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Swati Mehta and Baldev Singh Shergill, 2023. Innovation Systems, Economic Development and Public Policy: Sustainable Options from Emerging Economies. Routledge Oxon and New York, 426 pp., £120.00 (Hardback). ISBN: 978-103-22-6605-3.

This article attempts to understand how the processes of livelihood diversification have affected the well-being of households in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The article makes use of primary data to realise the objective at hand. The regression analysis suggests that diversity increases household earnings despite the location. Those residents who have higher education and more tendency to take risk have positive effect on household average earnings, while less number of working members in the household, scheduled caste (SC) and female-headed households have a negative effect on earnings. The study indicates the need to create a favourable environment for dynamic diversification of the rural economy in the state. JEL Classification: Q, Q 00

This article attempts to take up the issue of access to modern technologies and their impact on the welfare of farmer households in the context of India. An attempt has also been made to analyze this issue for different regions of India to provide a comparative picture, which assumes its relevance for holistic policy formulation. The impact of the access of modern agricultural technologies on farmer household welfare is measured by per capita consumption expenditure in rural India. To realize this objective, we utilize farm household unit-level data collected in 2003 (59th Round) by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Descriptive analysis suggests that nearly 59 per cent of the farmer households had not accessed any source of information on modern technology. The outcome variables in terms of per capita consumption (income) expenditure show better performance for those who adopt modern agricultural technology. The logistic regression analysis reveals that controlling for other household characteristics, the access to modern technology has a significant positive impact on consumption expenditure in rural India. From a policy point of view, there is a need to take institutional measures that help small and marginal farmers to increase their earnings through better access to modern farm technology.

This article tries to unravel the linkages between the prevalence of a peaceful environment and the status of economic development amongst different states of India. The central contention hypothesized in the article is that the: crime rate has negative effect on economic growth. However, only those crimes that affect the investment behaviour, lead to lower growth rate. To test the hypothesis, the rate of murder is used as an indicator of crime. Further, the motive of murder is used to distinguish between growth affecting crime and other types of crime. Generally, results indicate large variations in crime rate amongst the states in India. The pooled cross-sectional regression results verified that economic growth is negatively affected by the rate of murder for gain or due to property dispute. Other motives of murder do not show any significant impact on growth rate. The analysis suggests that there is a pressing need to combat crime, having negative impact on investment, to trigger economic growth of the regions.