Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Economy Reform

In this chapter, I have analyzed economic thoughts of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, mainly economic ideas reflected in his writings such as, ‘The Problem of Rupee: Its origin and its solution’, ‘The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial Decentralization of imperial finance’, It can be said that Indian economy at present is facing many problems similar to that at the time of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as instability of money leading to inflation, its socioeconomic implications and its unequal effects on various strata of society, uneconomical public expenditure and rising fiscal deficits, increasing inequalities of income and wealth, and so on. Are Ambedkar’s economic thoughts relevant to understand these problems as well as to provide its solutions? Analyzing his economic ideology, it can be said that India could have been more inclusive if his ideas had been followed in its true spirit. So we can say that India needs to follow his economic ideology in her short term as well as long term economic planning and policy making to shape Inclusive India.

Fiscal and External Deficits Nexus in GIIPS Countries: Evidence from Parametric and Nonparametric Causality Tests

This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal and external deficits in five European Union countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) using quarterly data for the period 1980:1–2020:1. Literature on the relationship between these series used linear techniques, but generally reported inconclusive results. Nonlinearity has been overlooked even though fiscal policy is likely to exhibit nonlinearity due to its sensitivity to political decisions. To capture this nonlinearity behaviour, nonlinear causality techniques are applied here in addition to the usual linear techniques used in the extant literature. The results show that there is evidence of unidirectional nonlinear causality from trade balances to government deficits in Greece and Italy, and a nonlinear unidirectional causality from government deficits to trade balance in Portugal. The results also indicate evidence of a nonlinear bi-directional causality between the trade and government balances in Ireland and Spain. The policy implication of these results is that governments of these countries need to address fiscal deficits to manage their trade balances. Policies that will improve the countries’ revenue base, such as tax and labour market reforms as well as capital market reforms to engender productivity and increase competitiveness, would be beneficial.

Fiscal Rules: Anchors of Stability

We believe that fiscal rules help to consolidate budgets in the post-Corona period. Fiscal rules reduce fiscal deficits and debt-to-GDP ratios, promote economic growth, mitigate room for fiscal manipulation and encourage politicians to prioritize individual policies.

The concept of political instability in economic research

This article reviews the use of the concept of political instability in economic research, the importance of which has been growing in recent years due to its potentially profound economic consequences. The article explores this concept by working through the definitions, dimensions, and methods of quantification. It also summarizes the results of the theoretical and empirical research on the economic implications of political instability. In contrast with the previous literature reviews, this article is not limited to the relationship between of political instability and one specific macroeconomic phenomenon but intends to summarize the findings of the research regarding its impact on a variety of economic phenomena investigated in the literature. The review covers the most influential publications in this area characterized by formulation of original research hypotheses, use of novel datasets, and development of innovative research methods. The research reviewed shows that political instability has a detrimental effect on economic growth, investment, inflation, fiscal deficits, public debt, and the functioning of financial markets.

Will Malawi’s Inflation Continue Declining?

The main objective of this chapter is to examine and determine the main factors that have driven inflation rate in Malawi since 2001, with a special focus on the period 2013–2019, during which inflation rate has continuously declined reaching 9% in 2019, from 36% in 2013. The chapter also tries to assess whether this decline will continue as per the performance of the underlying economic fundamentals both in the short- and the long-run. The study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model framework to examine the drivers of inflation both in the short- and the long-run using quarterly data, over the period of 2001–2019. The results reveal that reduction in headline inflation has mainly been driven by money supply growth, fiscal deficits, and output growth in the short-run, while only output has driven inflation decline in the long-run. The results also show that after floating exchange rate in 2012, inflation decline has mainly been driven by output growth despite inflationary pressures from the exchange rate and import prices. Model forecasts show that inflation may increase up to 19.4% by December 2020, if money supply growth, fiscal deficits, and exchange rate movements are not taken care of.

Pandemic will worsen Latin American education outlook

Significance As of October 2020, only 13 countries in the region had fully reopened schools, UNICEF says. While in other parts of the world schools have gradually returned to in-classroom learning, in LAC many schools still remain closed. Impacts The longer schools remain closed, the more likely vulnerable individuals will never return to education. Families in the informal sector will struggle to send their children back to school given the expense it represents. Increasing education budgets will be essential post-pandemic but will be a challenge given soaring fiscal deficits.