost of rapid urbanization in developing countries. However, actual costs of urbanization have seldom been computed. This paper provides a relatively simple procedure for making such cost estimates from information which is readily available from executing agencies involved in urban infrastructure projects in India. It is found that infrastructure costs are not systematically different for large and small cities. Differences in costs are more related to differences in physical factors such as geography, terrain, and climate, and especially to the different levels of service standards used. It is also found that the costs of replacement investment assume increasing significance with growing urbanization. Planning activities must therefore give greater emphasis to replacement investments than is generally the case. The main conclusion is that the cost of providing basic urban infrastructure in India can be kept within manageable limits in the foreseeable future provided that modest standards are maintained. The appropriate level of urban infrastructure investment should be roughly double the current level in India.     

WHO WILL RETURN AND WHEN? AN ANALYSIS OF RURAL-TO-URBAN MIGRANTS IN INDIA*

An analysis of temporary migration in India is presented. In particular, the author examines, within a multivariate context, the importance of various socioeconomic factors that influence the future plans of rural-urban migrants and their intended timing of return to the rural area. The data are from a 1975-1976 survey of 1,615 migrant heads of households in Delhi.     

深圳市开放式社会化中小企业支持体系

深圳市中小企业支持体系是以中小企业为特定服务对象，以“多层次、多渠道、多方位”服务为特征的系统网络，由政府、事业单位、社团和行业协会等中介服务机构，以及相关政策法规等组成。     

INTEGRATED SYSTEM, AUTONOMOUS DEPARTMENTS: ORGANIZATIONAL INVALIDITY AND SYSTEM CHANGE IN A UNIVERSITY*

Research on the relationship between computers and organization structure has mainly focused on the probable impact of technology on features of structure, while the effects of structure on technology have been relatively little considered apart from the way ‘organizationally invalid’ systems cause conflict and resistance. In recent processual perspectives, the relationship between technology and organization is seen not as deterministic but as one of mutual influence, with the outcome both for the organization and the technology emerging from interaction among various stakeholders during system development and implementation. This article, using a longitudinal case study, shows how organization structures can impact on the development process so as to alter computer-based systems to a design which is unintended but more consistent with existing organizational arrangements. It also discusses how systems specialists and managers can assess organizational invalidity, and offers a contingent framework for the courses of action to be taken if invalidity occurs.     

EFFICIENCY OF THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: A SUB‐STATE LEVEL ANALYSIS FOR WEST BENGAL (INDIA)

This paper attempts a sub‐state level analysis of health system efficiency, focusing on West Bengal, a low income Indian state. Using a stochastic frontier model, it provides an idealized yardstick for evaluation. Our results suggest that overall efficiency of the public health delivery system remains low due to considerable disparities across districts. This is owing to differentials in availability and utilization of inputs such as the per capita availability of hospitals, beds, and manpower, and adversely affects life expectancy. Overcoming these factoral disparities may help the deficient districts to improve life expectancy. It may require a considerable increase in medical and public health expenditure in rural areas in the state and especially calls for resource mobilization to improve infrastructure facilities and maintain essential supplies at primary health centers. This could be attempted partly through funds from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and by improving rural sanitation in poorer districts.     

DESIGNING ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN A DECENTRALIZED FISCAL SYSTEM

Abstract When external effects are important, markets will be inefficient, and economists have considered several broad classes of economic instruments to correct these inefficiencies. However, the standard economic analysis has tended to take the region, and the government, as a given; that is, this work has neglected important distinctions and interactions between the geographic scope of different pollutants, the enforcement authority of various levels of government, and the fiscal responsibilities of the various levels of government. It typically ignores the possibility that the externality may be created and addressed by local governments, and it does not consider the implications of decentralization for the design of economic instruments targeted at environmental problems. This paper examines the implications of decentralization for the design of corrective policies; that is, how does one design economic instruments in a decentralized fiscal system in which externalities exist at the local level and in which subnational governments have the power to provide local public services and to choose tax instruments that can both finance these expenditures and correct the market failures of externalities?     

IS THERE A CONFLICT BETWEEN COMMERCIAL GAIN AND CONCERN FOR THE POOR? EVIDENCE FROM PRIVATE SCHOOLS FOR THE POOR IN INDIA AND NIGERIA

In many developing countries, private unaided schools are serving the poor in large numbers. Some commentators view their presence as undesirable - in particular assuming that there is a conflict between'commercial gain' and 'concern for the poor'. We show one way in which there is no conflict - the private unaided schools offer free or concessionary places to the poorest of the poor. Using data from a random sample of schools in Hyderabad, India, and a smaller sample in Makoko, Nigeria, we show that such places range from 10–20% of all places offered.