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2757 items in total found

Working Papers | 2018

Too much care? Private health care sector and surgical interventions during childbirth in India

Mitul Surana and Ambrish Dongre

This paper evaluates the role of the private sector in performing one of the common surgical interventions, i.e. caesarean sections during childbirth in India. We use the latest round of National Family Health Survey to estimate the differential probability of C-section in private medical facilities relative to government facilities. We employ two estimation techniques, Household Fixed Effects and Coarsened Exact Matching, to reduce the extent of selection bias in the choice of delivery location. We also take advantage of a new question introduced in the survey which allows identification of planned C-sections which are more likely to be the result of either demand for C-section or unobservable (in the data) medical risks. We find that the probability of an unplanned C-section is 13.5-14 percentage points higher in the private sector. Given that some of the planned C-sections could be a result of supplier-induced demand, this is a very conservative estimate. Our results suggest that there were potentially 0.9 million preventable C-sections in the private sector in 2016. These results therefore call for a critical assessment of the role of private sector in healthcare in the context of inadequate public provision, expanding private provision and weak governance structures.

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Working Papers | 2018

Risk-sensitive Basel Regulations and Firms' Access to Credit: Direct and Indirect Effects

Balagopal Gopalakrishnan, Joshy Jacob, and Sanket Mohapatra

This paper examines the impact of risk-sensitive Basel regulations on access to debt and cost of debt for firms with varying characteristics around the world, and investigates how firms cope through reliance on alternative financing sources and adjustments to their capital investments. We find that the implementation of Basel II regulations had a significant impact on the credit availability for firms. The results indicate that debt financing has become more difficult for the lower-rated firms in the post-Basel II period. Firms mitigate the shortage in bank credit induced by the regulation through a combination of higher trade credit, lower payouts, and reduced capital investments. In particular, lower-rated firms substitute reduced bank credit with increased reliance on accounts payables. Such firms also lower their payouts to shareholders, in an effort to maintain their liquidity. We also find that the lower-rated firms experience a significant decline in their capital investment in the post-Basel II period, implying an active response to the deterioration in access to credit. Our key results are robust to alternative estimations that control for changes in credit demand and credit supply shocks, and inclusion of bank-specific variables obtained from loan-level information. The findings of the paper substantially contribute to the understanding of the real effects of risk-sensitive bank capital regulations.

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Working Papers | 2018

Impact of Price Path on Disposition Bias

Avijit Bansal and Joshy Jacob

Recent experimental studies have illustrated the influence of price-path, particularly the `non-straight price-path on several aspects of investor behavior. The paper computes a proxy for price-path based on Cumulative Prospect Theory and with investor- level high-frequency trade data from the commodities futures market, demonstrates that the nature of the price-path significantly impacts the degree of disposition bias, after controlling for the level of returns and volatility of the commodity. We find that the experience of a favorable (unfavorable) price-path, decreases (increases) disposition bias among the traders with Prospect Theory preferences. The decline (increase) in disposition bias is an outcome of the decline (increase) in the propensity for gain realization, accompanied by a concurrent increase (decline) in the propensity for loss realization among the traders. We conjecture that both investor preferences and beliefs about future price movement, inferred from the price-path experienced, influence their trading decisions.

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Working Papers | 2018

Study of Retail Electricity Consumers' Response and Perception Regarding Electricity Consumption

Krishnendranath Mitra and Goutam Dutta

The price of retail electricity is restricted by regulations and have not increased at a same pace with the ever-growing demand of electricity. However, there exists a considerable amount of consumer surplus that can be harnessed by the electricity industry to improve the quality of service. In this paper we make an attempt to understand some characteristics of household electricity consumer demand. We performed an empirical, descriptive research and used inductive reasoning. Quantitative and qualitative primary data was collected through a questionnaire administered in Microsoft Excel format from 173 respondents. We propose a suitable present and future market segmentation of the retail electricity market based on several demographic and perceptual parameters respectively. We also analyze the demand price relationships and the price elasticities of demand for four appliances. We find that the willingness-to-pay is nearly five times the present average price of electricity. We also present perceptual distances for the future market related to adoption of dynamic prices and renewable energy by consumers.

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Working Papers | 2018

Impact of the Proposed GST on the Consumer
Price Index in India

Sebastian Morris, Ajay Pandey, Sobhesh Kumar Agarwalla, and Astha Agarwalla

Fears that the movement to GST would add to inflation have been unfounded. In this study we ex-ante estimate the impact the movement to GST would have on inflation and show that it would be very marginal at best. The inflation argument to have multiple rates is therefore weak. The impact on the CPI is worked out by considering each item that goes into the CPI with the weights as in the CPI (drawn from NSS 2011-12). The problem in computation is that for some items there are multiple rates of overall tax (either Sales or Excise or both) within the same item as in the CPI. This issue has been handled by working with alternative of minimum existing rate, maximum and simple average to show that even when the minimum rate is used the impact on inflation in a shift to GST is minimal. However the difficulties and issues with GST may lie elsewhere as in the proposed double till, the destination basis which would have to be studied for their differential impact across industries and states.

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Working Papers | 2018

Lender Moral Hazard in State-owned Banks: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Balagopal Gopalakrishnan, Joshy Jacob, and Ajay Pandey

We examine the credit risk-choices of the public sector banks (PSBs) in India with a novel dataset that is able to trace the borrowers to their banks. We determine the likelihood of the ownership type of the lender bank associated with every firm, using a lender type prediction model with a set of observable risk proxies such as the ex-ante credit ratings. The analysis indicates that the PSBs are more likely to lend to observably risky firms compared to the private banks (PBs). The observed likelihood of lending to riskier firms is significantly higher among the smaller PSBs. The set of firms that majorly contribute to the higher credit-risk choice of the PSBs include the riskier service-sector firms, firms that borrow by pledging promoter shares, and firms that are likely to be impacted by the change of political regime.

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Working Papers | 2018

E-commerce in oligopsonistic and relational markets – An empirical investigation of transaction costs in agricultural e-markets in India from farmers' perspective

Argade Aashish and A. K. Laha

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Working Papers | 2018

Grapevine or Informed Selection: Significance of Quality Attributes in India's Emerging Wine Market

Satish Y. Deodhar, Swati Singh, and Nikita Tank

Indian wine market is in a nascent state as compared to its counterparts in Europe, America and Asia. However, with rapid growth in GDP and consequent changes in lifestyle, the absolute size of the market is growing rapidly. The market size was about Rs. 3 billion in 2008 and by 2015 it had already reached Rs. 6 billion. Wine is a highly differentiated product, characterized by the presence of multifarious quality attributes. In this context, it becomes imperative to know the premiums attached to different wines and their attributes, resulting from selections made by producers and consumers. We undertake a hedonic price analysis of retail wine prices and their quality attributes. Results indicate that Ceteris Paribus, there is no premium attached to red wines in general over white wines. Reserve wines and a select few red wines do earn a premium though. Substantive premium is earned by foreign brands. Wines with higher alcohol content, club-shaped bottles, and cork closures carry a premium over other types of wines. Results may give cues both to producers and consumers on what new wines they could produce or consume.

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Working Papers | 2018

Does Entrepreneurial Logic Impact Funding Evaluation of Startups?

Rajesh Jain, Valerie Mendonca, Neharika Vohra, and Supriya Sharma

From a neoclassical economics perspective, entrepreneurship involves rational decision-making and entrepreneurs engage in rational, goal-driven behavior. However, such a view is put to test in current, dynamic business environments characterized by high level of uncertainty. Expert entrepreneurs adopt a nimble, iterative and effectual approach to be able to navigate such dynamic environments. While there is growing confidence about the desirable outcomes of an effectual logic, there is limited evidence based understanding of how such a logic is perceived by stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. For instance, how do investors assess causal vs. effectual logics of entrepreneurs? This study attempts to pursue this question. We use data from a national level entrepreneurship competition held in India in 2015 to understand the influence of entrepreneurs' logics on their funding outcomes. We find that the logics of the selected and not selected entries are significantly distinct. Furthermore, results from a binary logistic regression reveal an inclination of investors towards causal logic. Adoption of causal logic increases a startup's chances of funding by about 50%. Findings are discussed in reference to implications for the current entrepreneurship ecosystem.

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Working Papers | 2018

Leadership and Management of Public Sector Undertakings in an Emerging Economy

Vishal Gupta, Swanand Kulkarni, and Naresh Khatri

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) contribute significantly to the growth and economic development of any country. This study explores the key managerial challenges faced by the leaders and managers of public sector organizations. We interviewed 42 senior managers of PSUs from various industries representing 12 Indian states representing all the regions of India. Specifically, three key managerial challenges emerged in our study: political interference and lack of autonomy, rigid rules and HR practices, and lack of employee motivation. Positive leader personality, communication skills, change- and relation-oriented behaviors, HR skills, and decision-making emerged as top leader qualities. Staffing, training and development and performance management emerged as the top priorities of HR departments of PSUs. Public-service motivation, job security and work environment were the top reasons for continuing to work in PSUs for Indian leaders. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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