Laxmi Narayan

Growth of Public Debt in Haryana – Dynamism or Misplaced Priorities

The paper made a comprehensive analysis of public debt and outstanding liabilities on Haryana with a view to understand whether public debt is used for accelerating growth and development or it is result of misplaced spending priorities by the incumbent governments mainly by opportunistic pre-electoral manipulations. The paper analysed trends in various dimensions of public debt in Haryana such as deficit indicators, decomposition of gross fiscal deficit, financing pattern of gross fiscal deficit, composition of outstanding liabilities, uses of borrowed funds etc. for the period 1980-81 to 2015-16 using yearly data from studies of state finances report of RBI. To understand current situation of debt sustainability and trends in debt sustainability the paper used indicator based approach and econometric estimation of fiscal response function. The paper highlighted that level of debt in relation to repaying capacity of the state is not high but the uses of borrowed funds need to be directed for the productive purposes. Besides testing our main hypothesis of debt sustainability, the paper also made a comparative analysis for the pre-FRBM and post-FRBM period and also for the election cycle years and normal years.

Do Caste, Religion and Education Matter in Slums: Evidence from Selected Slums in Faridabad

This paper examines whether caste, religion and education explain household differences in income and expenditure in the slums. Based on data collected from the selected slum households in the Faridabad the study exhibited the difference in household income and expenditure are not explained by caste, religion and education. The study investigates whether income and expenditure undergo changes with passage of time in the selected slums of different ages and find that slums differed significantly in income and expenditure by their age but these differences are explained by intensity of work efforts and not by caste, religion, and education. With passage of time housing, sanitation, hygiene, education, and citizen services improve in slums but it does not guarantee better income and consumption standards.

Literature and Economics-Connections and Leverages

The paper studied the relationship between Literature and Economics with a view to identify connections and leverages. By extensive literature survey, the study highlighted the potentials and possibilities of using literature by economics teachers and students and vice-versa. The evolution of literature, the various movements and trends in history of literature, rise and decline of particular genre can be interpreted in terms of changes in material conditions, and consequent changes in economic structures and economic relations. On the other hand literature can be used as source of information to study the material conditions, economic structures and economic relations of a society at a particular time. The paper provided some of the studies identifying different aspects of economics and its linkages with the field of literature and literary criticism. It reveals a lot of potential to use literature for not only explaining, understanding teaching and learning economics but also expanding and readjusting paradigmatic boundaries of economics by absorbing the not so quantitative human parameters that are more tangible than the quantitative and quantifiable abstractions.

Analysis of Public Debt and Fiscal Sustainability at Sub National Level: Case of Haryana

Sound Management of Public Finance at sub-national level is important for efficiency and effectiveness of government intervention programs. The state government presented ‘White Paper on Haryana State Finances’ in an attempt to capture the trends of financial instabilities and weakness in State Finances. In this backdrop, the paper analysed state finances to understand debt sustainability of the state for the period 1980-81 to 2014-15 using debt sustainability i.e. domar-debt sustainability approach, indicator analysis and budget constrain approach. Paper found that though the state finances of Haryana are well managed as broad trends do not indicate major problem of sustainability but constraints started to be visible as debt accumulation is rising alongwith pressure of debt burden. Interest payments as percentage of GSDP and as percentage of revenue expenditure have declined with time but maturity profile of outstanding state government securities indicates that from year 2018-19, interest repayment burden is likely to increase as 22.9 percent of its securities will be maturing during 2018-20 period. Traditional debt sustainability indicators support the view that debt liabilities of the state are sustainable but debt sustainability position of Haryana on debt sustainability indicators vis-à-vis other NSC states for the period 2010-11 to 2014-15 has deteriorated. The state is required to increase its revenue base by following a prudent fiscal strategy by enhancing its own non-tax revenues through user charges and by recovering cost from government services.

Relationship between Urbanisation and Economic Growth: A Causality Analysis for India

The paper investigates the causal relationship between economic growth and urbanisation in India, utilising World Development Indicators (WDI) data over the period 1960–2013. The period is chosen according to availability of data. On the basis of modern econometric techniques, the dynamic causal relationship between economic growth and urbanization has been examined. At the first step each variable was tested for unit root. If the variables contain a unit root, the second step is to test whether there is a long run co-integration relationship between the variables. If a long-run relationship between the variables is found, then VECM Granger Causality Test is subsequently used to examine the direction of causality. The paper found urbanisation deficit in India, indicating level of urbanisation lesser than mandated by per capita GDP level. Our results for India indicated that economic growth had a positive causal effect on urbanisation, but urbanisation, in turn, does not have causal effect on economic growth.