Ankita Mishra

Prices, Inequality, and Poverty: Methodology and Indian Evidence

This paper uses a methodology for evaluating the distributional implications of price movement for inequality and poverty measurement. The methodology is based on a distinction between inequalities in nominal and real expenditure. The conversion of nominal to real expenditure takes into account the varying household preferences. The empirical application to the Indian budget datasets from NSS rounds 50, 55, and 61 shows the usefulness of the proposed procedures. The relative price changes in India have tended to be inequality and poverty reducing as confirmed by formal statistical tests. The result is robust to expenditure dependent equivalence scales. The progressivity of the relative price changes weakened in the second half of our time period as Fuel and Light overtook the composite group called “Miscellaneous” in recording the largest price increase. While the poverty rates registered a decline, which was marginal in the urban areas, there was a sharp increase in inequality.

Pre-conditions for inflation targeting in an emerging economy: the case of India

Abstract: This article looks at the preconditions that an emerging economy needs to fulfill, before it can adopt inflation targeting as a monetary policy regime. The study is conducted using the Indian economy as a case study. We conduct sector-wise analysis of the Indian economy to evaluate the independence of India’s monetary policy from fiscal, external, structural and financial perspectives. Dominance from any of these sectors may divert monetary policy from the objective of maintaining price stability in the economy. Our analysis suggests that among the four dominance issues, the issue of “structural dominance” is the most acute for India. Supply shocks, hitting the economy due to structural bottlenecks, pose a major threat to the independent conduct of monetary policy. This study concludes that inflation band targeting with a wide target range would be a feasible monetary policy option for India.

How does child disadvantage change with age? An analysis of Australian children

Abstract This paper applies a dynamic multidimensional measure of disadvantage to examine how the nature and extent of disadvantage experienced by a child can vary throughout their childhood. We use two longitudinal datasets to track a cohort of Australian children from around 4 to at least 10 years of age, comparing the experiences of Indigenous children to the broader Australian child population. Our analysis confirms that Indigenous children not only experience worse rates of disadvantage than the rest of the Australian child population at all ages, but that this gap widens further as children grow older. For all Australian children, the highest rates of disadvantage are detected in “bullying” and “body weight,” with rates of unhealthy body weight worsening with age. The empirical findings of this study can inform age-targeted policy design; while the methodological contributions have relevance for other countries aiming to target the well-being of disadvantaged socioeconomic groups.