Home Menu
icon-menu-close.svg

Faculty & Research

Faculty & Research

Research Productive

Show result

Clear
Search Query :
Area :
Search Query :
3846 items in total found

Working Papers | 1994

Adjusting Education Policy: Opportunity for Institutional Reform

Vijaya Sherry Chand

Educational policy-making has been motivated in independent India by a concern for equity and the belief that education is an instrument for reducing social inequalities. However, in spite of impressive achievements in school enrollments and access to higher education, the phenomena of out-of-school children, high drop-out rates and widespread illiteracy continue to provoke concern. With adjustment now underway, fears have been expressed that these problems may become even more intractable. This paper reviews the relationship between adjustment and educational policy, and the ways in which adjustment can affect educational outcomes. While it is too early to assess the full impact of adjustment on education in India, the experiences of other countries have indicated the need for containing the immediate negative impact. Policy making has already responded in this respect with protection of primary education allocations, external funding for additional projects aimed at achieving basic education for all, and financial stringency in the area of higher education. The history and persistence of basic education-related problems and the increasing pressures on financing higher education since the 1970s, indicate that problems in these areas have their roots in pre-adjustment structures and practices. Therefore, it is necessary not to let attention be diverted by responses which have focussed on financing of education or specific programmes initiated under social safety net adjustment credits. Rather, the period of transition should be seen as an opportunity for initiating institutional reform. Three themes are highlighted here as areas requiring debate – (a) decentralization, less standardization and teacher development, especially in the context of primary education (B) 'privatization' of higher education, and (c) future linkages between education and employment. Such reform is necessary for a new and more “basic” thrust towards equity in educational policy, and for evolving a system of higher education more relevant to the emerging economy.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Review of the Indonesian Telecom Policy Changes

Rekha Jain

Indonesia experienced economic growth rates 5.5 to 7.0 per cent per year since the late eighties and early nineties, resulting in greater demand for telecom services. But, like many other developing countries, Indonesia had a low level of telecom infrastructure development. Consequently, the government introduced a number of policy reforms aimed at making the sector more responsive to the business needs. These policy changes have resulted in deregulation and the beginning of private participation. The paper sketches the state of the Indonesian telecom sector and outlines the policy changes that have taken place since 1989 and highlights issues in management of telecom policy reforms.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Stock Price Behavior in Malaysia

Kok C H and Gupta G S

The paper examines the validity of the three theories of stock price behaviour in Malaysia: Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH)/Random Walk Hypothesis (RWH), Technical Analysis and the Fundamental Theory. The sample consists of the Malaysian stock market indices, Singapore stock market price index, USA Dow Jones Industrial Average, Japan Nikkei index and stock prices of 30 Malaysia companies across various sectors, annual data of 1982 through 1993, and weekly data of period 1977 through April 1994. The correlation analysis, time series analysis and multiple regression techniques have been employed to analyse the data. The findings support the usefulness of the technical analysis and fundamental approach to stock pricing and reject the efficient market hypothesis for Malaysia.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Dividend Behavior in Malaysia

Sing L K and Gupta G S

The paper estimates the dividend behaviour model for Malaysia using the annual time series data for the period 1983 to 1992, and the cross-section data for the 23 selected firms representing various sectors of the economy. The results have good fits, and they indicate that the current earnings and previous year's dividend are the only two universal and significant explanatory variables for dividend, and thus they support the Lintner's model. Depreciation and the two period change in sales have assumed the correctly singed and significant coefficients only in a few cases. The average value of the earnings' multiplier is found to be 0.31 and that of the lagged dividend 0.38, the latter implying an adjustment coefficient of 0.62.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Return, Risk and Optimum Portfolio of stocks in

Yong Liew Bee and Gupta G S

The paper computes the return and risk (systematic and unsystematic) from investments in stocks, determines the optimum portfolio of stocks, and develops a fundamental model for beta of stocks, using data of the Malaysian economy. The sample consists of 27 companies (three from each of the nine sectors) and 10 years annual data (1984 to1993). The findings suggest that skilled investors have a lot of scope to out perform the market. In particular, out of 27 companies studies, stocks of two companies, viz. Rothmans and Pernas International Hotel and Property, have yielded higher return with lower risk than the market index, and the optimum portfolio delineated gives a return of 32.2% with a beta of 0.62, which stand at more than twice and about two-thirds of those on the market index, respectively. The results of the fundamental model for beta are not so good but they indicate that the leverage and earnings' variability are the only two determinants of beta out of the six determinants hypothesized in the paper.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Philippines Telecommunications Sector: An Assessment of Policy Changes

Rekha Jain

The Philippines government has undertaken a major reform programme since the early nineties to accelerate the growth in the economy. It is also attempting to upgrade the telecom services and infrastructure. The government views the private sector as a major source of investment. In Philippines, unlike many other countries, the private sector was the dominant provider of telecom services until the early nineties. The service levels, however, continue to be poor largely because of the monopoly of a singly provider and weak regulation. Subsequently, the government introduced a number of reform measures such as greater involvement of the private sector in all segments of telecom service including rural telecommunications and mandatory interconnections amongst service providers. It has also attempted to strengthen the regulatory framework. This paper review the status of the Philippine telecom sector and the reform programs introduced by the government. It highlights the issues in the management of the reform program and compares it with initiatives in other developing countries.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Export and Liberalization: A Simple Industrial Organization Approach

Patibandla Murali

This paper presents a simple theory towards putting forward two hypotheses that can be empirically verified with regard to the export behaviour of oligopoly firms in the post-liberalization period in selective Indian industries. These hypotheses are-(1) In the presence of import protection, large oligopoly firms export to protect high domestic market price and (2) within the size group of large scale firms, larger firms will have higher export orientation.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Appropriate Measure of Real Value Added and Total Factor Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing

Dholakia Bakul H and Ravindra H. Dholakia

It is a widely held hypothesis that the Indian industry experienced a significant turnaround in its Total Factor Productivity Growth (TEPG) during the decade of the eighties as compared to the seventies. Recently it is argued that if the real value added is estimated by using the double deflation method, this hypothesis does not hold. It is also suggested that the double deflation method provides a more appropriate measure of the real value added. In the present paper, it is shown that the hypothesis of a significant increase in TFPG during the eighties in the Indian industries is clearly corroborated if sufficient care is taken about applying the double deflation method. Moreover, it is also argued that the double deflation method per se is not necessarily superior to the single deflation method for measuring the real value added.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Review of Malaysian Telecom Sector: Assessment of Policy Changes

Rekha Jain

The Malaysian economy has been growing rapidly, with concomitant demand for telecom services. With a view to reducing the role of the government in economy and introducing efficiency, the government planned to corporatize public sector organizations as a first step forward privatization. The telecommunication sector was chosen as one of the initial government departments to be corporatized and is experience was going to be used as a basis for deregulation and privatization in other state controlled sectors. In 1987, legislation was enacted to bring in major reforms in the telecom sector. Malaysia was the first ASEAN country to introduce such reforms. Due to the pervasive effect of telecom in the economy, management of this initiative was of interest in various quarters. This paper documents the state of Malaysian telecom sector and highlights the policy changes that have been initiated since 1987. These changes range from deregulation to privatization of the state owned telecom monopoly. Experience of managing this change and comparing it with similar initiatives in other developing countries provides important guidelines to decision makers on management of reform process. The paper emphasizes that effective separation of policy, regulation and operations, presence of effective regulatory body and fair regulatory guidelines, access to capital and trained human resources is crucial to the success of the reform program. In comparision to many other developing countries (e.g. India, Thailand, Philippines etc.), Malaysia has been able to successfully implement a reform program on these dimensions.

Read More

Working Papers | 1994

Indian Economic Forecast: July 1994

Rastogi A B

Boom conditions are prevailing in the economy but there is a danger of inflation raising its head again as the foreign exchange reserves go on increasing. The RBI's target of 55 billion of foreign capital which it can manage by open market policy will be breached very soon and the bank would be forced to abandon open market operations. With a flow of $ 5 - $ 10 billion, the RBI would be able to manage with some major changes in the monetary policy but a flow greater than $ 10 billion would force the government to go for full convertibility in March 1995. The government should take a bold step and reduce interest rates by another 2 to 3 percentage points. This would boost domestic investment, draw in imports and prick the ballooning foreign exchange reserves. It would also loosen the pressure on money supply and government deficit.

Read More
IIMA