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Productivity & Innovation

India’s data workers: The human labour making machines learn

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Night shift bans and female employment in Indian manufacturing

Between 2014 and 2017, seven Indian states amended their regulations to allow women to work night shifts in factories, with the condition that employers provide female-friendly amenities. This article...

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Exit barriers as entry barriers: Explaining India’s odd development path

Despite an abundance of low-skilled labour, India never experienced the kind of take-off in labour-intensive manufacturing seen in other countries at similar income levels. This article argues that a ...

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Planning for ‘jobs of the future’ in a changing world

Following decades of structural transformation, in the coming years, external factors including climate change, increasing automation, and global economic policies will all play a role in determining ...

  • Perspectives
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A tale of two sectors in India’s digital transition

India digitalisation, digital transition India, demonetisation impact, digital payments, e-readiness index, ICT labour, skilled labour shortage, manufacturing sector India, services sector productivit...

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Compulsory or voluntary licensing? India’s strategic dilemma in access to medicines

India faces a critical dilemma in balancing intellectual property rights with public health imperatives through compulsory licensing and voluntary licensing mechanisms under the TRIPS Agreement. Drawi...

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R&D tax credit policy, product development, and welfare gains

Over the past two decades or so, India has had a targeted R&D tax credit policy to incentivise innovation within firms in strategic sectors. This article shows that small and medium firms responded to...

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India’s data workers: The human labour making machines learn

Technological progress can displace workers from existing work, as well as create new work. Combined with demographic changes and macroeconomic fluctuations, it has also spurred the growth of non-stan...

  • Articles

Night shift bans and female employment in Indian manufacturing

Between 2014 and 2017, seven Indian states amended their regulations to allow women to work night shifts in factories, with the condition that employers provide female-friendly amenities. This article...

  • Articles

Exit barriers as entry barriers: Explaining India’s odd development path

Despite an abundance of low-skilled labour, India never experienced the kind of take-off in labour-intensive manufacturing seen in other countries at similar income levels. This article argues that a ...

  • Articles

Global software piracy: Does US Special 301 pressure matter?

Section 301 of the US Trade Act seeks to combat global software piracy, with non-compliance by partner countries potentially leading to trade sanctions. Examining data from 1994-2017 involving 83 coun...

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Manufacturing share in GDP: Comparing India with China and South Korea

: It is commonly believed that Indian manufacturing performance is weak, as the sector has not been able to capture a large enough GDP share. Presenting a comparison of manufacturing share in gross do...

  • Perspectives

Planning for ‘jobs of the future’ in a changing world

Following decades of structural transformation, in the coming years, external factors including climate change, increasing automation, and global economic policies will all play a role in determining ...

  • Perspectives

Wartime mobilisation and economic development in India

Can temporary wartime mobilisation permanently reshape an economy? This article shows that Indian districts that received more orders related to World War II saw greater transformation from agricultur...

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Complementarity between labour and energy in Indian manufacturing

As India develops its carbon markets to mitigate climate change, it is important to consider the short-term costs for industry. Analysing data on formal manufacturing from 2009-10 to 2019-20, this art...

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Unlocking women’s workforce potential

Despite significant progress in educational attainment and health outcomes, India lags in enabling women’s economic participation, which, in turn, impedes the goal of fast and inclusive economic gro...

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Yutong Chen

University of Texas Arlington

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Sunil Mani

CDS and Ahmedabad University

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Pavel Chakraborty

University of Bath

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Sujaya Sircar

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

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Sankalp Mathur

CAFRAL

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Rubina Verma

Georgetown University

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Neha Arya

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

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Most Popular Productivity & Innovation Posts

The impact of robotisation on the world economy: A forward-looking review

Robots have long existed in human imagination and only recently in the real world. The baggage of past imagination often intrudes into our understanding of how real robots will affect our economic liv...

  • Explainers

Tripura’s bamboo sector: Potential and challenges

About a third of the total area of Tripura is covered by bamboo, and bamboo has emerged as a key thrust area for the state’s industrial development. Based on a field visit that was undertaken to stu...

  • Notes from the Field

An offline alternative for Aadhaar-based biometric authentication

While decision on the constitutionality of Aadhaar by the Supreme Court of India remains a matter of speculation, it has become abundantly clear that most of the use cases for Aadhaar-based biometric ...

  • Perspectives