Madras School of Economics

M. Litt., University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom, 1974, recipient of Tassie Medallion of Adam Smith and
Common Wealth Scholarship awarded by the Govt. of UK

Ph.D.,University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom,1979

Research Interests
Public Finance, Macroeconomics, Fiscal Federalism, Applied Econometrics, Applied Econometric Forecasting

Curriculum Vitae [pdf]

Profile

Publications

Teaching

Current Research

Books and Reports

Finance Commission: Issues of the Southern States, Madras School of Economics (co-editor and lead article)

Issues in Indian Public Finance (2005), New Century Publications, New Delhi.

State Level Fiscal Reforms in India (2006) in 2 volumes (co-edited with Prof. M.Nararsimhulu), Indian Economic Association (contains selected papers presented in the 82nd Indian Economic Conference, held in Thiruanathapuram), Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi.

Uttar Pradesh: Medium Term Expenditure Policy (2005), National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Study sponsored by Resource and Expenditure Commission, Uttar Pradesh, November 2005.

Uttar Pradesh: Reforming the Budgetary System (2005), National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Study sponsored by Resource and Expenditure Commission, Uttar Pradesh, November 2005.

India: Fiscal Reforms for Poverty Reduction (2004) with Case Studies of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh, Report prepared for the Canadian International Development Agency, NIPFP, mimeo : The output of the study was organized in terms of 7 papers:(1)India: Fiscal Reforms for Poverty reduction: Approach, Trends and Issues, (2)Sampling Design and Survey Instruments, (3)Case Study of Madhya Pradesh, (4)Case Study of Chattisgarh, (5)Case Study of Uttar Pradesh,(6)Case Study of Uttaranchal, and (7)Summary, Comparative Perspective and Conclusions.

On-lending External Assistance to Sub-national Governments in Indonesia (2002), Study sponsored by the Asian Development Bank under its program for studies on Public Sector Management and Implication for Decentralization. This study makes a comparative evaluation of alternative systems of on-lending to sub-national governments and advocates the case for central intermediation in external assistance and proposes reforms for on-lending mechanisms in Indonesia dividing grants into three categories of highly concessional, semi-concessional and non-concessional. This study was carried out partly in Jakarata, Indonesia and partly in New Delhi.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers for Equitable In-Country Growth – Country Study: India (2001), Study Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi (mimeo).

Expenditure Assessment for Provincial Councils in SriLanka (2001) This study was part of a project on Fiscal Devolution in SriLanka sponsored by the UNDP. The study was carried out partly in Colombo and partly at NIPFP in New Delhi. This study proposes a normative methodology for assessment of expenditures of the Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. These assessments can then be used for determining grants to the provincial councils by the central government. In this study, two important sectors, namely education and health were studied as Case Studies.

Budgetary Subsidies in India: Subsidising Social and Economic Services (Co-author)(2001), Study Sponsored by the Planning Commission, Government of India, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi (mimeo).

Assam: Study of State Finances (Co-author)(2001), Study Sponsored by the Government of Assam, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi (mimeo).

Uttar Pradesh Development Report: Study of State Finances (Co-author)(2001), Study Sponsored by the Planning Commission, Government of India, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi (mimeo).

Fiscal Federalism in India: Contemporary Challenges – Issues Before the Eleventh Finance Commission (2000) (ed.), Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Government Subsidies in India (Co-author) (1997), NIPFP. The book is based on the study sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India which formed the basis of the Discussion Paper on `Government Subsidies in India' which was brought out by the Ministry of Finance in May, 1997 and presented to Parliament. This Discussion Paper led to a country-wide debate on the role of implicit and explicit budgetary subsidies in India. This work provides a detailed methodology for estimating implicit budgetary subsidies in India covering both central and state budgets and argues that budgetary subsidies in India are large amounting to close to 14 per cent of GDP. These subsidies often are poorly targeted, inefficiently administered and regressive.

External Assistance to India: Concessionality and Transmission to States, study sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, September, 2000.

State Fiscal Studies: Assam (1999), NIPFP, study sponsored by the World Bank.

State Fiscal Studies: Kerala (1999), NIPFP, study sponsored by the World Bank.

Evasion of Excise Duties: Case Studies of Copper, Plastics and Textiles, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, 1984 (Author of the first part of the book relating to Copper); Based on the Report submitted to the Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India entitled `Evasion of Excise Duties: Case Study of Copper', 1982.

Elasticity, Buoyancy and Time-Trends in State Tax Revenues, Non-Tax Revenues and Expenditures (Reports and Estimates submitted to the Seventh Finance Commission in 3 Volumes), 1977, NIPFP (mimeo).

Present State of the Indian Economy (Co-author), Oriental Publishers, Allahabad, 1974.

Elements of Economic Analysis (Published in 2 Volumes) (Co-author), Macmillan, New Delhi, 1975-76.

Macroeconomic Analysis, Kitab-Mahal, Allahabad, 1972 (Co-author, in Hindi).

Effects and Elasticities in Economics (Co-author), Tata-McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 1971

Articles

Fiscal Policy Rules in India: Impact and Reassessment in Conference Volume on "National Income and other Macroeconomic Aggregates in a Growing Economy", VKRV Rao Centenary Celebrations, Sage Publications, India, forthcoming.

Reforming India’s Fiscal Transfer System: Resolving Vertical and Horizontal Imbalances” (with Dr. C. Rangarajan), Economic and Political Weekly, June 7,2008, also published as MSE Working Paper No. 31, 2008.

“Fiscal Decentralization at the Sub-State Level In India: Some Lessons From
Kerala in M. Oommen (ed.) “Fiscal Decentralisation to Local Governments in India”, Cambridge Scholars Publications, London, forthcoming.

“Debt Management in States: Emerging Issues” in Rao, M.G, and Anwar Shah (eds.) “Fiscal Management Challenges in Indian States”, Oxford University Press,2009.

“Approach of the Twelfth Finance Commission: An Insider’s View” in Singh, A.K. (ed.) Twelfth Finance Commission, Recommendations and Their Implications for the State Finances, APH Publishers, New Delhi, 2008.

Rural Poverty in Madhya Pradesh: Looking beyond Conventional Measures (co-author), Economic and Political Weekly, February 3, 2007.

FRBM Act and Eleventh Plan Approach Paper, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 41, No. 40, November 4, 2006.

Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt in India: Implications for Growth and Stabilization (in co-authorship with C.Rangarajan), Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XL, No. 27, July 2005; also published as NIPFP Working Paper No. 35, 2005.

Indian Public Finance and the Twelfth Finance Commission (2005): Key Note Address to 85th Indian Economic Conference held at Vishakhapatnam in December 2005, published by the Indian Economic Association as part of Conference Proceedings.

Growth After Reforms (2006) in A Passage to New India, edited by V.S.Arunachalam and Ashok Sarath, CSTEP, Bangalore.

Equalizing Health and Education: Approach of the Twelfth Finance Commission (2006) Working Paper No. 8, Madras School of Economics.

Fiscal Transfers in Australia: Review and Relevance to India, Economic and Political weekly, Vol. 39, No.33, August 14, 2004 (with C. Rangarajan as co-author); Also published as NIPFP Working Paper No.20, 2004.

Fiscal Transfers in Canada: Drawing Comparisons and Lessons, Economic and Political weekly, Vol. 39, No.19, May 8, 2004 (with C. Rangarajan as co-author); Also published as NIPFP Working Paper No.18, 2004.

Dynamics of Debt Accumulation in India: Impact of Primary Deficit, Growth and Interest Rate, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.38, No.46, November 15, 2003 (with C. Rangarajan as co-author); reproduced in Raj Kapila and Uma Kapila (eds.) Economic Developments in India, Vol.73, 2004.

Government Subsidies in India in Favaro, E.M. and A.K. Lahiri (eds.) Fiscal Policies and Sustainable Growth in India, Oxford University Press, 2004( with C.Bhujanga Rao as co-author).

Combating Poverty: Regional Concentration and Fiscal Reforms in Misra, S.N. (ed.) Indian Economy and Socio-Economic Transformation, Essays in honor of Prof. Baidya Nath Misra, Deep and Deep Publishers, New Delhi, 2004.

“India” in Smoke, Paul and Yun-Hwan Kim (ed.) (2002) Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers in Asia: Current Practice and Challenges for the Future, Asian Development Bank, Manila.

Fiscal Federalism in India: Issues Before the Eleventh Finance Commission (Co-author), in Srivastava, D.K. (2000) (ed.), Fiscal Federalism in India: Contemporary Challenges, Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 53-88.

Fragmentation of States and Criteria-Based Fiscal Transfers in India (Co-author), in Srivastava, D.K. (2000)(ed.), Fiscal Federalism in India: Contemporary Challenges, Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 130-146.

On Manu-Kautilya Norms of Taxation: An Analysis Using Laffer Curve Analytics, Discussion Paper No. 1, 1999, NIPFP, New Delhi.

Revenue Sharing in Developing Countries: Role of Population in Criteria - Based Transfers (Co-author), Working Paper No. 3, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, May, 1995.

Can Apparently Progressive Revenue Sharing Criteria Lead to Regressive Responses? An Empirical Question (Co-author), Working Paper No. 2, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, April, 1995.

Revenue Sharing Criteria in Federal Fiscal Systems: Some Similarities and Differences (Co-author), Public Finance/Finances Publiques, Vol. 49, No. 3, 1994.

Revenue Sharing Criteria in Federal Fiscal Systems: A Modified Formula, Working Paper No. 1/94, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, 1994.

On the Role of Population in Criteria Based Revenue Sharing (Co-author), Journal of Indian Institute of Political Economy, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1997.

Revenue Sharing with the Linear Distance Criterion (Co-author), Artha Vijnana, Vol. 39, No. 4, 1997.

Budget Processes and Expenditure Management in India, 20th Anniversary Commemorative Volume on Fiscal Policy, Public Policy and Governance, P. Shome (ed.), NIPFP, 1997.

Some Revenue Sharing Criteria in Federal Fiscal Systems: Some New Insights (Co-author), Working Paper No. 6, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, 1993.

Policy Simulations with a Macroeconometric Model of the Indian Economy, Journal of Policy Modelling, Elsevier North-Holland, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1981.

Measuring Tax Revenue Centralization in Federal Fiscal Systems: A Case Study of India (Co-author), Public Finance/Finances Publiques, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1979.

On Forecasting Non-Corporate Income Tax Revenues in India, Public Finance/Finances Publiques, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1975.

Federal India: Emerging Fiscal and Economic Issues (1999), in V.S. Jafa (ed.), Federal India: Emerging Economic Issues, Indian Tax Institute, New Delhi. An earlier version was published in Seminar, November, 1997.

On Aggregate Measures of Poverty, Bangladesh Economic Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 October, 1988.

Some Recent Macroeconometric Models of the Indian Economy: A Comparative Evaluation, Working Paper No. 3, Department of Economics, Banaras Hindu University, 1988.

Soft Financing of Development Expenditure in India: Some Key Issues, Indian Journal of Economics, No. 268, July, 1987 (Centenary Volume of the Journal).

On the Economics of Entertainment: Optimal Length of Movie Runs (Co-author), Indian Economic Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1, 1987.

On Aggregate Measures of Poverty, Working Paper No. 29, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi (Published subsequently as mentioned at No. 4 above), 1987.

On the Role of Revenue Gap Grants in Finance Commission Awards (Co-author), Indian Journal of Economics, No. 262, January, 1986.

Some Aspects of Economics of Unfair Means in Examinations (Co-author), Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Vol. 5, No. 2, April, 1991.

Spatial Locational Pattern of Educational Institutions in India: A Study of Divergence between Optimal and Actual Patterns (Co-author), in S.C. Nuna (ed.), Regional Disparities in Educational Development, NIEPA, South Asian Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi 1993.

Macroeconomic Models of the Indian Economy: An Evaluation of Forecasting Performance of Selected Models, VARTA, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1980.

Estimating Import Duty Revenues in India, Indian Journal of Economics, Vol. LVI, No. 222, January, 1976.

On the Use of Information Theory in Evaluating Budgetary Tax Revenue Forecasts in India, Asian Economic Review, 1976.

A Note of the Stability Theorem in Uzawa's Two Sector Model, Indian Economic Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1969.

A Note of the Existence Theorem in Uzawa's Two Sector Growth Model, Indian Journal of Economics, Vol. LJ, No. 203, April, 1971.

An Evaluation of Russia's Economic Development 1928 to Kosygin Reforms, University of Allahabad Studies, 1976.

The Case and Evidence for Interfering with Free Trade in Developing Countries, in P.C. Jain and D.N. Chaturvedi (eds.), Essays in Contemporary Economics (in Honour of Prof. J.K. Mehta), Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1975.

Construction of Models in Economics (Model Nirmana: in Hindi) (Co-author), University of Allahabad Studies, 1970.

A Note on Landmarks in the Liquidity Preference Theory of Interest since Keynes, Indian Journal of Economics, No. 188, July, 1967.

The Share of U.P. in All India Major Agricultural Production: A Note on Long - Period Linear Trends (Co-author), Indian Journal of Economics, Vol. XLIX, No. 195, April, 1969.