Praveen Kulshreshtha

Public sector governance reform: the World Bank's framework

Purpose – Good governance is often regarded as essential for a countrys economic development. The World Banks governance framework has guided development projects and governance reform in many developing nations over the past few decades. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the World Banks approach towards governance reform in the public sector, especially in developing economies of the world.Design/methodology/approach – The paper highlights various aspects of good governance that are relevant to the delivery of social and infrastructural services in developing countries. The paper also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the World Banks governance framework, especially pertaining to social and infrastructure sectors in developing economies.Findings – In light of its past experience, the World Bank has expanded the reach of its developmental activities to incorporate governance reform in accordance with the institutional realities prevailing in a developing economy, instead o...

No return, no refund: an analysis of deposit-refund systems

Firms and governments in developed economies frequently employ deposit-refund systems to promote return and reuse of product packages and containers. We analyze a model of monopoly facing heterogeneous consumers in which recycling (package return by consumers) generates an external benefit. It is shown that when consumer’s preferences over recycling differ, the monopolist can price discriminate between consumers leading to socially suboptimal recycling. In the absence of any externalities, the analysis can be viewed as a model of couponsor mail-in rebateswhich work as price-discrimination devices. The role of government subsidies and additional deposits to eliminate suboptimal recycling is also analyzed. Finally, the model is extended to incorporate hustling, i.e., allowing consumers to recycle packages discarded by other consumers.

Economics, ethics and business ethics: a critique of interrelationships

Present-day economic thinking assumes that individuals always pursue their narrow self-interest or private economic incentives, and hence ignores the influence of ethical motives, such as sympathy and public interest, on human action. This paper focuses on the divergence between economic incentives and ethical motives for action in contemporary life and business. The paper underscores the nature of interrelationships among economics, ethics and business ethics, and highlights the relevance of ancient ethical principles, such as ethics of interdependence and ethics of prudence or self-development, to the development of present-day business ethics. The paper also emphasises the importance of the convergence between economic incentives and ethical motives for action, while stressing the need for a deeper appreciation of business ethics in todays rapidly globalising world.

Productivity Change and Technical Efficiency in Indian Microfinance Institutions

Majority of Indian rural poor lack access to finance and depend on informal sources of finance (e.g., moneylenders). Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), which provide small financial services (loans, savings and insurance) to the poor without any collateral, have emerged as a major source of finance. Greater access and expansion of microfinance services require MFIs in India to enhance their productivity and organizational effectiveness over time. This article examines the changing trends and sources of productivity growth in Indian MFIs, by computing the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index for a panel of 34 Indian MFIs during 2005–2006 to 2010–2011, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The TFP index is decomposed to identify two important sources of productivity change, namely, changes in technical efficiency and technology of the sample MFIs. Technical efficiency change is further decomposed to measure pure technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change in the sample MFIs. The decomposition of TFP index indicates that the productivity of sample MFIs has declined over time, which shows that the Indian MFIs need to achieve significant innovations in technology to enhance their productivity. However, technical efficiency of MFIs has increased on average, which indicates that the managerial and operational effectiveness of MFIs has improved over time.

Efficiency of Thermal Power Plants in India

Thermal power industry plays a leading role in power generation in India. This study employs the stochastic frontier production function methodology to measure the technical efficiency of Indian thermal power plants using latest available panel data. Efficiency varies widely across firms and regions and is timevariant. Mean technical efficiency increased from 79 per cent in 1994-95 to 85 per cent in 1996-97 which indicates that there is scope for raising power production without employing additional resources. The findings can aid policy-makers and international agencies in adopting appropriate strategies to improve power generation in India.

Estimation of Regression Coefficient of a Selected Population

Estimation of parameters of a selected population is a very well-studied problem. To date all researchers have discussed the problem of estimation of either the location parameters or the scale parameters of the selected population(s). In this article this problem is extended to the problem of estimation of the regression coefficient of the selected bivariate population. For two linear regression models it is demonstrated that the problem of estimation of the regression coefficient of the selected regression line can be reduced to the problem of estimation of the mean of the selected population as studied by Dahiya (1974). These theoretical results are applied in portfolio theory and corporate finance. It is our expectation that development of theoretical results in this direction will enhance the applicability of the results on estimation after selection.