Rakesh Basant

ICT Adoption and Productivity in Developing Countries: New Firm Level Evidence from Brazil and India

This paper uses a unique new data set on manufacturing firms in Brazil and India to estimate production functions, augmented by information and communications technology (ICT). We find a strong positive association between ICT capital and productivity in both countries that is robust to several different specification tests. The paper also breaks new ground when using the Indian data to investigate the effect of the institutional and policy environment on ICT capital investment and productivity. We find that poorer infrastructure quality and labor market policy are associated with lower levels of ICT adoption, while poorer infrastructure is also associated with lower returns to investment.

Technology Strategies of Large Enterprises in Indian Industry: Some Explorations

A firm’s technology strategy is influenced by the ‘technology regime’ in which it operates. The regime is broadly defined by a combination of variables capturing industrial structure, nature of technical knowledge and the policy environment. Together, these variables determine the opportunity and appropriability conditions faced by a frim in a well defined industry. Given these broad relationships, a heuristic framework is developed to analyze firms’ technology strategies across industry groups. Four firm level strategies are identified: (i) undertake RD (ii) purchase disembodied foreign technology; (iii) combine (i) and (ii); and (iv) remain technologically inactive, i.e., do neither (i) or (ii). The framework is translated into a multinomial logit model to empirically explore the determinants of technology choices made by Indian firms in two different industries: non-electrical machinery and chemicals. The impact of the following determinants is explored: firm size, capital and material imports, foreign equity participation, and foreign/domestic technology spillovers.

Building technological capabilities in a liberalising developing economy: Firm strategies and public policy

As a consequence of economic reforms, the Indian manufacturing sector faces a variety of technology related challenges. It not only has to quickly develop world-class manufacturing capabilities, but also gear up to develop new products and processes. In this paper we analyse the technology strategies of six Indian firms in different product groups which are trying to build competitive manufacturing and technology capabilities. The linkages between corporate, technology, and manufacturing strategies are explored and the role of complementary assets is studied in order to identify patterns through which these firms are building capabilities of various kinds. Specifically, we evaluate the extent to which firms use supply chains to develop product and process technologies. Some links between public policy and firm level technological capabilities are also explored to identify a few key priorities in the current context

Parental Education as a Criterion for Affirmative Action in Higher Education

Affirmative action, in the form of reservation policies, to address the issues of inclusion has been in place in India for a long time. While its scope has enlarged with inclusion of new social groups, the efficacy remains a matter of debate. This paper explores if parental education is an appropriate criterion for affirmative action. Empirical results using three rounds of the National Sample Survey data suggest that parental education as a determinant of participation in higher education not only transcends the impact of caste, religious, and economic status, it is also very attractive for the ease of implementation.

Access to Higher Education in India: An Exploration of Its Antecedents

Using appropriate measures of participation, this paper explores if the role of socio-religious background and other factors has changed over a period of time. This dynamics of participation in Higher Education (HE) is analyzed by using three rounds of NSS data for the period 1999-2010. [IIMA]. URL:[http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/assets/snippets/workingpaperpdf/7038232532013-05-11.pdf].

Intellectual Property Protection, Regulation and Innovation in Developing Economies - The Case of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

Historically, nations have modified their IP policies to support their development agenda. With the advent of TRIPS, the ability of countries to choose between different IP policy options has reduced considerably but some flexibility remains. Countries have tried to utilize this flexibility for their advantage but in certain respects the choices are difficult. In recent years, certain elements of the new IP regime in India have been vigorously debated in the context of the TRIPS mandated IP policy changes. Given the complex interface between economic development and IP regimes, a variety of arguments have been deployed to argue in favour or against these elements. The paper argues that an evaluation of the IP regime and regulation in developing countries needs to be done in the context of how they facilitate capability building especially through participation of domestic firms in global R&D and production networks. Opportunities for domestic firms to participate in global networks depend on a variety of inter-related factors like emerging technology regimes, changes in global industrial structures, strategies followed by MNCs and capabilities and strategies of domestic firms with respect to innovation. Consequently, the fine-tuning of the IP regime would require an understanding of these developments as well, often in the context of a specific sector. The paper uses this broad heuristic framework to analyze emerging IP policy needs for the Indian pharmaceutical sector and the role of other types of regulation. In the process it also provides some insights on how developing countries with decent technological capabilities can exploit regulatory flexibilities available in the post-TRIPS scenario.

Impact of Affirmative Action in Higher Education for the Other Backward Classes in India

While quota based and other affirmative action remains on the policy radar of nations faced with social inequalities, there is limited evidence informing policy choices at the national level. This paper estimates the mid-term impact of quota-based affirmative action in higher education (HE) in India implemented from 2008, which mandates a 27 percent seats to be reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in public funded institutions of HE. Exploiting the differences in participation across social groups, age cohorts and geographies with varied histories of affirmative action, our triple difference method estimates the impact of the Act by the year 2011-12. Our results indicate that southern and northcentral states that already had quotas in place for a fairly long period of time, do not contribute much in further expansion of enrolment of OBCs; instead, the eastern region, where such a policy did not exist for long has about 0.12 points improvement in enrolment. Our estimates are robust to different specifications and the impact seems to be non-existent amongst the richest. It suggests that future policy initiatives need to be more nuanced considering regional differences in policy histories, supply of institutions and extant rates of HE participation of the disadvantage sections.

Book Reviews : Richard Heeks, India's Software Industry: State Policy, Liberalisation and Industrial Development, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996, pp. 428:

The analysis in this book is based on detailed quantitative and qualitative data collected during the period 1988-.1996 through in-depth interviews, survey and from other primary and secondary sources. The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter one provides a detailed review of the Indian government’s policy towards the software industry and places it in she large context of the industrial policy framework. In the process, it also provides an assessment of the degree to which the policy has been liberalised and in what ways. Chapter two skillfully combines publicly available quantitative data with qualitative information collected by the author to outline the performance of the Indian software industry. The analysis in chapters one and two suggests that there is no clear link

Book Reviews : Charan D. Wadhva, Economic Reforms in India and the Market Economy, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1994, pp. 285+xxix

The explicit recognition by the author that both market and government failures exist and that the policy needs to confront both squarely is the centrepiece of the analysis. This recognition is extremely important, at least in two ways. One, it brings the author closer to the empirical reality which surrounds us. And two, it sets him free from the blinkers of certain paradigms which only see one kind of failure (market or government) as predominant, denying the prominent existence of the other. There is hardly anything in the book with which I do not agree or empathise. Therefore, in the rest of the review I will first attempt a brief summary of the chapters and then focus on a few issues which the book highlights and which, to my mind, are crucial for the success of the

Book Reviews : Hans-Peter Brunner, Closing the Technology Gap: Technological Change in India's Computer Industry, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1995, pp. 219

Technological change in an industry is determined by the technology choices made by the firms in that industry. It is widely recognised now that a firm’s technology choice or strategy is influenced by the ’technology regime’ in which it operates. This regime is broadly defined by a combination of variables capturing industrial structure, nature of technical knowledge (e.g., complexity, cumulativeness) and the policy environ-