From Village Artisans to Industrial Clusters: Agendas and Policy Gaps in Indian Rural Industrialization

This paper offers a broad strategic assessment of the experience of rural industrialization in India. It does so from a policy perspective with the aim eventually of highlighting speci?c outstanding policy issues. Rural and small‐scale industrialization (RSSI) has held a special place in Indian development thinking and policy formulation from the outset. This privileged position, however, does not derive from a universal consensus with regard to the rationale and policy framework applicable to this sub‐sector.However, such has been the symbolic power and populist appeal of RSSI that it has retained its special status within diverse strategic and ideological frameworks. But how has the sub‐sector performed? Is the infant industry still in need of paternalistic protection at the age of ?fty? Are there any credible indications of a strategic break with longstanding policy frameworks inherited from the past? Can any crucial policy gaps be identi ?ed? How well does rural small‐scale industry satisfy the extensive developmental claims made by its proponents? These are the general questions addressed.     

Indebtedness,tenancy and the adoption of new technology in semi-feudal agriculture

The paper seeks to analyse the relationships between usurious money-lending, share tenancy and the incentives for the adoption of new technology by the semi-feudal landlords who typically combine the roles of landowner and money-lender vis-á-vis the tenants. It is argued that in a labour-abundant economy, ‘tenant-indebtedness’, by itself, is not likely to restrict the adoption of technological improvements. The adoption of new technology does not automatically improve the economic conditions of the tenants, nor does it necessarily transform the semi-feudal relations of production into capitalist ones.     

How buyers forecast: Buyer–seller relationship as a boundary condition of the impact bias

People frequently overestimate the impact of an event when they imagine it, relative to when they actually experience it. This phenomenon, known as the impact bias, has been well established as an intrapersonal phenomenon. We extend it to the inherently interpersonal marketing setting involving buyer?Cseller dyads in which the two entities are bound by a relationship, and propose a moderating effect based on the strength of the buyer?Cseller relationship. An online panel study and three laboratory experiments provide converging evidence such that the impact bias emerges when the buyer?Cseller relationship is strong, but disappears when the relationship is weak.     

Interpretability and mean‐square error performance of fuzzy inference systems For Data Mining

Over the years, many methods have become available for designing fuzzy inference systems from data. Their efficiency is usually characterized by a numerical index, the mean‐square error. However, for human–computer cooperation, another criterion is needed; the rule of interpretability. This paper analyses two kinds of fuzzy inference system: fuzzy clustering algorithms to organize and categorize data in homogeneous groups, and grid partitioning (generated from data or given by experts) of the multidimensional space. The methods are compared according to mean‐square error performance and an interpretability criterion. Simulation results carried out on a forecasting problem associated with stock market are included. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and distribution: A critique of the cross-country U-hypothesis

This paper questions the validity of a modern paradigm, viz., the U-Hypothesis. It argues that notwithstanding contrary claims, the recent cross-country econometric studies by Ahluwalia and others have little in common from a methodological point of view with Kuznets' earlier intertemporal national studies. Ahluwalia's cross-country U-Curve is found to be based on defective statistics and questionable methodological premises. In specific, the estimation of one U-Curve from observations on both LDCs and DCs is criticised. A sample restricted to the LDC group considerably weakens support for the U-Hypothesis. Further, even marginal variations in the data set lead to the virtual disappearance of Ahluwalia's empirical relationship. The paper concludes that the cross-country U-Hypothesis is more of a hindrance than an aid to our comprehension of the relationship between economic growth and income distribution.     

Does it Matter that we do not Agree on the Definition of Poverty? A Comparison of Four Approaches

While there is world-wide agreement on poverty reduction as an overriding goal of development policy, there is little agreement on the definition of poverty. Four approaches to the definition and measurement of poverty are reviewed in this paper: the monetary, capability, social exclusion and participatory approaches. The theoretical underpinnings of the various measures and problems of operationalizing them are pointed out. It is argued that each is a construction of reality, involving numerous judgements, which are often not transparent. The different methods have different implications for policy, and also, to the extent that they point to different people as being poor, for targeting. Empirical work in Peru and India shows that there is significant lack of overlap between the methods with, for example, nearly half the population identified as in poverty according to monetary poverty but not in capability poverty, and conversely. This confirms similar findings elsewhere. Hence, the definition of poverty does matter for poverty eradication strategies.     

Currency of Search: How Spending Time on Search is Not the Same as Spending Money

Search theories suggest that a decline in search costs increases search behavior. This relationship has been well supported by prior experimental research but not by studies conducted in retail settings. Our review of the literature suggests that this discrepancy might be driven by the fact that prior experiments typically involve money-based search whereas actual search in retail settings is usually time-based. We argue that the currency of search plays a moderating role. We find that when participants spend money on search, a decrease in search costs has a significant effect on search decisions but, when they spend time on search, a decrease in search costs either has a relatively weak effect (Experiment 1) or no effect at all (Experiment 2). Furthermore, this insensitivity in time also emerges for search payoffs (Experiment 3). We also offer evidence for the processes underlying these effects. Our results provide a new lens to examine inconsistencies in the search literature, and present a view of search that is more applicable to the retail context.     

How can banks and finance companies incorporate value chain factors in their risk management strategy? The case of agro-food firms

A value chain framework for guiding the financial firms in their credit decisions is urgent, as the current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, but missing in the extant literature, particularly for those that lend to industries sensitive to value and supply chain bottlenecks. This study creates knowledge in value chain finance, a big untapped and un-researched market. It constructs, confirms, and validates a value chain framework for assessing risks in lending to Agro and Food Processing firms in which value chain risks are major business concerns globally. To pursue the objectives of the study, we use a novel methodology that integrates the Modified Delphi technique, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and discriminant analysis. Based on testing and analysis of primary data, including loan data, a framework comprising six factors is proposed for use in conjunction with existing risk assessment models of finance companies to improve the quality of their credit decisions, contributing to their performance sustainability.