The economics of environmental change and pollution management – issues and approaches from South Asia

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
PARTHA DASGUPTA ◽  
PRIYA SHYAMSUNDAR ◽  
KARL-GÖRAN MÄLER
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Environmental Economics ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Economic Analyses ◽  
Management Issues

This special issue focuses on environmental problems related to poverty and economic growth in South Asia and seeks to illustrate the types of economic analyses that can be undertaken to address these problems. The idea for this issue emerged at the inauguration of the South Asian Network of Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE). The papers presented at SANDEE's inaugural conference demonstrated the need for a tighter connection between environmental and development economics. The study of environmental change in poor countries benefits a great deal from well-established theoretical and empirical investigations of externalities and valuation of non-market goods, the staple of environmental economics as taught in the West. However, it is also closely tied to questions about institutions and why they succeed or fail. The spatial nature of dependence of the poor on local resources also matters. Further, the study of environmental change and of institutions cannot be divorced from policies and economic reforms in poor countries. These are some of the topics discussed in this collection.

scholarly journals Editorial—Using Applied Economics to Study Participatory Irrigation Institutions and their Impact in South Asia

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2056
Author(s):  
Lin Crase
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Applied Economics ◽  
High Status ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Participatory Irrigation Management

For many decades, participatory approaches, with their emphasis on farmer-centred management, have been presented as panaceas for overcoming weaknesses in irrigation systems. Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) has assumed such a high status that it is regularly mandated by donors sponsoring irrigation upgrades in poor countries. However, the success of PIM is mixed, and economic analysis can help explain why PIM might work in some settings and not in others. This Special Issue focusses on PIM and aims to scrutinise its usefulness, particularly in South Asia. The focus on South Asian irrigation is driven by the reality that smallholder agriculture is destined to be the mainstay for this most populous region, at least in the medium term, and finding solutions to raise agricultural productivity is a high priority. The Special Issue comprises nine papers employing several strands of economics, including New Institutional Economics, Game Theory, and Behavioural Economics. A synopsis of each paper is provided in this editorial.

scholarly journals Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-393
Author(s):  
LAURENCE GAUTIER ◽  
JULIEN LEVESQUE
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Anthropological Literature

AbstractThe introduction to the special issue provides a framework to think about the changing conceptions of Sayyid-ness in various historical contexts in South Asia. First, we review some of the sociological and anthropological literature on caste among South Asian Muslims, to argue for a contextualised and historicised study of Muslim social stratification in Muslims’ own terms. Second, we throw light on the fact that Sayyid-ness, far from being a transhistorical fact, may be conceptualised differently in different socio-political and historical contexts. For instance, Sayyid pedigree was at times downplayed in favour of a more encompassing Ashraf identity in order to project the idea of a single Muslim community. Far from projecting an essentialising image of Sayyid-ness, by focusing on historical change, the articles in this collection de-naturalise Sayyids’ and Ashraf's social superiority as a ‘well-understood and accepted fact’. They further shift attention from the debate on ‘Muslim caste’, often marred by Hindu-centric assumptions, to focus instead on social dynamics among South Asian Muslims ‘in their own terms’. In so doing, these studies highlight the importance of the local, while pointing to possible comparisons with Muslim groups outside South Asia.

Determinants of FDI in South Asia: Role of Infrastructure, Trade Openness and Reforms

2012 ◽  
pp. 256-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pravakar Sahoo
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Causality Analysis ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) environment underwent a sea change in South Asian countries during the 1990s, and more so in recent years. Though FDI inflows to South Asian countries have witnessed increasing trends, FDI inflow is still relatively low. In this context, the paper examines the determinants of FDI for South Asian countries with emphasis on infrastructure development, trade openness and reforms. The results reveal that major determinants of FDI in South Asia are market size, labor force, infrastructure stock, trade openness and economic reforms. Further, the panel causality analysis shows that there is a strong relationship between infrastructure development and FDI inflows. Therefore, the South Asian countries need to maintain their growth momentum, improve infrastructure facilities, frame policies for better use of abundant labor force and continue economic reforms with focus on trade policies to attract more FDI.

scholarly journals Special Issue Isna ‘Ashari and Isma‘ili Shi‘ism: from South Asia to the Indian Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-351
Author(s):  
Justin Jones ◽  
Ali Usman Qasmi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Political Science ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

Isna ‘Ashari and Isma‘ili Shi‘ism: from South Asia to the Indian Ocean, edited by Dr Justin Jones of Oxford University and Dr Ali Usman Qasmi of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, is our fifth special issue in recent years. Its articles, by scholars from a range of disciplines - history, religious studies, anthropology, political science - explore the historical and contemporary dynamics of various South Asian Shi’i communities living in, and moving between, places that border the Indian Ocean. Indeed, taken en masse, they demonstrate the enduring vitality of these communities, whose members have responded in a range of ways to the opportunities and challenges of the complex religious, social and political context of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Women’s Collectives and Social Transformations in South Asia: Negotiations, Navigations and Self-making

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-315
Author(s):  
Lipika Kamra ◽  
Debarati Sen
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
International Development ◽  
South Asian ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Development Workers ◽  
Development Discourses

This introduction to the special issue lays out the importance of studying women’s collectives in South Asia. We argue in this issue that it is particularly important to examine collectives in this moment because transformations in South Asian women’s lives are increasingly described in individual terms in state policy and international development discourses. The emphasis on individual empowerment alone, however, effaces the subtle negotiations that women carry out with state actors, development workers, families, the market and their communities through collectives. The articles in the special issue examine how women’s participation in collectives and collective spaces enables them to imagine transformations in their lives. We also discuss the limitations of collectives-led transformation.

Jumpstarting South Asia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradumna B. Rana ◽  
Wai-Mun Chia
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
The World

As is well-known, the seminal work of the late Angus Maddison has established that 2,000 years ago the Indian subcontinent (modern day, South Asia) and China were by far the richest regions of the world. Since the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century, the share of world GDP of the Indian subcontinent had started to decline. This trend reversed somewhat after the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, however, economic growth in South Asia has softened yet once again for several reasons. This book focuses on the slowing pace of economic reforms and outlines a two-pronged strategy to jumpstart South Asian economies. First, South Asian countries should complete the economic reform process that they had begun in the 1980s and 1990s and implement the more microeconomic reforms, namely, the sectoral, and governance and institutional reforms to enhance competition and improve the operation of markets. Second, they should implement the second round of ‘Look East’ policies or LEP2 to (i) link themselves to production networks in East Asia, their fastest-growing markets, and (ii) develop production networks in manufacturing and services within their region. The book argues that the proposed strategy will lead to a win-win situation for all countries in South Asia and East Asia and reinvigorate economic integration within South Asia, one of the least integrated regions of the world. The book also identifies the unfinished policy reform agenda for each South Asian country and the components of the LEP2 that they should implement.

Editorial — Environmental Assessment in South Asia: Underrepresented in the International Academic Literature?

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (02) ◽  
pp. 1601002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urmila Jha-Thakur
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
The World ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Country Specific

Welcome to this special Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) issue on environmental assessment (EA) research in South Asia, which besides this introductory paper includes seven papers contributing to a wider understanding of EA-related practices in the South Asian Region (SAR). Some of the papers are country-specific while others provide useful overviews of a region and/or parts of a region. The collection of papers is a result of a targeted call to researchers taking a special interest on EA issues within SAR. This special issue is timely considering the challenges and rapid growth this part of the world is currently facing. Furthermore, there is a perception that EA-related research in the region is less reported in the academic literature than others. Although this special issue cannot claim to represent all countries in South Asia, it is a step towards narrowing this perceived gap in the literature and in reporting on the emerging trends of EA within the region. It is hoped that this initiative will encourage further SAR EA-related research and publications in the future.

Preface to Sukatha Adhiveshn 2020

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Technology Innovations

Sukatha Adhiveshn; Sukatha meaning happy stories is a special issue Adhiveshn (conference) with the intention to highlight South Asian Appropriate Technology Innovations in different fields of technology. In the post pandemic era we in south Asia need to decouple from reliance on western innovations but foster regionally developed sustainable innovations. Every year a different area of technology specialty will be themed. The flagship publication of the themed conference is Sukatha Adhiveshn with the aim to be the platform of information dissemination on regional appropriate technology innovations, a platform to serve as a hub for regional innovators to tell their stories of innovations serving the rural communities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The contributions published in Sukatha Adhiveshn will highlight innovations that has the potential to uplift the population of the region and contribute to the regional development of South Asia.

scholarly journals Introduction: Institutions and economic development in South Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1657-1667
Author(s):  
ATIYAB SULTAN ◽  
DAVID WASHBROOK
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Policy Failures

The ‘weak’ and ‘flawed’ nature of South Asian institutions has become axiomatic in development discourse, with the persistence of this view outweighed only by its lack of concreteness. The fascination with institutions is noteworthy precisely because the most fundamental questions about them are still under debate: there is little agreement on the definition of institutions beyond generic statements, let alone an established consensus on which institutions engender development. Instead institutionalist explanations float far and wide, netting the blame for various policy failures, with a striking lack of critical inspection. This special issue is an attempt to bring together various perspectives on institutional change and economic development in South Asia in an attempt to problematize the very concept of institutions and their perceived role in fostering economic development. The geographical focus on South Asia furthers a central aim of this collection: to emphasize the contextual nature of institutions. This translates into a need for disaggregating secular institutional theory into its precise constraints and implications for particular spaces, moments, and contexts.

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