Rama Pal | IIT Bombay (original) (raw)

Papers by Rama Pal

Regional economic development research, Mar 25, 2022

India currently faces the triple burden of malnutrition characterized by the coexistence of under... more India currently faces the triple burden of malnutrition characterized by the coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition along with micronutrient deficiencies. The unequal distribution of child health outcomes in the population may affect the goal of a 'malnutrition free world'. The nutritional status and its inequalities among post under-five age have rarely been assessed in the country. This study examines the degree and extent of asset-based household wealth inequalities in malnutrition among preschool and school children in the Maharashtra state of India. The study utilizes the fourth round of the District Level Health Survey 2012-2013 to provide district-level estimates of the inequalities in five malnutrition indicators-stunting, wasting, underweight, overweight, and anemia among children. Concentration curves, normalized concentration index, geographical maps and correlation matrix are used to analyze the data by districts, rural-urban residence and gender. The findings indicate that considerable proportion of children are malnourished in Maharashtra, even with its advanced economic status. Malnutrition levels among school going children are as high as those of children under six years of age. The results show that malnutrition inequalities manifest primarily among the weaker sections of society. However, children from affluent households are more likely to suffer from overweight and obesity issues. The prevalence of malnutrition is higher in rural areas, but inequality is significantly higher in urban regions. The nutritionally backward areas are concentrated in the tribal districts of the Marathwada division and a few others from Vidarbha and Amravati. Many districts of Maharashtra have multiple burdens of malnutrition and have high inequalities on more than one indicator. A negative correlation is observed between the prevalence of malnutrition and human development indicators. There is a need to capture broader age groups in the nutrition monitoring frameworks. The regional heterogeneity in the malnutrition prevalence and distribution calls for unique health intervention strategies specific to district targets.

Borrowing to cover hospital costs is a major concern in developing countries, like India, as it m... more Borrowing to cover hospital costs is a major concern in developing countries, like India, as it may push households into despairs of poverty and indebtedness. The present study examines factors that lead to borrowing for hospitalization in case of Indian households. For this purpose, we use sample selection model. The analysis points out vulnerability of households from deprived sections of society and uneducated households, as they are more likely to borrow. Moreover, higher availability of public hospitals lowers probability of borrowing in rural areas. Thus, increasing coverage of public hospitals in rural areas might prove to be helpful.

The paper shows how parental expectations about child’s future income affect the incidence of chi... more The paper shows how parental expectations about child’s future income affect the incidence of child labour and schooling. We present a theoretical framework where parents decide on the optimal amount of time invested in child education in presence of uncertainty about returns to education. Here, the uncertainty is captured using the probability that parents attach to higher returns after education. Our theoretical findings underscore the need for policy interventions that affect time preferences of parents, for any wage regulations to enhance the extent of child education. On the empirical side, we use a longitudinal survey (Young Lives Survey) for children in Andhra Pradesh, India; to measure the effect of parental expectations on investment in schooling. This longitudinal survey allows us to first, estimate the probability that parents assign to the expectation that their child will get a skilled job in future. And then, we examine the impact of these parental expectations on prob...

Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, 2020

Political parties aim at getting re-elected and their actions are often in conflict with the econ... more Political parties aim at getting re-elected and their actions are often in conflict with the economic and welfare objectives of the government. In this context, the paper endeavours to study the economic and political determinants of social sector spending in India and understand their relative importance. For this state-level panel analysis from 2001 to 2013, the states are classified into less developed and developed states. The findings show that both economic and political factors determine the social sector expenditure; however, the Shapley decomposition analysis indicates that the relative contribution of economic factors is much higher as compared to political variables.

International Journal of Social Economics, 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether the motives behind sendin... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether the motives behind sending remittances differ for the migrants from single- and multi-migrant families in India. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the second round of India Human Development Survey conducted in the year 2012 to analyse migrant’s motives using the two-part model and the sample selection model (SSM). Here, the probit model is used to model whether the migrant sends the remittances and then the amount of remittances is modelled using the ordinary least squares method. The SSM assumes that these two decisions are interdependent. This migrant-level study is the first to segregate single- and multiple-migrant settings and compare them for the existence of altruism or inheritance motives. Findings The findings indicate altruism as the main motive behind remittances for the single migrants in India. On the other hand, presence of inheritance motive is evident along with altruism in the multi-mi...

Economic Modelling, 2018

IGIDR, India, is an applied micro-economist specializing in the area of strategic interactions am... more IGIDR, India, is an applied micro-economist specializing in the area of strategic interactions among economic agents. His theoretical research has dealt with issues including pricing of network goods, R&D, privatization, environmental regulation, union-oligopoly bargaining and tax competition. He has also researched on some of the policy relevant empirical issues, such as financial inclusion, unionization and tax efficiency. International academic journals such as Mathematical Social Sciences,

Artha Vijnana: Journal of The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, 2010

Journal of International Development, 2014

The paper aims at decomposing income-related inequality in maternal health care utilisation in In... more The paper aims at decomposing income-related inequality in maternal health care utilisation in India using the Shapley value method. In India, the usage of maternal health care services remains low with highly uneven access across socioeconomic groups. We analyse the income-related inequality in maternal health care utilisation and its determinants. The decomposition results show that the demand side variables, namely, economic status of household and education of parents, are important factors determining inequality in utilisation. Also, we find that availability of government health care facilities in village and implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojana in village do not reduce income-related inequality in utilisation.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2008

In India, the out-of-pocket health expenditure by households accounts for around 70 percent of th... more In India, the out-of-pocket health expenditure by households accounts for around 70 percent of the total expenditure on health. Large out-of-pocket payments may reduce consumption expenditure on other goods and services and push households into poverty. Recently, health insurance has been considered as one of the possible instruments in reducing impoverishing effects of large out-of-pocket health expenditure. In India, health insurance has limited coverage and the present paper studies whether it has been effective so far. Literature defines out-of-pocket health expenditure as catastrophic if its share in the household budget is more than some arbitrary threshold level. In the present paper, we argue that for households below poverty line any expenditure on health is catastrophic as they are unable to attain the subsistence level of consumption. Thus, we take zero percent as a threshold level to define catastrophic health expenditure and examine the impact of health insurance on probability of incurring catastrophic health expenditure.

The European Journal of Development Research, 2015

This article examines inequality of opportunity in immunization for Indian children. We also deco... more This article examines inequality of opportunity in immunization for Indian children. We also decompose the inequality by circumstances using the Shapley decomposition method. This method provides the contribution of each circumstance variable to the total inequality of opportunity. For this analysis, we use the District Level Health Survey for 2002-2004 and 2007-2008. The data sets provide information on immunization, household characteristics and availability of health care facilities in villages. Using this information we are able to understand the relative contributions of family background and supply-side circumstances to inequality of opportunity. We find that the household's economic background, parental education and regional variations are the most important contributors to inequality of opportunity. Cet article analyse les inégalités d'opportunités d'immunisation chez les enfants Indiens. Nous désagrégeons les inégalités selon les circonstances en utilisant la méthode de décomposition de Shapley. Cette méthode permet à chaque variable de circonstance de contribuer au total des inégalités d'opportunités. Pour cette analyse, nous utilisons le sondage de santé des districts de 2002-2004 et 2007-2008. Les fichiers de données fournissent des informations sur le niveau d'immunisation, les caractéristiques des foyers et la disponibilité des centres de santé dans les villages. A l'aide de cette information, nous avons pu comprendre le rôle relatif du contexte familial et de l'offre des services de santé dans l'inégalité d'opportunités. Nous avons trouvé que le statut socio-économique du foyer, le niveau d'étude des parents et les variations régionales sont les variables qui contribuent le plus à l'inégalité d'opportunités.

International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, 2012

The present paper attempts to provide a new measure of catastrophic out-ofpocket health expenditu... more The present paper attempts to provide a new measure of catastrophic out-ofpocket health expenditure based on consumption of necessities. In literature, catastrophic expenditure is measured as out-of-pocket health expenditure that exceeds some fixed proportion of household income or household's capacity to pay. According the new measure proposed in this paper, OOP health expenditure is catastrophic if it reduces the non-health expenditure to a level where household is unable to maintain consumption of necessities. Based on this measure of catastrophic health expenditure, the paper examines determinants of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure in India. The results show that, incidence of catastrophic OOP health expenditure increases with income, when we use the earlier measures. However, results based on the revised measure show that, the incidence of catastrophic payments goes down as income increases. Therefore, the analysis suggests that the findings are sensitive to the method used. The findings from multivariate analysis show economic and social status of Indian households are important determinants of incidence of catastrophic health expenditure. Education reduces the probability of incurring catastrophic health expenditure. Moreover, these findings are sensitive to measure of catastrophic OOP health expenditure and therefore, it is important to consider appropriate measure of catastrophic OOP health expenditure. Keywords Catastrophic health expenditure • Consumption of necessities • India JEL Classification I18 • I19

This paper analyzes income related inequality in financial inclusion in India using a representat... more This paper analyzes income related inequality in financial inclusion in India using a representative household level survey data, linked to State-level factors. It shows that (a) the extent of financial exclusion is quite severe among households across all income groups, (b) income related inequality in financial inclusion varies widely across sub-national regions in India, but it is quite high in most of the cases, (c) income related inequality in financial inclusion cannot be considered as synonymous to income inequality. A notable result is that greater availability of banking services fosters financial inclusion, particularly among the poor. This paper also provides estimates of the effects of various socio, economic and demographic characteristics of households on propensity of a household to use formal financial services, and compare that for rural and urban sectors.

The paper analyses inequality in housing conditions for India for two time period 2008-09 and 201... more The paper analyses inequality in housing conditions for India for two time period 2008-09 and 2012. Housing conditions are important determinants of health status. Access to descent housing and basic amenities is essential to improve health status of people. Given this backdrop, we examine the distribution of housing and basic amenities, namely, drinking water, toilets and electricity, across regions and over time. We also study the determinants of access to these basic amenities. The results show unequal distribution of housing conditions with rich households having higher access to better housing. Under the Millennium Development Goals, the Indian government has worked towards improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation. However, the results of multivariate analysis show that the economic and social background of household determine the access to basic services even in the year 2012.

Oxford Development Studies, 2013

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

The present paper attempts to modify definition of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure ... more The present paper attempts to modify definition of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure by characterising it based on consumption of necessities. In literature, catastrophic expenditure is defined as that level of OOP health expenditure which exceeds some fixed proportion of household income or household's capacity to pay. In the present paper, catastrophic health expenditure is defined as one which reduces the non-health expenditure to a level where household is unable to maintain consumption of necessities. Based on this definition of catastrophic health expenditure, the paper examines determinants of catastrophic OOP health expenditure in India. Findings suggest that it is important to carefully revise the concept of catastrophic health care spending and the method developed in this paper can be considered as one of the possible alternatives. We find that education is one of the important policy instruments that can be used to reduce incidence of catastrophic spending in India. The findings also suggest that even after efforts to reduce differences among various social classes in India, socially deprived classes are still vulnerable as they are more likely to experience financial catastrophe due to illness.