1,721,038 research outputs found
Sectoral systems of innovation and production in developing countries: an introduction
No full textAnalysis of the role of sectoral systems in affecting innovation and technology diffusion in developing countrie
Government intervention in industrial R & D: Some lessons from the international experience for India
Full text linkThere is now substantial empirical evidence, based essentially on the experience of developed countries, that there is underinvestment in industrial R&D consequent to the gradual withdrawal of the state. It is generally observed that government can solve this problem of underinvestment in two ways: by increasing the profits of innovators, or by undertaking R&D in areas where the private sector underinvests. An examination of the nature of government intervention in developed countries show that it is increasingly moving towards the latter variety. However, contrary to normal impression, the extent of government intervention in industrial R&D in India is of the former variety. The state has been using tax incentives as the major instrument for stimulating R&D by production enterprises. Direct grants, which has become the dominant instrument of intervention in the west, is considered to be better as it can be targeted towards specific projects. In fact the efficacy of tax incentives to encourage R&D requires further scrutiny. The state in India also have to intervene for making available technically trained manpower to engage in industrial R&D radically redesigning the higher education system, by improving the incentive system for those working in the R&D system etc. The paper thus underscores the fact that there is enough space for the Indian state to increase its interventionist role in industrial research contrary to the arguments for its gradual withdrawal.appropriability, government intervention, industrial R&D system, technology policy
Inefficiency and institutional issues in the provision of merit goods: A case study of public water supply in rural Kerala
Full text linkThis paper discusses the issues of inefficiency in the provision of merit goods, taking the case of public water supply in rural Kerala. The analysis has identified two source of inefficiency in the provision of merit good. First, is due to the fact that the state and its agencies autonomously decide the nature and characteristics of the merit good. If the nature of good provided is not preferred by the people, or its consumption require effort on the part of citizens, these may lead to the non-consumption of the good by a large number of people. Thus, the definition of safe water as pipe water (from a centralised system) in the case of Kerala, lead to its effective non-use by a significant part of rural population. The second source of inefficiency in the provision of merit good, is in the selection of the institutional framework. The acquisition and free distribution of water by the state agency, is the prevailing institutional framework in Kerala, and this is inappropriate in efficiently solving the drinking water problem of different localities, taking their specific characteristics into account. The paper outlines a logical framework, which can be used to identify the necessary mechanism of government intervention in water supply in different localities.merit good; rural water supply; institutional choice and inefficiency; new institutional economics; Kerala
Induced abortion potential among Indian women
Full text linkInformation on abortion is limited and inaccurate especially in the developing world, which has led to several speculations on the prevalence of abortion in this region. A rise in prevalence of abortion is mostly accounted for in terms of increase in the prevalence of induced abortions, which reflects on the reproductive health of women. With the growing concern for reproductive health of women, the study of abortion phenomenon has drawn serious attention of researchers world wide. In such circumstances, this is an attempt to assess the induced abortion potential among Indian women by utilising information on proportion of unwanted and ill-timed pregnancies obtained through National Family Health Survey, India.
The irrelevance of methodology and the art of the possible: Reading Sen and Hirschman
Full text linkEconomic methodologists have observed that economists do not practice what they think their methodology is. Two positions follow from this. One insists on the need for `better' practice in maintaining `scientific' standard, while the other takes the literary turn. Following the second route we argue that appraisal of economic theories cannot be done by applying a general `scientific method' apart from practice. Methodological conversations, which are shaped by various strategies taken by practitioners to persuade each other, can only be studied and improved by reading the most persuasive of the authors in the discipline. Writings of Albert Hirschman and Amartya Sen are chosen to be read following our approach.Methodology, positivism, rhetoric, methodological conversation, internal criticism
Long term implications of low fertility in Kerala
Full text linkIn recent years, Kerala has made remarkable progress in its demographic transition. The State has achieved below replacement level of fertility two decades ahead of the all-India target year of 2011 and India is likely to achieve the replacement level only by 2021. The TFR declined from a high level of 5.6 in 1951-61 to about 1.7 in 1993, a level which is very much below the replacement level of 2.05. The State's IMR has touched a low level of 13 in 1993, a level comparable to that of some of the developed countries of the world. The population growth rate has declined to about 1 per cent per annum in 1995 from a high level of 2.3 per cent per year during 1961-71. Thus Kerala's demographic trends in the first half of the 21st century will be dramatically different from that of the second half of the 20th century. Total population of the State is expected to increase by 170 percent in the second half of the present century (from 11,723,000 in 1951 to 31,553,000 in 2001), the growth (if any) in the next half a century will be very negligible. The crude death rate declined from about 20 to about 6 in the last half a century, but it is likely to increase from 6 to 13 in the next century. The crude birth rate decreased from 40 to about 16 in the last half a century, but it is likely to remain more or less stable in the next half a century. While Kerala experienced varying degrees of net out-migration and net emigration in the last half a century, migration trend in the next half a century is somewhat uncertain. It will depend more on socio-economic developments than on demographic trends. The socioeconomic implications of the reversal of the demographic trends will be far reaching: (a) To begin with, the pressure on schools and colleges will be a thing of the past, giving ample opportunities for the educational system to concentrate on the quality of education rather than on quantity. (b) This is also true of hospitals and health personnel catering to the health needs of the children. It will be easier to bring about the needed improvement in the quality of their services. (c) In the transitional period, parity between the number of girls and boys in their respective marriage ages will be maintained. But this is a temporary respite. (d) Other things being equal on the economic front, unemployment among the young working age population will be greatly reduced. The educated young workers might be able to pick and choose the job they want. But this is not the case with older workers. The number of older working population would almost double in a short period of 20 years between 2001 and 2021 (e) In the last half a century the major socioeconomic problems were related to the schooling, maintenance of health and nutrition and finding employment for the youngsters. In the next half a century, the major socio-economic problems would be finding gainful employment for the older working age population, maintenance of the health and nutrition of the elderly, and providing them with means of subsistence through social security and pension, etc.Kerala, fertility, mortality, migration, projections, aging, labour force, social security, pension, marriage
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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