Mean consumption, poverty and inequality in rural India in the 60th round of the National Sample Survey

This article reports on mean consumption, poverty (all three FGT measures) and inequality during 2004 for rural India using National Sample Survey (NSS) data for the 60th Round. Mean consumption at the national level is much higher than the poverty line. However, the Gini coefficient is higher than in recent earlier rounds. The headcount ratio is 22.9 per cent. Mean consumption, all three measures of poverty and the Gini coefficient are computed at the level of 20 states and 63 agro-climatic zones in these 20 states. It is surmised that despite impressive growth rates deprivation is pervasive, pockets of severe poverty persist, and inequality is rampant.     

Consumer Subsidies in India: Is Targeting Effective?

This article analyses the effectiveness of self-targeting in the Indian public distribution system and shows that implicit targeting leaves considerable scope for improvement. There is a wastage of the associated consumer subsidy in the sense that a substantial amount goes to the non-targeted population while a part of the deserving population is left out of the scheme for various reasons. Hence, it is worth diverting resources to goods which are better targeted from goods which are poorly targeted. That is, even if targeting cannot be improved, switching of subsidies both between goods and areas can lead to improved distribution of subsidies to the poor.     

Towards a More Rational IMF Quota Structure: Suggestions for the Creation of a New International Financial Architecture

The authors of this article argue that, in the absence of a well‐founded quota formula, the very basis of the creation of the IMF as an institution at the centre of international financial arrangements was flawed; that there is no clear rationale for the determinants of quota structures and their weighting scheme; and that the quota allocation as an instrument seeks to target too many objectives. As a result, large and arbitrary cross‐country variations exist in the relative impact of different determinants on the quota shares of different countries. The quota formulas therefore need to be reviewed and an alternative approach evolved, in which emphasis is placed on the size of the economy rather than its openness, along with efficiency parameters. The authors suggest some principles which might underpin redefined quota structures in support of a new financial architecture. They provide illustrative calculations using India as a case study, and trace the impact of the redefined quota structures against the backdrop of the impact of the Eleventh General Review on India’s quota position.