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Private Sector Involvement in Higher Education in India: A State Level Analysis
No full textHigher education in India today is at the crossroads. There is a gradual shift from education being a government responsibility to its privatisation. The number of private unaided colleges and private universities has increased, share of enrolment in private institutions increases for most of the states in India. The study focuses on the status of private higher education enrolment of all states/regions in India and the factors influencing private higher education in India. There are considerable inter-state and inter-regional disparities in private higher education enrolment in India. As per AISHE report, in 2020-21, in India, 65 per cent of degree colleges are private unaided, only 21.4 percent colleges are fully public funded, 40.1 per cent of universities are private. Share of enrolment in private unaided college is 44.4 percent and in private aided college is 21.1 per cent; total share of private enrolment is 65.5 per cent. NSSO 71st round unit level data reveals that the private enrolment in higher education in India is about 58.4 percent. Privatisation in Southern and Western states is much higher than other states of India. Private enrolment in general courses is 42.2 per cent and in technical/professional courses it is 71.1 per cent. The picture is very clear that in professional and technical courses private enrolment is too high compared to general courses. Binary logistic regression results suggest that different socio-economic factors like religion, caste, gender, education level and occupation of household, type of courses are responsible for private enrolment of students in Higher education in India
The Impact of Political Instability on the Budget Deficit: Evidence from the MENA Region
No full textThe revolutions in the MENA region countries were experienced as a negative economic shock. This led to popular demands and, at the same time, a worsening of public finances in a climate of political instability. It is therefore relevant to address the question: Is the reduction of the budget deficit dependent on explanatory political variables such as democracy and political stability? In this article, we examined the relationship between the budget deficit and political instability/democracy while using other macroeconomic control variables, such as GDP growth, the consumer price index, and oil prices. This relationship was estimated for a sample of MENA region countries using a dynamic panel data econometric model over the period 2008-2019. The results of this article show that political instability and democracy have a significant impact on the budget deficit in the selected group of MENA region countries. Specifically, the model's estimation found that the democratic political regime positively impacts the budget balance
Tourism, Sustainability, and Growth: An Empirical Investigation of Long-Run Economic Impacts in Pakistan
No full textThis study investigates the relationship between sustainable tourism practices and economic growth in Pakistan by integrating the principles of endogenous growth theory with robust econometric modeling. Pakistan possesses significant but underutilized tourism resources, including natural landscapes, historical sites, and cultural heritage. However, its tourism sector faces persistent challenges such as political instability, poor infrastructure, and limited environmental planning. Using (International Monetary Fund, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, World Bank) annual data from 1995 to 2021, this research employs ordinary least squares, autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing, and the vector error correction model to examine how tourism receipts, employment in tourism, political stability, and environmental sustainability influence real GDP. The empirical findings reveal a statistically significant and positive relationship between tourism receipts and GDP growth, reaffirming tourism’s role as a direct driver of economic development. Employment in the tourism sector also demonstrates a meaningful contribution to economic output by enhancing household income and stimulating local consumption. Political stability and environmental sustainability, while less impactful in the short run, are found to be crucial in maintaining long-run equilibrium and ensuring sustainability in the tourism sector through different tests and approaches as concluded in the findings paragraphs. The autoregressive distributed lag model confirms the existence of long-run cointegration among the variables, while the vector error correction model illustrates a moderate but stable adjustment toward long-run equilibrium. This study underscores the need for Pakistan to adopt a coordinated, sustainability-focused tourism policy that emphasizes investment in infrastructure, environmental regulation, institutional reform, and community engagement. It advocates for shifting from volume-based to value-driven tourism strategies. The strategy uses green practices, digital promotion, and decentralized governance to maximize benefits. The findings contribute empirical and policy insights for integrating tourism into national development agendas. Ultimately, sustainable tourism emerges as a strategic avenue for comprehensive, resilient, and environmentally sound economic growth in Pakistan
Building Resilient Mechanisms for Joint Socio-Economic Activities: Insights from Institutional Design Principles
No full textThis paper explores the application of the "Institutional Analysis and Development" (IAD) framework, pioneered by Elinor Ostrom, to develop an abstract model for mechanisms facilitating joint socio-economic activities. By generalizing IAD's principles of institutional design, the study describes the structure and key functions of an abstract mechanism for joint activity and identifies a set of building blocks enabling the creation of real-world mechanisms such as networks, hierarchies, markets, and institutions. These mechanisms are analyzed through the lens of communication modes—direct, indirect, and absent—highlighting their role in coordination and governance. The research conceptualizes mechanism design as an optimization task. The construction of joint activity mechanisms is viewed as a task of selecting the optimal combination of building blocks to suit the specific characteristics of the joint activity and its surrounding environment. The prospects for developing a formal model of joint activity mechanisms are also discussed. The study introduces the notion of a "metamechanism" to guide the evolution and hybridization of the traditional mechanisms. This approach enhances understanding of how diverse mechanisms emerge and adapt to socio-economic complexities, providing a theoretical basis for improving collective action systems. The findings have broad implications for the study of governance, organizational design, and the management of commons
Financial Literacy for Women, A case of Malawi
No full textThe paper presents findings from a study carried out to assess the level of financial literacy among women in Malawi. A survey method was used, whereby a questionnaire was developed and administered through Google Forms. The findings indicate that financial literacy for women in Malawi is moderate. The study recommends more trainings on financial literacy for women in Malawi, and the findings indicate a willingness among women to participate in such trainings.
The study also recommends learning institutions, Ministry of finance, financial institutions and other players should enhance involvement of in financial literacy programs which should target both young and adult populations. The study will help inform other similar studies in the future considering that there is limited literature on the topic in Malawi and Africa at large. This research is the only one that has been carried out to indicate the levels of financial literacy for Women in Malawi
Evolution and efficiency of the agricultural utilization wastewaters management chain in Bulgaria
No full textThere has been a fundamental modernization of the wastewater management system in Bulgaria during the EU pre-accession and membership periods. The transition toward sustainable management of wastewaters has been associated with the modern disposal of generated sludge from wastewater treatment plants and the increasing agricultural utilization of this material. The agricultural utilization wastewater management chain emerged and gradually extended as the amount of produced sludge increased and its share was effectively utilized in agriculture. This paper analyses the evolution and challenges of agricultural inclusion in sustainable wastewater management in Bulgaria. It is based on the incorporation of the interdisciplinary New Institutional Economics methodology, official data, and numerous in-depth interviews with representatives of the wastewater treatment plants, responsible authorities, farmers participating and not involved in sludge utilization, and other related agents. The study has found that there has been a significant modernization of the formal institutional environment (rules, regulations, standards, agencies) and incentive structure for agricultural sludge production, transportation, and utilization in recent years. Nevertheless, the potential for inclusion of agriculture in water treatment plants’ sludge utilization has not been entirely used, and the policy target in the area has not been effectively reached. The main impediments for the later arethe significant transition and compliance costs for related agents, inadequate public information, training, and support, environmental and health risks, opposition of landowners, businesses, eco-groups and residents, and uncertain directions of policy development. In the future following actions are needed to promote agricultural use of sludge: clearer policies for wastewaters management, waste disposals and agricultural sludge utilization, including development of a national strategy for sludge management; better enforcement of formal regulations and quality standards in agricultural utilization wastewaters management chain; introducing measures to reduce institutionally determined (production and transaction) costs for agents; support specialized training, information and independents assessment on agricultural sludge utilization; use CAP and other EU instruments to support agents’ efforts to adapt to formal requirements and extend sustainable treatment, disposal, transportation, agricultural utilization and commercialization of sludge
Artificial Intelligence and Economic Transformation: Implications for Growth, Employment, and Policy in the Digital Age
No full textThe rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly influenced various industries, labor markets, and government institutions across the globe. This study explores the multifaceted impact of AI on economic growth, employment, and workforce skills. Drawing on sectoral data and comparative literature, the paper analyzes how AI-driven technologies shape growth and labor outcomes. While technological progress creates new opportunities for individuals equipped with advanced skills, it simultaneously displaces traditional, routine-based jobs, resulting in potential unemployment for less adaptable segments of the workforce. The study emphasizes the critical role of governance in addressing the challenges posed by AI and underscores the importance of proactive policy measures to ensure inclusive growth. It further explores the potential of AI in education, particularly in developing countries, where its integration can enhance students' employability skills. However, challenges such as affordability, ethical concerns, and overdependence on technology are also highlighted. The paper advocates for increased investment in reskilling initiatives, AI literacy programs, and the development of adaptive governance structures to facilitate the equitable integration of AI technologies. Overall, the findings offer strategic guidance for policymakers to design adaptive governance structures and reskilling programs
Automation, market power, and the citizen dividend: a DSGE-HANK with antitrust and a citizen sovereign wealth fund
No full textThis paper develops a DSGE model with heterogeneous households (HANK) to study how automation shocks psi_t affect the functional distribution of income and inequality when (i) substitution between effective labor and automated capital and (ii) aggregate market power, captured by markups disciplined by antitrust enforcement with real resource costs, coexist. Households face idiosyncratic risk, liquidity constraints, and mobility frictions, and dynamically choose an occupational/sectoral path j; automation can also affect effective productivity heterogeneously across paths. On the policy side, a Citizen Sovereign Wealth Fund partially captures rents associated with automation and market power and finances an in-kind floor and a citizen dividend under explicit operational rules (non-negativity, feasibility, and an institutional cap on public equity ownership). The main contribution is a fully closed framework in terms of timing, detrending, and ex-dividend flow-of-funds, delivering transparent theoretical predictions for the labor share, inequality, and the transmission of technological shocks under heterogeneity, along with a methodological appendix to guide future empirical implementations
Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Emerging Market Economies- An Empirical Examination
No full textThis study revisits the Balassa-Samuelson (B-S) hypothesis for 16 inflation-targeting emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) to test whether their inflation differential with the advanced economies (AEs) could be explained through the productivity channel. The study finds positive and significant impact of total factor productivity (TFP) and labour productivity (LP) growth differentials on inflation differentials between AEs and inflation targeting EMDEs. The B-S effect is estimated in the range 1.6-2.5 percentage points for India. The average B-S effect for the inflation targeting EMDEs, however, is found at a lower level at 0.5-0.8 percentage points. This difference in the B-S effect between India and EMDEs arises from India’s higher TFP growth (vis-à-vis AEs) compared to the EMDEs. The sectoral level analysis also corroborates these findings. Our findings provide an empirical support to the role of productivity growth differential in explaining the inflation differential between AEs and major EMDEs in the medium term
Identity Politics, Partisan Sentiment and Household Spending
No full textWe examine how political shifts affect household economic sentiment and spending in identity-polarized settings. Using panel data on over 178,000 Indian households, we find that sentiment about personal finances --- and, to a lesser extent, the national economy --- predicts expenditure, even after accounting for income changes. Using close state elections, we show that Muslims become markedly more pessimistic than Hindus about national economic conditions following victories by the Hindu-nationalist party, but exhibit relatively smaller differences in personal financial sentiment, and no detectable divergence in expenditure. A Bayesian learning framework explains the insulation of consumption from politically induced sentiment shocks through the limited transmission of macro-beliefs to individual behavior in high-volatility environments