An Efficiency Analysis of Micro Units in a Fragile Zone: A Panel Study of the Firms in J&K, India

The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the community development in the developing world. In the fragile and backward regions, it is the micro enterprise that is considered to be the engine of growth and development. Being labour-intensive and requiring lesser capital input, the micro unit start-ups demand lesser investment in plant and machinery, attracting more and more potential entrepreneurs. Over the time, such units gain experience and knowledge becoming more efficient. This article studies the firms located in the fragile and geographically remote region of Jammu and Kashmir. The article uses a panel of 15 years from 2002 to 2016 based on the Annual Survey of Industries data. Using the Stochastic Frontier Analysis, the article studies the MSMEs and the micro units. From the post-estimation, technical efficiency scores are attained for both MSMEs and the micro units. The results reveal that the micro units are more efficient than the MSMEs in general. Tobit regression is used to estimate the technical inefficiency model to determine the factors that contribute to the inefficiency present in the micro units. The results show that there is a negative relationship between the efficiency of the micro unit firms and the asset-liability ratio and the loan-liability ratio, while there is a positive relationship between the private ownership of the firm and the efficiency level. Age of the firm is considered separately to validate the ‘learning theory’ by Jovanovic. The article concludes by suggesting that the government must provide adequate boost and a big-push to the micro units in order to eradicate the widespread unemployment and fragility in the region. JEL Classification: F61, L25

Barriers and Enablers to Women’s Participation in the Workforce: A Case Study from India

Less than one-fourth of women in the working-age group are in India’s workforce. This article draws from multiple studies of a 5-year-long programme that intervened to connect a million underprivileged women to employment opportunities across five Indian states. The article’s objective is twofold. One, identification of the barriers that keep women from joining and continuing in the workforce. Two, documentation of the enablers that the programme devised for women to overcome these barriers. The studies employ qualitative research methodologies to service these objectives, deriving their sampling typologies from the programme’s quantitative monitoring data. We find that severe impediments keep women from the workforce, especially so in the case of underprivileged women. These include curtailed mobility; mismatch in aspirations, education, training and work; first-generation-employee disadvantage; and traditionally gendered work division reinforced by male preference in the new urban economy’s emerging jobs. We schematise the programme’s services as a continual provision of information, counselling and mentorship to enable women to surmount these barriers—from girlhood to their adult lives. The programme design could provide insights for policymaking towards improving women’s participation in India’s workforce.

Women in Agriculture

It is observed that while woman share half the population, the share of women among total main workers has been declining. In view of this, the article studies the trend in women workforce in the agricultural sector from 2004–2005 to 2018–2019 and discusses reasons for the declining trend, various gender related challenges faced by women workforce in agriculture and policies which may be implemented to address the same. JEL Classification: J710, J160, J210

How Maharashtra Invests for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Gender Budget Analysis

Despite being one of India’s most economically progressive states, Maharashtra’s human development trajectory has been plagued by severe inequalities with pronounced gendered implications. In order to unpack the role of the state in responding to the needs of women, girls and transgender persons through policies and budgets, this article deep dives into the public investment for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Maharashtra. We map policy priorities from the State Policy for Women 2014 to schemes and budgets as reported in the state’s first Gender Budget Statement 2020–2021. The study finds there is a large gap between policy and implementation, and that the investment on women, girls and transgender persons is abysmally inadequate. The analysis points to the lack of holistic investment across critical sectors, absence of a transformative enabling environment and insufficient interventions for the intersectional gender needs of the most vulnerable. JEL Classification: H72, H75, I38, J16

Female Labour Force Participation in India: Insights Through Time Use Survey

Labour market employment statistics covers less than 50% of all the work performed each week, and on a gender basis, the coverage is 75% of men’s work and 33% of women’s work (Ironmonger,1999). The Periodic Labour Force Survey (2018-19) results show a gap of 35.4% and 40.6% between male–female LFPR (usual status: principal + subsidiary). About 42.5% of the women (age group 15+ years) are engaged in domestic duties only while 14.2% engaged in domestic duties are also engaged in free collection of goods (vegetables, roots, firewood, cattle feed, etc.), sewing, tailoring, weaving, etc. for household consumption. As the burden of unpaid domestic duties falls largely on the females, their activities go uncaptured. It is, therefore, important to understand the time disposition of women and their burden of work so as to help informed policy formulation inclusive of women. Using the results of the Time Use Survey (2019) and the Periodic Labour Force Surveys, this study tries to better understand the gamut of paid and unpaid economic activities undertaken by women in India and aims to get better insights into the factors affecting the female labour force participation in rural and urban India. This study reflects that the double burden of unpaid domestic and caregiving activities is prevalent irrespective of the education level of the women, the income levels of the household and is equally affecting women in rural as well as urban Indian households. The findings support the fact that the predominance of time disposition on non-SNA activities negatively affects the choice of economic activities undertaken by women and there is a need to address this divide of time disposition of men and women in non-SNA activities in order to increase the female Labour Force Participation. Using cross country comparison of the G20 countries, it is observed that distribution of domestic and caregiving activities among men and women has a positive impact on the labour force participation of women. While it may be difficult to quantify the entire gamut of unpaid domestic and care giving activities into the SNA and come with improved GDP estimate, ways to reduce the burden of unpaid domestic duties can always be thought of as mentioned in the section on policy interventions. JEL Classification: J220

Determinants of Ethiopian Agricultural Exports: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

Although the share of developing countries in international trade has been growing over the last two decades, the share of Africa and Ethiopia in international trade has remained below 3 and 0.3 per cent, respectively. More importantly, despite the colossal effort that has been made by the Ethiopian government to remedy the problem of the export sector over the last two decades, the country has faced a twin deficit: trade deficit and fiscal deficit. As a result, the trade balance of Ethiopia has been worsening through time due to the widening gap between export and import values. Therefore, this study examined the determinants of Ethiopian agricultural exports using the imperfect substitutes’ model as a theoretical framework and system generalised moment method as an analytical model for the period 1998–2018. The regression result of the two-step system generalised moment method showed that gross domestic product, exchange rate, road network, corruption index of Ethiopia, lagged export value, indirect tax revenue and domestic saving are the major determinants of agricultural exports in Ethiopia. However, foreign direct investment and labour force are negatively and significantly related to Ethiopian agricultural exports. Hence, rapid economic growth, currency devaluation, encouraging domestic saving, reducing the tariff on export and better control of corruption would boost Ethiopian agricultural exports. Besides, controlling rapid population growth and directing foreign direct investment to the agricultural sector will also surge Ethiopian agricultural exports.

Does Globalisation Influence Employment? Empirical Investigation on Individual as well as Panel of South Asian Countries

Debate on globalisation versus protectionism was relevant in long back, though prevailing consensus construing protectionism saves job in the short run and slows economic growth in the long run. The objective of the study is to examine empirically whether globalisation affects overall employment generation in the South Asian countries during the period 1991–2016 in individual as well as panel of countries. Having no long-run associations in the majority of the countries, results support that the change in globalisation index makes a cause to change in employment only for Bhutan, while change of growth rate of employment makes a cause to change in the rate of globalisation for Maldives and Nepal. Further, the dynamic panel study fails to establish any long-run relationships between globalisation and employment of the countries of the region. However, in the short run, globalisation makes a cause to employment in the panel format, which is highly unlikely to happen in case of the individual countries. Thus, extent of globalisation and employment generation in the South Asian countries do not have strong inter relationships.

Impact of FDI on Economic Growth in South Asia: Does Nature of FDI Matters?*This article is an outcome of a project supported by South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes under 16th RRC.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is believed to be an important determinant of economic growth in developing countries, but its impact varies across countries. Presence of other determinants (like domestic investment, inflation, infrastructure and external trade) may augment or retard the potential impact of FDI on economic growth. Moreover, due to the non-homogeneous nature of sectoral FDI, the sectoral composition may create differential impact on economic growth. Hence, it is necessary to identify and measure the differential impact of sector-wise (primary versus secondary versus tertiary sector) FDI inflow. Exploring the nature and behaviour of overall and sectoral FDI inflow in South Asian countries in the recent past, this article has taken a holistic approach in studying and analysing the FDI-growth dynamics. The study found that the impacts of FDI in South Asia are indeed influenced by sectoral composition of FDI.

Impact of Trade Restrictions in European and Sub-Saharan Regions

This article investigates the impact of trade restrictions in European and sub-Saharan regions. The study employed annual time series for the period from 1980 to 2019. Based on augmented Philip curve framework, it was found that for the European Union, the trade-off is 4.31 per cent, while it is 2.66 per cent for the sub-Saharan African region. This suggests that the negative effect of globalisation due to trade restrictions is more in developed regions than in developing regions of the world. The implication of the finding is that whether in developed or developing countries, a trade-off exists between globalisation and restricted trade. This has significant bilateral and multilateral trade policy relevance.

What Really Affects Plant-level Productivity?

This article investigates the plant-level characteristics that can affect plant-level productivity. Using Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data from 1998–1999 to 2012–2013, we find that plant-level productivity is positively correlated with the number of products produced in the plant. It implies that the multi-product plants are relatively more productive than plants that produce only one product. We also find that plants are more productive if they enter the export market, and plant-level productivity is negatively associated with the ratio of production to non-production workers. This finding supports the fact that the plants with more skilled labour compared to unskilled labour are comparatively more productive. Additionally, we find that information and communication technology (ICT) has a significant and positive association with a plant’s productivity level.