Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Topic

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Asia and Pacific > India

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 10 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities: General x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Working Papers
Distribution Costs
Alessandra Peter
We provide the first direct estimates of distribution expenses incurred by manufacturing plants and assess their importance for aggregate output. Using a novel measure from the Indian Annual Survey of Industries, we document three key facts: (1) distribution expenses are large – they amount to over half of labor costs; (2) plants in the largest decile – relative to the smallest – spend over three times as much on distribution as a share of sales; and (3) between 2000 and 2010, distribution costs as a share of sales declined by one third. We develop a model of heterogeneous manufacturing firms that rely on the distribution sector to sell their goods across space. We quantify the model using the facts on size and systematic heterogeneity in distribution shares as well as newly constructed estimates of intranational trade. Accounting for firm heterogeneity in distribution requirements is important: welfare losses from low TFP in the distribution sector are amplified 1.5-fold. From 2000 to 2010, India saw an increase in intranational trade hand in hand with a decrease in the distribution share. In combination with the model, these trends suggest largescale decreases in both variable and fixed costs of distribution, leading to welfare gains of 58% over this ten year period.
Keywords:
Distribution; transportation costs; aggregate productivity; welfare loss; distribution sector; distribution share; share of sales; distribution expense; Manufacturing; Productivity; Total factor productivity; Consumption; Labor costs
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Spending Challenge of Achieving the SDGs in South Asia: Lessons from India
Ms. Mercedes Garcia-Escribano
,
Ms. Tewodaj Mogues
,
Marian Moszoro
, and
Mauricio Soto
South Asia has experienced significant progress in improving human and physical capital over the past few decades. Within the region, India has become a global economic powerhouse with enormous development potential ahead. To foster human and economic development, India has shown a strong commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda. This paper focuses on the medium-term development challenges that South Asia, and in particular India, faces to ensure substantial progress along the SDGs by 2030. We estimate the additional spending needed in critical areas of human capital (health and education) and physical capital (water and sanitation, electricity, and roads). We document progress on these five sectors for India relative to other South Asian countries and discuss implications for policy and reform.
Keywords:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Human Capital; Infrastructure; India; spending estimation; health outcome; spending challenge; physical capital; SDG sector; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); Electricity; South Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
Reconsidering Climate Mitigation Policy in the UK
Mr. Nicolas Arregui
and
Ian W.H. Parry
The UK has pledged to cut greenhouse gases 57 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, to be emisisons neutral by 2050, and to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030. Much progress has been made, but fully achieving these ambitious objectives with the current policy framework will be challenging as it involves multiple and overlapping pricing schemes with significant sectoral differences in carbon prices and may be difficult to scale up on political and administrative grounds. This paper discusses an alternative framework consisting of: (i) a comprehensive carbon price (ideally a tax) rising to at least £60 (US $75) per ton by 2030; and (ii) reinforcing sectoral policies, most importantly feebates for the transport, industrial, and building sectors. This framework could implement mitigation targets, while limiting burdens on households and firms to enhance acceptability, and still raise revenues of 0.8 percent of GDP in 2030. The UK could also leverage its COP26 presidency to promote dialogue on international carbon price floors and pricing of international transport emissions.
Keywords:
net-zero; UK climate mitigation; carbon pricing; feebate; international carbon price floor.; WP; emissions price; emission rate; equivalent emissions outcome; emissions intensity; industry emission; transport sector emission; Climate change; international carbon price floor; efficiency cost; waste emission; price uncertainty; consumption emission; fugitive emission; emissions source; Carbon tax; Greenhouse gas emissions; Public expenditure review; Transportation; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Agricultural Market Integration in India
Michal Andrle
and
Patrick Blagrave
We assess the degree of cross-market price discrepancy (a proxy for market integration), its evolution over time, and proximate determinants, using monthly price data for 21 agricultural goods and 60 markets in India. Econometric analysis shows that cross-market price integration is positively associated with the level of transportation infrastructure, and distance between market pairs. There is no robust evidence that price integration has increased in recent years, suggesting that any positive effects of recent policy initiatives are either small, outweighed by the identified determinants of integration, or yet to come.
Keywords:
WP; market integration; market; markup; cross-market markup; markups vis-à-vis; cross-market dispersion; price integration; cross-market trade; price dispersion; cross-region price discrepancy; Agricultural commodities; Infrastructure; Agricultural sector; Transportation; Global; Price transmission; India
Cover IMF Working Papers
Trends and Challenges in Infrastructure Investment in Low-Income Developing Countries
Daniel Gurara
,
Mr. Vladimir Klyuev
,
Miss Nkunde Mwase
,
Mr. Andrea F Presbitero
, and
Mr. Geoffrey J Bannister
This paper examines trends in infrastructure investment and its financing in low-income developing countries (LIDCs). Following an acceleration of public investment over the last 15 years, the stock of infrastructure assets increased in LIDCs, even though large gaps remain compared to emerging markets. Infrastructure in LIDCs is largely provided by the public sector; private participation is mostly channeled through Public-Private Partnerships. Grants and concessional loans are an essential source of infrastructure funding in LIDCs, while the complementary role of bank lending is still limited to a few countries. Bridging infrastructure gaps would require a broad set of actions to improve the efficiency of public spending, mobilize domestic resources and support from development partners, and crowd in the private sector.
Keywords:
WP; investment; infrastructure investment; emerging market; financing; GDP; Infrastructure; Public Investment; Public-Private Partnerships; Developing Countries; investment efficiency; management institution; saving-investment balance; investment project; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Transportation; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Project loans; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Global; appendix I. public investment scaling-up; public investment in LIDCs; public investment in infrastructure; Public investment spending
Cover IMF Working Papers
Riding the Energy Transition: Oil Beyond 2040
Reda Cherif
,
Fuad Hasanov
, and
Aditya Pande
Recent technological developments and past technology transitions suggest that the world could be on the verge of a profound shift in transportation technology. The return of the electric car and its adoption, like that of the motor vehicle in place of horses in early 20th century, could cut oil consumption substantially in the coming decades. Our analysis suggests that oil as the main fuel for transportation could have a much shorter life span left than commonly assumed. In the fast adoption scenario, oil prices could converge to the level of coal prices, about $15 per barrel in 2015 prices by the early 2040s. In this possible future, oil could become the new coal.
Keywords:
WP; oil price; oil demand; EV market; graph line; lithium-ion battery; renewable energy; energy transition; electric vehicle; motor vehicles adoption; battery EVs; penetration projection; electric car car industry; project EVs; lifetime cost competitiveness; adoption of EVs; motor-vehicle ownership; Oil; Non-renewable resources; Oil prices; Transportation; Renewable resources; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Pressing the Indian Growth Accelerator: Policy Imperatives
Rakesh Mohan
and
Muneesh Kapur
India’s real GDP growth slipped substantially after the North Atlantic financial crisis. Return to a sustained high growth trajectory is feasible but it will need much more focused attention to the revival of manufacturing and to the acceleration of investment in transport and infrastructure. The immediate priority is to achieve the kind of fiscal quality and low inflation levels exhibited during 2003-08, with focused attention to increasing efficiency and compliance in tax revenue collection. Higher tax revenues can facilitate increases in public investment, which then crowd in private investment. The task ahead will be more difficult in view of the protracted slowdown in global growth and trade.
Keywords:
WP; monetary policy; personal income; exchange rate; economic growth; foreign exchange; Fiscal Policy; Growth; Infratsructure; India; Savings; Taxation; Capital Account; infrastructure investment; GDP ratio; investment rate; base GDP series; per capita income; private sector investment; Infrastructure; Transportation; Public sector; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Manufacturing; Global; East Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Level of Productivity in Traded and Non-Traded Sectors for a Large Panel of Countries
Rui Mano
and
Marola Castillo
This paper explains in detail the construction of series for productivity in the traded and nontraded sectors for a panel of 56 countries spanning 1989–2012. The level of productivity in each sector is defined as real value added per worker in constant 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) U.S. dollars. To construct these series, we collect industry-level data from several sources, and classify individual industries as traded/non-traded using their ratio of exports to value added. Finally, we aggregate the industry data up to a traded sector and a non-traded sector, accordingly. This new dataset has two main advantages relative to existing datasets: (i) it defines more finely the traded/non-traded sectors, by drawing on much more disaggregated industry source data; and (ii) it allows for meaningful comparisons of the level of productivity across countries/sectors because sectoral productivity is adjusted by its own price level.
Keywords:
WP; productivity differential; Sectoral Productivity; Traded and Non-Traded Sectors; Purchasing Power Parity; industry classification; industry level; manufacturing Nec; industries ISIC Rev.; traded industry; sector productivity; EU KLEMS; industry d; Productivity; Transportation; Public expenditure review; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Asia and Pacific; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Bangladesh: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
The Sixth Five Year Plan, as outlined in Bangladesh's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, targets strategic growth and employment. The medium-term macroeconomic framework plan entails the involvement of both the private and public sectors. Human resources development strategy programs reaching out to the poor and the vulnerable population, as well as environment, climate change, and disaster risk management, have been included in the plan. Managing regional disparities for shared growth and strategy for raising farm productivity and agricultural growth have been outlined. Diversifying exports and developing a dynamic manufacturing sector are all inclusive in the proposed plan.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; private sector; fiscal year; poverty reduction; local government; growth rate; tax revenue; Climate change; Natural disasters; Global; South Asia; East Asia; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Export Versus FDI in Services
International Monetary Fund
In the literature on exports and investment, most productive firms are seen to invest abroad. In the Helpman et al. (2004) model, costs of transportation play a critical role in the decision about whether to serve foreign customers by exporting, or by producing abroad. We consider the case of tradable services, where the marginal cost of transport is near zero. We argue that in the purchase of services, buyers face uncertainty about product quality, especially when production is located far away. Firm optimisation then leads less productive firms to self-select themselves for FDI. We test this prediction with data from the Indian software industry and find support for it.
Keywords:
WP; technical efficiency; fixed cost; FDI; Exports; Productivity; Heterogeneous firms; Software; Uncertainty; services company; firms export; firm productivity; firms lie; software firm; Foreign direct investment; Transportation; Service exports; Europe