Suchergebnisse

The main objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which the capital city of Delhi has gained financial autonomy over the years. In order to better understand its progress, the paper compares the periods before and after the submission of the Third State Finance Commission Report of Delhi. The main findings suggest there have been some efforts to reduce reliance on transfers from upper tiers of government and to strengthen 'own revenues' atthe Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). A greater diversification of tax and non-tax revenue sources is responsible for this improvement. In the second period, other tax sources such as corporation tax and electricity tax gained in importance. Non-tax revenues were also strengthened by higher collection of certain components such as conversion charges. However, own revenues have been inadequate to meet growing expenditure requirements, resulting in high revenue expenditure gaps. Further, the growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP has not led to a rise in own revenues for MCD.Rather, the paper finds that higher GSDP and its tertiary sector components are associated with higher expenditures in MCD. As far as local revenues are concerned, higher GSDP is associated with higher transfers, but has no discernible impact on own revenues.

The main objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which the capital city of Delhi has gained financial autonomy over the years. In order to better understand its progress, the paper compares the periods before and after the submission of the Third State Finance Commission Report of Delhi. The main findings suggest there have been some efforts to reduce reliance on transfers from upper tiers of government and to strengthen 'own revenues' atthe Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). A greater diversification of tax and non-tax revenue sources is responsible for this improvement. In the second period, other tax sources such as corporation tax and electricity tax gained in importance. Non-tax revenues were also strengthened by higher collection of certain components such as conversion charges. However, own revenues have been inadequate to meet growing expenditure requirements, resulting in high revenue expenditure gaps. Further, the growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP has not led to a rise in own revenues for MCD.Rather, the paper finds that higher GSDP and its tertiary sector components are associated with higher expenditures in MCD. As far as local revenues are concerned, higher GSDP is associated with higher transfers, but has no discernible impact on own revenues.

The paper is the first to derive and analyse theoretically the equilibrium properties of 'revenue neutral auctions', in the context of tradable pollution rights. By 'revenue neutrality' we mean that the objective of the agency distributing the rights is not to maximize earnings from the auction but to have an efficient allocation of rights by identifying the most deserving buyer through the process. The revenues earned are distributed back to the bidders following a rule. The experimental literature addresses the problem by analysing the behavior of the bidders in a revenue neutral auction but so far there has been no theoretical analysis on the equilibrium properties of such auctions. The analysis is done in a game theoretic framework. We introduce revenue neutral auction as a mechanism for reallocation of rights in the original tradable permit framework (Montgomery, 1972), in a single unit set up. The paper shows that a standard second price auction fails to be incentive compatible if revenue neutrality is introduced in the framework. Also, the efficiency of a tradable permit system with a revenue neutral auction for reallocation of rights is not independent of the initial distribution of permits, which is contrary to what has been established in the original work with a competitive secondary market.

The Limits of Neo-liberal Development Strategies -- Keynes, Working Hours and the Environment -- Rational Expectations: Its Background and Initial Applications in Macroeconomics -- Uncertain R&D Outcomes and Cooperation in R&D -- Simultaneous Estimation of Median Incomes of the American States: a Bayesian Method for Shrinkage Estimation of Multiple Subpopulation Means -- Court efficiency and firm performance: A study on West Bengal -- Informal 'Firm' – Progression or Persistence? A Study of Four Natural Clusters of West Bengal -- Group Formation and Endogenous Information Collection in Microcredit -- International joint ventures in developing countries: a survey of analytical issues -- Investment Slowdown in India: Causes and Implications -- Stock Market Boom and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Cause and Effect -- On Identifying appropriate Volatility Models for India and China -- Exchange Rate Pass-through to Sectoral Import Prices in an Emerging Market Economy: Indian Evidence -- Vertical Fiscal Imbalances in Indian States -- Political Economy of Fiscal Reforms in Indian States -- Tales of Two Understandings of Nature: Epistemology and Morality -- Effect of Energy Prices on Environmental Pollution in India -- Disaster and Informality: An Analysis of Social Conditions of Vulnerability -- Fetching Pails of Water: Examining Households Choice of Drinking Water Sources in India -- Trend in inter-state disparity of well-being in India in the post-Reforms period -- Measuring Entropy-based Consumption Diversity - Welfare incidence in India -- Handloom in West Bengal: Labour Mobility in a 'Traditional' Sector -- Household Self-employment Eliminates Child Labour -- Of Paid Domestic Services: To Care More or Less -- Gulf War Syndrome: The Plight of War Veterans in the U.S -- Foetal Starvation, Economic Adversity and Health: A Difference-in-difference Approach -- Total Factor Productivity Growth of Elementary Education in India and its Determinants

This paper provides an overview of the fiscal problems faced by five urban agglomerations in India, namely, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, and Pune. It analyzes the fiscal health of the five urban agglomerations, quantifies their revenue capacities and expenditure needs, and draws policy recommendations on the means to reduce the gaps between revenue raising capacities and expenditure needs. The main findings suggest that, except for five small urban local bodies in Hyderabad, the others are not in a position to cover their expenditure needs by their present revenue collections. All the urban agglomerations have unutilized potential for revenue generation; however, with the exception of Hyderabad, they would fail to cover their expenditure needs even if they realized their revenue potential. Except in Chennai, larger corporations are more constrained than smaller urban local bodies. The paper recommends better utilization of "own revenue" through improved administration of property taxes, implementation of other taxes, and collection of user charges. It recommends that state governments should explore the option of allowing local bodies to piggyback a small proportion on their value-added tax collections. Another way to reduce the fiscal gap would be to earmark a portion of the sales proceeds from land and housing by state governments sold through their development agencies for improvements in urban infrastructure. The paper also recommends that the State Finance Commissions should develop appropriate norms for estimating expenditure needs, based on which transfers from the state to local governments can be decided.