Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the adequacy of houses constructed under the PMAY-G scheme in selected mining-vulnerable areas within Paschim Bardhaman District, specifically investigating the program’s effectiveness in addressing the area’s susceptibility. Design/methodology/approach Employing a mixed research approach, this study evaluates the qualitative adequacy of housing using a questionnaire survey conducted in both vulnerable and non-vulnerable zones. A five-point Likert scale is used to gauge housing adequacy with Descriptive Statistics serving as the primary analytical tool. Findings The findings revealed an overarching deficiency in housing across various components, highlighting the precarious living conditions that are prevalent in these areas. Most respondents perceived that the houses provided under PMAY-G are qualitatively inadequate in mining areas compared with non-mining areas. Research limitations/implications These results offer valuable insights for evaluating the efficacy of low-cost affordable public housing in the study area, and suggest measures to enhance the qualitative adequacy of future housing construction. Originality/value This study contributes to the scant literature on the PMAY-G scheme in the context of housing adequacy in the mining zone of India. This analysis may help identify possible sustainable development resolutions and assist policymakers in developing integrated sustainable development strategies.

PurposeThis paper aims to review the relationship between per capita income and aggregate emission in an economy populated by rational agents. According to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, pollution–income relationship is an inverted U-shaped curve. This paper aims to derive that relationship in an endogenous way and extends the relevant literature in an important way.Design/methodology/approachThis paper formulated a general equilibrium model of homogenous population with identical tastes and preferences. Production side is modelled with firms operating in a monopolistically competitive environment. The approach is modelling the economy in an analytical way so that closed form solutions can be achieved. Model simulations have also been performed to get a clear view of results.FindingsThis study shows that increasing returns to scale in abatement technology ceases to be a sufficient condition for the generation of the EKC hypothesis. The general equilibrium structure of the model allows studying the endogenous evolution of income, emissions and prices of the abatement goods in a unified setting.Originality/valueThe paper is novel and original in nature. The results are new in the literature. These results extend and generalise the previous research work in this area in an important way. The sufficient condition that is obtained in this study limits the applicability of EKC in an otherwise identical economy as used in previous literature. Therefore, this paper adds value to the ongoing research related to EKC.

PurposeThe authors study the effect of an exogenous shock in the form of Coronavirus lockdowns on individual default and on default contagion within the microfinance (MF) sector in India. The authors rely on proprietary data obtained from an MF institution for the period from Nov 2019 to Dec 2020. The authors show that default increased to 95.29% in the month of April 2020, when Covid lockdowns were fully in place. However, borrowers bounced back thereafter, either making full or partial payments, so that defaults had fallen to 5.92% by December 2020. Static features of the group lending model like peer monitoring and joint liability help explain 90% of the monthly deficit during Covid lockdowns among uneducated borrowers. Dynamic features such as contingent renewal help explain why defaults were cured quickly through timely repayments. Finally, there is an absence of default contagion at the district level. Indeed, lagged own default explains 96.6% of variation in individual default, rather than contagion through group, village or district-level defaults. The authors conclude that the MF sector is resilient to exogenous shocks like the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use time series panel regressions, as well as cross-sectional regressions.FindingsThe authors find that borrower defaults increased significantly to 95.29% during the month of April 2020, when Covid lockdowns were fully in place. However, borrowers bounced back almost immediately, either making full or partial payments, such that defaults had fallen to 5.92% by December 2020. The group lending model does remarkably well in explaining defaults even during Covid lockdowns. Among the majority (92%) of borrowers who are residents of rural districts, the group lending model appears to blunt the impact of the exogenous shock on rates of default. Indeed, panel regressions demonstrate that the group lending model helps explain 90% of the monthly deficit among uneducated borrowers. Logistic regressions indicate that the group lending model is less persuasive among relatively affluent borrowers residing in semi-urban or urban areas who have some formal schooling. Contingent renewal is shown to be an effective disciplining mechanism when a group does default due to the Covid lockdowns. The authors find that groups who defaulted in April 2020 but repaid the outstanding balance within the next two months were more likely to receive subsequent loans from the lender. On the other hand, groups who defaulted in April 2020 and did not repay the outstanding balance until December 2020 did not receive follow-on financing. Finally, the authors find that lagged individual default is the primary source of individual default, rather than contagion through group, village or district-level defaults.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study is that it is confined to a single MF institution in India.Social implicationsThe authors conclude that the social capital that is the foundation of the group lending model succeeds in limiting both the risk and contagion of default from an exogenous shock, such as the Covid pandemic.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors are the first to examine defaults in the Indian MF sector during the Covid lockdowns in April 2020.

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the pattern of structural transformation and productivity growth of 15 major Indian states at a ten-sector level of disaggregation from 1983 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis has been carried over in a ten-sector disaggregated level through construction of the labour and output data from various micro data sets.FindingsThe majority of Indian states have bypassed the stage of industrialization, wherein labour previously engaged in agriculture has transitioned directly into the modern services sector while skipping the manufacturing. There are no sign of convergence of sectoral productivities and the heterogeneity among Indian states persists throughout the time period. The growth performance of states are not positively associated with the movement of labour across sectors as measured by the structural transformation index (STI). This goes against the narrative that structural transformation help reduce the misallocation of factors. Despite an increase in educational attainment of workers across all sectors, more than one-third of agricultural workers still remain either illiterate or lack formal schooling. Among sectors, construction (C) and trade, hotels and restaurants (THR) have absorbed the majority of workers who have left agricultural jobs. Finance, insurance, real estate and business services (FIRB), electricity, gas and water supply (EGWS) and mining and quarrying (MQ) are the three sectors that have seen significant gains in labour productivity during the study period.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to analyse structural change and productivity growth in the Indian economy using Indian states as critical geographical marker. The results are new and add value to the literature.

PurposeThis paper tries to explain variation in company-level innovation activities based on certain firm-level characteristics in India between 2010 and 2020.Design/methodology/approachProbit and Heckman’s two-step estimation based on panel data consisting of annual consolidated financial statements of 8,529 companies.FindingsFirm-level innovation activities were associated with larger company size, lower age, higher access to digital assets and voluntary expenses on environmental sustainability and social responsibility.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is based on company-level financial statements and hence does not include aspects related to human capital, managerial capacities, participation in the global value chain and collaboration with other industries or academia.Originality/valueThis paper uses alternative measures of innovation such as promotional expenses and holding of intangible assets by companies in India alongside R&D expenditure, which is largely used in the past literature. The company characteristics also include emerging areas such as digitalisation, and spending on environmental sustainability and social responsibility, in addition to the conventional factors such as firm size, age and exposure to exports.

PurposeCOVID-19 has affected the economies adversely from all sides. The sudden halt in production has impacted both the supply and demand sides. It calls for analysis to quantify the impact of the reduction in economic activity on the economy-wide variables so that appropriate steps can be taken. This study aims to evaluate the sensitivity of various sectors of the Indian economy to this dual shock.Design/methodology/approachThe eight-sector open economy general equilibrium Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model has been simulated to evaluate the sector-specific effects of a fall in economic activity due to COVID-19. This model uses an economy-wide accounting framework to quantify the impact of a shock on the given equilibrium economy and report the post-simulation new equilibrium values.FindingsThe empirical results state that welfare for the Indian economy falls to the tune of 7.70% due to output shock. Because of demand–supply linkages, it also impacts the inter- and intra-industry flows, demand for factors of production and imports. There is a momentous fall in the demand for factor endowments from all sectors. Among those, the trade-hotel-transport and manufacturing sectors are in the first two positions from the top. The study recommends an immediate revival of the manufacturing and trade-hotel-transport sectors to get the Indian economy back on track.Originality/valueThe present study has modified the existing GTAP model accounting framework through unemployment and output closures to account for the impact of change in sectoral output due to COVID-19 on the level of employment and other macroeconomic variables.

PurposeThe importance of financial dependence of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on their performance is a relatively unaddressed area of research. Relatedly, whether and to what extent foreign bank penetration exerts an impact in the presence of financial dependence also remains an open question. The purpose of the paper in this regard is to exploit unit-level data on Indian SMEs and assess the independent and interactive effects of financial dependence on SME behaviour, in the presence of foreign banks.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses fixed effects specification to address the issue. In subsequent analysis, this study also uses an instrumental variable approach for robustness.FindingsThe results indicate that financial dependence improves investment and employment, although there is a decline in productivity. These findings differ across size classes of SMEs. Similar is the evidence in the presence of foreign banks. In particular, foreign bank penetration leads to a decline in investment for micro and medium SMEs, although for small SMEs, the impact is found to be the opposite.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the early within-country studies to examine the interface between SMEs and financial dependence and the role played by foreign banks in this regard.

PurposeThis study aims to answer if inter-state migrants in India play a more active role than their intra-state counterparts in labor force participation and entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachA recursive bivariate probit model is used with an instrumental variable (IV) of the total of inter-state migrants in a city over their historical numbers to tackle the endogeneity issue of the migration decision of the migrants.FindingsInter-state migrants did a better job than their intra-state counterparts in labor force participation and female inter-state migrants did a better job than their counterparts in wage employment and being day laborers.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are from IPUMS and there is no updated nationwide data regrading migration and employment for recent years.Practical implicationsA randomized controlled trail can be carried out near the borders of two states where there are both significant amounts of inter-state and intra-state migrants.Social implicationsThe government and international organizations shall focus on cultivating the skills of the female migrants as well as encouraging the entrepreneurship of both types of migrants.Originality/valueThe study focus is on the comparison between intra- and inter-state migrants based on nationwide survey data and the usage of recursive bivariate model and an effective Instrumental Variable.

PurposeNiehaus and Sukhtankar (2013a, 2013b) find that in response to an increase in the public wage rate in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), underpayment of wage and embezzlement rates increase monotonically. This paper aims to investigate theoretically whether the empirical finding of Niehaus and Sukhtankar (2013b) is valid in the long run. The author also verify whether their observation extends to the situation where multiple types of corruption coexist.Design/methodology/approachThe author builds a theoretical model comprising of three individuals – a government official, a landlord and a representative worker. First, the author defines a no-corruption equilibrium where the official honestly reports the employment period to the government. In a two-stage game, the landlord announces the private wage rate in stage one, followed by the worker deciding on the allocation of time between private and public works and leisure. Then the author considers a single type of corruption where the official embezzles a part of public money by over-reporting the employment period. The landlord-worker game remains the same as before. Finally, the author considers multiple types of corruption where alongside embezzlement, the official takes a bribe from the worker for employing her. Here also, the author considers a two-stage game where in stage one, the official and landlord simultaneously determine embezzlement and bribe rates and the private wage rate, respectively. In stage two, the worker decides on the allocation of time. In both types of corruption, the probability of detection increases with the corruption rate.FindingsIn the case of a single type of corruption, the embezzlement rate behaves nonmonotonically in response to an increase in the public wage rate. A similar kind of result is obtained with multiple types of corruption as well.Originality/valueFirst, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no paper prior to this has theoretically modeled corruption in NREGA. Also, the observations of Niehaus and Sukhtankar (2013a, 2013b) is neither valid in the long run nor extend to multiple corruptions.

PurposeWorld over, change of base year in the gross domestic product (GDP) is a standard practice of GDP estimation. However, unless a consistent series of GDP is released with respect to the new base for the earlier period, the existence of multiple growth rates creates problems for applied researchers, policymakers and the general public alike. Faced with such a menu of GDP series researchers often try to interpolate a consistent series of GDP. The main purpose of this paper is to analyses the nature of the data generating process of such multiple interpolated series of quarterly growth rates and tries to discern the consistency of such processes.Design/methodology/approachThe present paper tries to look into the statistical implications and complications of such interpolated quarterly GDP/growth series in India in terms of three series of GDP, namely, with 1999–2000, 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 as its bases.FindingsThe analysis reveals that as a result of a change of base year, the nature of the data generating process of the old and new GDP series could undergo changes and experience different breakpoints. While all these conclusions seem to be valid for GDP growth at quarterly intervals, taking the data at annual frequency is less problematic.Practical implicationsThe observation suggests that in most applied work, researchers may not have the luxury of only working with annual data and certain consistency checks will be necessary to check the veracity of the results based on quarterly data with those based on annual data. Second, moving forward it may be useful for the Authorities to make a transition to a chain-based linking method rather than fixed time-period-based bases as is currently done.Originality/valueThe analysis of Indian GDP in this paper is, perhaps, indicative of the fact that usage of quarterly GDP data is to be handled with caution and it is preferable that any serious empirical analysis uses annual GDP data whenever it is available/feasible. The comparison of GDP growth rates at different frequencies and examining the true nature of the process are quite unique in their contribution towards empirical macroeconomic research.