Academic literature on the topic 'Indian tea economy'

The tea plantations in the Northeast Indian state of Assam, launched by the British colonial regime in the mid-nineteenth century, had considerably transformed the socio-economic profile of the state. Its impact on the state’s peasant economy, however, was enervating. Controlled by the British companies, the plantation sector saw few local planters, although a section of the Assamese peasants traditionally engaged in tea cultivation in their homestead on a small scale. After India’s independence, many Indian entrepreneurs entered the plantation sector largely because of the departure of the British planters. The Assamese entrepreneurs found it difficult to emulate this due to lack of capital. Since the 1970s, however, a significant section of the local small and middle peasants, as a part of a conscious drive, took to small tea plantation (STP). The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic growth in the number of such small planters, which has brought about a major change in the rural social landscape of Assam.

The victim of both geographical, historical and administrative isolation, Darjeeling owed its growth to tea cultivation in the hills by migrants from neighbouring Nepal collectively called Gorkhas. Their contributions notwithstanding, they felt discriminated by West Bengal’s residents to whose state they were administratively attached. Poverty and poor working conditions, with no voice in the tea estates, and poorly maintained infrastructure that brought frequent landslides have fuelled demands for “Gorkhaland”, a homeland separate from West Bengal, where the distinctiveness of their identity and their role as Indian citizens would be fully recognised. It did not help that the Darjeeling district had been administratively detached from the political mainstream. Periodic agitations against the state government have weakened local institutions, disrupted the local economy impacting adversely tea production and tourism on which the local economy and the Gorkhas depend. The West Bengal government had partly recognised Gorkha demands by establishing the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) each vested with limited autonomy. But disagreements on autonomy have left the Gorkhaland issue unresolved. In the meantime, Darjeeling continues to experience gradual decay, absent adequate support from the West Bengal government and from Darjeeling’s local government, including the GTA itself.

BACKGROUND: In November 2016, the government of India declared 86%of the total money in circulation as demonetized. This policy was brought into effect overnight, and it had great macro socioeconomic impact not only on the economy of the country but on the common people, especially the socioeconomically challenged. While several researchers have focused on, and continue to investigate, the effects of demonetization on the economy, its impact on the psychosocial health of workers has not yet been studied. OBJECTIVE: To provide an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial consequences of demonetization on the workers in Indian tea gardens. METHODS: A qualitative research approach was employed. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with seven key informants (clinicians and executives/managers), and 36 tea garden workers were involved in six focus groups. Collected data were analyzed using the Template Analysis technique. RESULTS: From the data analysis, five main themes emerged concerning the psychosocial factors involved in demonetization effects: socioeconomic changes, organizational consequences, workplace interpersonal relationships, work-family interface, and psychophysical symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study highlighted the significant impact that demonetization had on tea gardens at both the organizational and individual levels.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. Nearly 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their daily livelihood directly or indirectly. In that, 20 per cent of the villagers now depend solely upon agricultural income for their livelihood directly. The agricultural produce sector has been one of the most important components of the Indian economy. Considerable progress has to be achieved in scaling new heights in the production of food grains, commercial crops like cotton, sugarcane, tea, fruits, vegetables and milk. The increasing trend of agricultural production has brought new challenges in terms of finding market for the marketed surplus. There is also a need to respond to the challenges and opportunities, that the global markets offer in the liberalized trade regime. The following are the specific objectives of the study. 1. To study the functioning of the agricultural marketing in general. 2. To know the different varieties of the vegetables produced and sold.

During most of the nineteenth century, the economy of the British crown colony Ceylon depended almost exclusively on the export of plantation products. After modest beginnings in the 1820s and 1830s, coffee cultivation spread on the island in the 1840s. During the 1880s, the coffee plantations were superseded by plantations of a new crop—tea. Both cultivation systems were almost pure export monocultures, and both relied almost exclusively on imported wage labour from South India. Thus, it is surprising that labour immigration—a process vital to the efficient functioning of the plantation economy—received practically no government attention for the better part of the nineteenth century. Migration between South India and Ceylon was free of government control, support or regulation. Instead, certain functional equivalents—such as the kangany system—organised immigration and coordinated supply and demand. Only very late in the century, when the kangany system had revealed a number of dramatic organisational weaknesses, the Ceylon Government started to get directly involved in labour and immigration policy.The author can be contacted at roland.wenzlhuemer@staff.hu-berlin.de

The seven districts of present-day Assam state, comprising 7.8 million hectares (78,496 km2), lie in the valley of the Brahmaputra river in the extreme northeast of India. On the map they form an extended finger of riverine land pointing toward the mountain boundary. Assam has been a steadily developing frontier region since the middle decades of the nineteenth century. One arm of this development has been that of the plantation economy devoted to tea production in the highlands. British capital, British managers, and Indian coolie labor formed the essential elements in this growing export-oriented economy. From 1870 another settler-based frontier society emerged when peasant migrants from Bengal and ex-tea-laborers took up government-owned wastelands along the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to grow paddy rice. Together these two forces have transformed the face of the land and created a new society in Assam over the past century. The British colonial regime's policies generally favored the development and growth of both the estate and the smallholder sectors of Assam's economy. In this process the indigenous Assamese — whether peasant cultivators or tribal hill peoples — have faced immense pressures on their society and way of life. The purpose of this essay is to delineate the transformations in the land and the agricultural economy that accompanied this process in Assam.

AbstractEl Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an aperiodic oscillation of sea surface temperature (SST)-induced interannual rainfall variability in south India (SI) that has a direct impact on rain-fed agricultural production and the economy of the region. The study analyzed the influence of ENSO-related rainfall variability on crop yield of south Indian tea-growing regions (SITR) for the period of 1971–2015. The relationship between SST anomalies from June to August over the Niño-3 sector of the tropical Pacific Ocean and tea production anomalies of SI shows a positive correlation. However, SST has a negative relationship with rainfall in the regions of the southwest monsoon but not with the northeast monsoon region of the Nilgiris. The correlation between rainfall and crop yield in SI (r = 0.045) is positively weak and statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). Tea production is influenced more by the cold phase than the warm phase of ENSO, whereas rainfall is greatly influenced by the warm phase. Tea production across the regions indicated that none of the ENSO phase categories based on Niño-3 has significantly greater production than any of the other ENSO phases. Therefore, the predictability of tea production on the basis of ENSO phases is limited. Our findings highlight that the crop production of SITR appeared to be less responsive to the ENSO phases. This may be due to improvements in production technology that mitigated the problems associated with rainfall variability.

Marked as a dark swan occurrence and compared to the monetary scene of World War Two the flare-up of COVID-19 has detrimentally affected worldwide medical care frameworks with a gradually expanding influence on each part of human life. Despite all the measures taking into account proceeding with limitations on developments of individuals and vehicular traffic, concerns have been raised with respect to negative ramifications of COVID-19 pandemic on the farm economy. With an expanding populace, there is a relating ascend in food request in India. A post-COVID circumstance offers that one of a kind chance to repurpose the current food and farming strategies for a more beneficial population. India, being trade surplus on objects like rice, meat, milk objects, tea, plant objects, and so forth might also additionally take benefit of the fortunate breaks via way of means of sending out such objects with a strong agri-trades policy. Development of fare steady framework and coordination would require ventures and backing of the private division that will be in the drawn out interests of ranchers in boosting their income. This is for sure uplifting news in the COVID situation, accepting agribusiness can rehearse to a great extent unscathed. Designing rural arrangements, post-COVID situation, must incorporate these goals for a food frameworks change in India. The end of the lockdown won’t end the issues. The need of great importance is to amplify potential outcomes of agriculture, which has shown its utility and flexibility in attempting times.

Цель статьи – исследовать инструменты государственного регулирования торговой деятельности в современной Индии. Особенностью институциональной структуры регулирования торговли в Индии является значительная роль неправительственных и некоммерческих организаций, а также наличие специальных государственных агентств индийского правительства, осуществляющих содействие в выращивании, обработке и реализации ключевых для индийской экономики плантационных культур, таких как чай, сахар, табак, каучук и др. В статье рассмотрена система правовых актов, регламентирующих торговую деятельность в Индии, а также особенности регулирования цен на основные (жизненно-необходимые) товары. Научная новизна заключается в систематизации институтов и экономико-правовых инструментов государственного регулирования торговли в Индии. The purpose of the article is to explore the instruments of state regulation of trading activities in modern India. A feature of the institutional structure of trade regulation in India is the significant role of non-governmental and nonprofit organizations, as well as the presence of special state agencies of the Indian government that assist in the cultivation, processing and sale of key plantation crops for the Indian economy, such as tea, sugar, tobacco, rubber, etc. The system of legal acts regulating trade activities in India, as well as the peculiarities of regulating prices for basic (vital) goods are considered. Scientific novelty lies in the systematization of institutions and economic and legal instruments of state regulation of trade in India.

In mediterranean countries, water is considered as the most basic assets for economic sustainability growth. For cultivation, water is not only essential but also essential in different sectors such as in industries and economic growth. It is considered as also an important component of the environment with significant impact on natural conservation and health. Around 70% of fresh water withdrawals goes to agriculture. The use of water within the sectors are very diverse and included mainly for irrigation pesticides and fertilizers application and sustain livestock. In India, agriculture is an important sector for sustenance and growth of Indian economy. Today, in the whole world, India is one of the largest producers of agricultural products. Several agricultural commodities like tea, coffee, oil seeds, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, rice, wheat, spices etc. are considered as the major supplier from India. For crop and yards water, irrigation management involves the monitoring of water applications. It is especially important to monitor soil moisture in order to promote optimise crop yields without runoff percolated loss.

There is nothing controversial in saying that hum an capital matters a great deal for economic development. Research during the past 50 years has confirmed this belief, and governments, international organizations and NGOs have worked hard to improve human capital indicators. But the majority of policy makers and researchers have considered and studied human capital as an issue only concerning individuals. However, human capital also has a social component which has not yet been well understood, despite a growing literature looking beyond the individual aspect of human capital. The aim of this dissertation is to shed some light on this social component of hum an capital. The recurrent question that I am asking throughout this thesis is "How do others matter?", in relation to hum an capital. In particular, I am wondering how social capital interacts with human capital. To study this question, I take India as a case study. India is a country where human capital has dramatically changed in the last 50 years, and social capital had an important role in this evolution. More concretely, India's peculiar social structure pro vides a very interesting context to study the relation between human capital and social capital.

Ce travail de thèse présente l'analyse de deux changements organisationnels dans le cas du secteur agricole en Afrique Subsaharienne. Ce travail est composé de cinq chapitres qui peuvent être regroupés en deux parties distinctes. Dans le premier cas il s'agit de la comparaison et de l'estimation de l'impact de réformes institutionnelles au sein du secteur coton en Afrique Sub-Saharienne. Dans le second, de l'étude ex ante d'une innovation organisationnelle récente: les assurances fondées sur des indices météorologiques au sein de la zone soudano-sahélienne. Dans les deux cas ces analyses tentent de répondre à un besoin d'orientation les politiques visant au développement du secteur agricole en Afrique de l'Ouest et plus particulièrement à la question de l'accès au marché du crédit et de l'assurance pour les producteurs, nécessaire pour dépasser le stade de l'agriculture de subsistance (de Janvry et Sadoulet, 2011). Dans le premier chapitre, je passe en revue les réformes des filières cotonnières qui ont eu lieu en Afrique Sub-Saharienne. Je construis trois indices synthétiques de libéralisation: la présence de capitaux privés et le degré de concurrence entre égreneurs ainsi que la flexibilité des prix au cours de la campagne. Ceci nous permet de construire et de valider la base de données utilisée dans le second chapitre. Nous montrons d'abord que les deux vagues de réformes ont été très différentes. La première concerne les pays anglophones, dont le secteur cotonnier a été libéralisé entre 1985 et 1995. La seconde (après 1995) concerne les pays francophones d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre. Nous montrons que ces dernières reposent plus sur une régulation de la filière, conservant de nombreuses caractéristiques des filières intégrées issue de la colonisation, contrairement aux réformes de la première vague de libéralisation. Tout d'abord, la concurrence établie n'est pas réelle puisque l'on voit l'installation de monopsones territoriaux d'égreneurs: les pays étant, dans la plupart des cas, divisés en zones d'opération pour chacun d'eux. Ensuite, les prix d'achat du coton sont encore fixés au semis et garantis jusque la récolte, absorbant les variations intra-saisonnières du prix international. Finalement on observe une rémanence du secteur privé, bien que des parts des sociétés cotonnières soient cédées au privé. Dans un second chapitre nous étudions l'impact de ces réformes sur la performance du secteur du coton dans les 16 principaux producteurs d'Afriques Sub-Saharienne en 2008. Nous utilisons pour cela des données de panel, issu de la FAO, appariées sur la période 1961-2008 à des données météorologiques mensuelles en grille (CRU TS3.1) considérées sur la période de croissance du coton, ce pour chaque année et chaque pays. Chaque cellule de la grille étant pondérée par la densité des surfaces cultivées en coton sur l'ensemble des territoires nationaux. Nous comparons les pays n'ayant pas réformé aux pays ayant régulé, installé une concurrence faible ou encore une concurrence forte. Nous montrons que les réformes menant à une régulation et à une forte concurrence ont un impact significatif sur les surfaces cultivées et les rendements. Ces résultats semblent validés par une estimation du potentiel biais de sélection, source limité d'endogéneité et robustes aux deux spécifications choisies: la première exploitant la dimension dynamique du panel (méthode des moments généralisés, dite GMM) et la seconde étant une analyse en différence de différences (moindres carrés avec effets fixes). Nous montrons d'abord que les réformes tendent à augmenter les rendements, hormis les réformes menant vers un faible niveau de concurrence, pour lequel l'effet des réformes n'est pas significatif. Les pays ayant régulé leur secteur cotonniers ont vu une croissance des surfaces semées en coton après les réformes. Les réformes menant à une forte compétition ont en revanche eu un impact négatif sur les surfaces cultivées, ce qui tend à valider l'approche institutionnelle qui suppose que le crédit aux intrants au semis, sans autre garantie que le coton récolté en fin de campagne, nécessite une relation de coordination qui est mise à mal par la concurrence. De même, comme le montre la littérature sur le sujet (Brambilla et Porto, 2011), il est possible qu'un effet de sélection ait opéré dans ces secteurs les plus concurrentiels, menant à limiter le nombre de producteurs cultivant du coton, aux dépend des producteurs les moins productifs, n'ayant pas accès aux marchés du crédit et de l'assurance. Dans le troisième chapitre nous réalisons une revue de la littérature sur les assurances indi- cielles, recensant les expériences dans les pays en développement, les méthodes sous-jacentes et les questions de recherche qui en découlent. Nous étudions finalement dans les chapitre 4 et 5 le potentiel de telles assurances dans deux cas spécifiques: le mil au Sud-Ouest du Niger et le coton au Nord du Cameroun. Ces assurances constituent une alternative intéressante aux assurances agricoles traditionnelles, coûteuses en raison de l'asymétrie d'information qui les caractérisent et de la nécessité de constater les dommages effectifs. Dans les deux cas nous montrons d'abord qu'accroître la complexité des indices pour mieux appréhender l'impact de la pluviométrie sur les rendements ne semble pas nécessaire. Les résultats, robustes à la cross-validation, corrigeant l'effet de la sur-identification (over-fitting) montre en effets que les gains de l'assurance sont relativement limités, mais surtout qu'il ne sont pas accrus par l'utilisation d'indices plus sophistiqués. Nous montrons aussi, dans le cas du mil, que la prise en compte de la forte variation des rendements au sein du même village est significative et qu'elle joue un rôle important dans le cas d'une fonction utilité concave. Les parcelles cultivées étant situées à moins de 3 kilomètres de la station météorologique, ce risque de base est bien dû à la présence de chocs idiosyncratiques (maladies, ravageurs...) ou à l'hétérogénéité des agents et des parcelles et non à un choc météorologique. Ce résultat tend à montrer que l'existence de ce risque de base résiduel, peut limiter la demande pour ce type d'assurance, en présence d'aversion pour le risque. Il s'inscrit dans la suite des travaux de Clarke (2011) qui montre que l'absence d'indemnisation, en cas de mauvais rendements, peut rendre l'assurance désavantageuse du fait du paiement de la prime (ce que j'appelle une erreur de type I). Ces résultats doivent être interprétés à la lumière du faible intérêt des producteurs pour ce genre de produits observés dans les récentes, mais néanmoins nombreuses, études ex post. Finalement, toujours dans ce premier cas, l'utilisation de données sur des parcelles fertilisées permet de montrer que ces résultats ne sont pas radicalement modifiés par la prise en compte d'une potentielle intensification des cultures, rendant pourtant la culture de mil plus risquée, et donc l'assurance plus intéressante. Dans le second cas, le coton, nous utilisons d'abord une expérimentation de terrain mettant en œuvre des jeux de loteries (inspiré de Holt et Laury, 2002), pour estimer la distribution des paramètres d'aversion pour le risque des producteurs. Nous montrons d'abord que, dans ce cas, l'effet de l'imparfaite corrélation des rendements et de l'indice météorologique choisi sur le gain en équivalent certain des producteurs, est significatif. C'est en particulier le cas dans les zones les plus humides ou montrant un climat spécifique. Contrairement au cas du mil au Niger, assurer les producteurs de coton semble nécessiter l'observation de la date de semis, dont le simulation ne semble pas nécessaire ou inadéquate vu les contraintes institutionnelles du secteur (comme par exemple les retards de livraison de graines et d'intrants). Nous remarquons ensuite que l'échelle d'étude étant plus importante dans le cas du coton au Cameroun, l'assurance risque de mener à des péréquations non désirées, par exemple des zone les plus humides envers les zones plus arides. Finalement nous observons, dans le cas du coton au Cameroun, que le gain apporté par la stabilisation des rendements est similaire, voire inférieur, à celui apporté par la stabilisation intra-saisonnière des prix qui a lieu aujourd'hui dans la filière Camerounaise intégrée (la Sodecoton détenant le monopole d'achat du coton graine au Cameroun). En effet, en annonçant le prix de vente au moment du semis, la société offre implicitement aux producteurs une assurance contre les variations du prix international au cours de la campagne. J'ai donc montré certaines limites intrinsèques aux mécanismes d'assurance fondés sur des indices météorologiques, en dépit de l'appréhension de la forte variabilité spatiale qui caractérise le climat soudano-sahélien au sein duquel les deux terrains se situent. Nous disposons en effet, dans les deux cas, d'une densité de stations météorologiques unique dans la région permettant de limiter le risque de base spatial. Ces résultats ne prennent toutefois pas en compte les effets indirects de l'assurance qui, lorsqu'elle est offerte conjointement avec un crédit aux intrants, peut baisser le prix de ce dernier, en limitant la probabilité de défaut en cas de sécheresse. J'ai par ailleurs aussi montré l'importance de l'accès au crédit pour les producteurs de coton ainsi que l'intérêt de la couverture contre le risque de variation du prix international dans le cas des cultures de rentes.

Le but de cette thèse était d'analyser la relation entre l'économie de course à pied (ECO) et l'efficiencemécanique (Eff) dans la performance des coureurs spécialistes en moyenne et longue distance, utilisantdes modèles allométriques. Basé dans les résultats de trois études originales, nous avons conclu quel'échelle allométrique peut améliorer la relation entre ECO et performance dans la course à pied demoyenne et longue distance, principalement en coureurs amateurs, pour raison morpho-fonctionnelles.Également, pour cette même population, des travaux mécaniques, principalement le externe, peut êtreconsidérées comme prédicteurs de la performance de la course à pied de sujets spécialistes en longuedistance, et un exposant allométrique peut améliorer cette prédiction. En ce qui concerne à l'Eff, lesrésultats ont montré que cette variable est, aussi, une important variable de prédiction de laperformance. Toutefois, quand appliqué des exposant allométriques, il n'y avait aucune améliorationdans cette prédiction, principalement en coureurs de haut niveau. Les résultats ont montré, aussi, quepour le calcul de l'Eff, la contribution de la dépense énergétique anaérobie est important, parce que,contrairement, les résultats peuvent être surestimés. En général, lorsque l'objectif est prédit laperformance des coureurs amateurs de moyenne ou de longue distance, à travers des puissancesmétaboliques ou mécaniques, est suggéré d'adopter un exposant allométrique spécifique du groupeétudié. Toutefois, lorsque cette prédiction est réalisée avec la utilisation de l'Eff en un groupe decoureurs de haut niveau, l'échelle allométrique n'est pas indiquée.

La presente tesi teorica propone il MOPC index per misurare quanto i manager abbiano generato una comunità multinazionale di gestione aperta di un generico processo considerando congiuntamente l’affiliazione, la connettività interna, la forza e la multinazionalità. A tal fine ho impiegato il SAOM-Behavior valutando la collaborazione internazionale di processo ed annessa propensione come variabili multiple i cui valori e co-evoluzione dipendono dalla co-influenza tra le collaborazioni internazionali fasiche, tra le medesime e le rispettive propensioni fasiche e tra queste ultime. L’intensità relazionale dipende dal modello mentale condiviso, generatosi a livello di team internazionale, su una certa fase del processo mentre la propensione è funzione dell’orientamento e dell’attitudine alla collaborazione internazionale fasica. Il MOPC index è stato applicato alla comunità multinazionale di innovazione aperta e di gestione aperta introducendo due indici teorici: MOIC index e MOMC index. Infine ho teorizzato la catena del valore del manager (MVC) impiegando il processo innovativo e gestionale; considerando le collaborazioni internazionali sui due processi con annesse propensioni, si ho analizzato la collaborazione internazionale sulla MVC, la relativa propensione e la loro co-evoluzione. Cosi facendo, ho introdotto il MMC index per misurare la comunità multinazionale manageriale e, mediante questo, la multinazionalizzazione d’impresa da una prospettiva relazionale manageriale.
This thesis presents the theoretical MOPC index to measure how much the managers generate a multinational open process community by considering the affiliation, the internal connectivity, the strenghtness and the multinationality. I employed the SAOM-Behavior by evaluating the international process collaboration and the respective propensity as multiple variables whose value and co-evolution depend on the co-influence between the international collaborations phasic, between the same and the respective propensities phasic and between them. The intensity of these relationships depends on the International phasic team mental model sharing (TMMS) while the propensity’s one depends on the orientation and the attitude. Then the MOPC index has been applied to measure the multinational open innovation community and the multinational open management community by introducing the MOIC index and the MOMC index. Finally, I introduced the managerial value chain (MVC) as composed of the innovative and the management process. By integrating the international collaborations related to the two processes and their propensities It’s possible to measure the international MVC collaboration, the correlated propensity and their co-evolution. In doing so, I introduced the MMC index to determine the multinational managerial community’s degree and use it to evaluate the firm’s multinationalization by a managerial relational perspective.

La presente tesi teorica propone il MOPC index per misurare quanto i manager abbiano generato una comunità multinazionale di gestione aperta di un generico processo considerando congiuntamente l’affiliazione, la connettività interna, la forza e la multinazionalità. A tal fine ho impiegato il SAOM-Behavior valutando la collaborazione internazionale di processo ed annessa propensione come variabili multiple i cui valori e co-evoluzione dipendono dalla co-influenza tra le collaborazioni internazionali fasiche, tra le medesime e le rispettive propensioni fasiche e tra queste ultime. L’intensità relazionale dipende dal modello mentale condiviso, generatosi a livello di team internazionale, su una certa fase del processo mentre la propensione è funzione dell’orientamento e dell’attitudine alla collaborazione internazionale fasica. Il MOPC index è stato applicato alla comunità multinazionale di innovazione aperta e di gestione aperta introducendo due indici teorici: MOIC index e MOMC index. Infine ho teorizzato la catena del valore del manager (MVC) impiegando il processo innovativo e gestionale; considerando le collaborazioni internazionali sui due processi con annesse propensioni, si ho analizzato la collaborazione internazionale sulla MVC, la relativa propensione e la loro co-evoluzione. Cosi facendo, ho introdotto il MMC index per misurare la comunità multinazionale manageriale e, mediante questo, la multinazionalizzazione d’impresa da una prospettiva relazionale manageriale.
This thesis presents the theoretical MOPC index to measure how much the managers generate a multinational open process community by considering the affiliation, the internal connectivity, the strenghtness and the multinationality. I employed the SAOM-Behavior by evaluating the international process collaboration and the respective propensity as multiple variables whose value and co-evolution depend on the co-influence between the international collaborations phasic, between the same and the respective propensities phasic and between them. The intensity of these relationships depends on the International phasic team mental model sharing (TMMS) while the propensity’s one depends on the orientation and the attitude. Then the MOPC index has been applied to measure the multinational open innovation community and the multinational open management community by introducing the MOIC index and the MOMC index. Finally, I introduced the managerial value chain (MVC) as composed of the innovative and the management process. By integrating the international collaborations related to the two processes and their propensities It’s possible to measure the international MVC collaboration, the correlated propensity and their co-evolution. In doing so, I introduced the MMC index to determine the multinational managerial community’s degree and use it to evaluate the firm’s multinationalization by a managerial relational perspective.

This dissertation explores how the tea-growing districts of China and colonial India were integrated into the global division of labor over a formative century of boom-bust expansion. I explore this history of competition by highlighting two dimensions of economic and intellectual change: the intensification of agrarian labor and the synchronous emergence of new paradigms of economic thought. As tea exports from China and India soared and competition grew fiercer, planters, factory overseers, peasants, and government officials shifted their attention from the wealth-creating possibilities of commerce to the value-creating potential of labor and industrial production. This study also historically situates two older, teleological assumptions in the field of Asian economic history: the inevitability of industrialization and of proletarianization. Both assumptions emerged from social and economic transformations during the nineteenth century. In particular, periodic market crises compelled Chinese and colonial Indian officials to seriously question older "Smithian" theories premised upon the "sphere of circulation." Instead, both regional industries pursued interventionist measures focused on the "abode of production." In India, officials passed special laws for indentured labor recruitment. In China, reformers organized tea peasants and workers into agrarian cooperatives. Finally, colonial officials and Bengali reformers in India agreed that they needed to liberate the unfree "coolie" from the shackles of unfree labor. And in China, reformers articulated a critique of rentier "comprador" merchants and moneylenders who exploited peasant labor. Thus, although the "coolie" and "comprador" became twentieth-century symbols of Asian economic backwardness, they were each, as concepts, produced by profound social and economic changes that were dynamic, eventful, and global in nature.

This chapter discusses the initial failure of British colonial officials to profit from tea in colonial Assam from 1830 to 1860, and presents a reexamination of classical political-economic principles. After colonial schemes to lure “free migrant” families from China failed, the bureaucrat W. N. Lees implored the colonial Government of India to dispense with liberal Smithian ideals and instead embrace the “colonization” schemes of Edward G. Wakefield, drawing upon historicist, paternalistic theories that were popular in the late nineteenth century. This debate introduces classical political economy's concept of “value” as a key category for the rest of the book. The chapter then recounts how, starting in the 1860s, officials legalized penal labor contracts that prevented migrant Indian workers from leaving employers under threat of prosecution. During the last decades of the century, the system shepherded nearly half a million migrant workers into Assam, a boon of cheap and immobilized labor critical to the industry's success. Assam tea thrived, in other words, based upon an economic strategy that stood opposed to the principles of liberalism espoused at its outset.

This concluding chapter synthesizes the various stories from the Chinese and Indian tea war into a handful of observations about history and historiography. First, this book has given substance to a reconceptualization of capitalism's history more flexible and globally oriented than past approaches. Second, this view from two marginal sites in rural Asia also illuminates new conclusions about the rise of the modern economy. In particular, there is evidence to support the hypothesis that putatively backwards and marginal social formations were at times more predisposed to industrial production than their metropolitan counterparts were. Third, beyond challenging the Orientalist categories of economic backwardness and tradition, this book has sought to account for their emergence through a critical history of political-economic thought. Finally, this book can only speculatively gesture in the direction of another major question, namely, the historical relationship between transnational competition and national ideology.

The importance of tea tourism in India is immense as it has a dual impact by creating a regional tea market and securing jobs for tea labor. Therefore, proper guidance for the tea tourists is essential regarding the tea tourism destinations by addressing the issues, challenges, and opportunities in promoting local culture. Through the public-private partnership, tea tourism should be included in the mainstream tour packages, and local tea customs can be conveyed through a variety of activities promoting sightseeing and other forms of entertainment and tourism experiences. A proper planning is required for making tea tourism more attractive and developed in India. Development of tea tourism sustaining the environment and preserving the heritage and culture will benefit the Indian regions by creating employment opportunities and boosting the rural economy and thereby alleviate the insurgency and other socio-economic problems. It is expected to contribute to the literature on tourist guiding and the promotion of tea tourism and the tourist guides within tea garden boundaries in India.

The social shifts in Indian society towards tea are pervasive, and they are now being seen through tourism, where local tea customs, cultures, services, and attractions are part of several tourist activities. The delightful and enjoyable experience of tea tourism might pique visitors' interests. The chance to access all knowledge and experiences linked to tea is provided by tea tourism. In the context of global tourism, tea tourism is a relatively new specialty. By generating jobs and increasing the rural economy, the development of tea tourism would assist the area and lessen insurgency and other socioeconomic issues while also protecting the environment, heritage, and culture. In order to draw tourists and increase revenue, tea farms and the government are proposing to build more amenities inside the tea garden. In the tea garden, there are various homestays where visitors may stay and enjoy all the amenities.

In the summer of 2015, the government of Uttar Pradesh began putting out advertisements looking for “peons”—the local term for low-ranking office helpers. UP, as the state is known, is home to more than 200 million Indians, packed into an area about the size of Texas (which has one-seventh as many inhabitants). Fittingly, UP needed a small army of new peons: in all, 368 jobs were posted. A very strange thing happened next. Applications poured in. After a painstaking survey that took weeks, 2.3 million résumés were counted. There were 6,250 candidates for each available position. Some of the applicants had doctorates. While peon jobs are stable—even respectable—they are by no means glamorous. Peons are usually the first people one sees at Indian government offices, dressed in shabby, faded khaki uniforms; their work involves tracking down dusty files, fetching tea, and ushering in guests. Salaries range from just $150 to $250 a month. The question is why these low-skill, low-paying jobs were in such high demand. There are several possible explanations. First, $250 a month may sound like a pittance, but it is not insignificant: it amounts to nearly double the median national salary. Second, peons are influential gatekeepers in Indian bureaucracy. If you need to see a local officer, a small bribe can go a long way. But workplace corruption is hardly something young, idealistic Indians aspire to (let alone the ones with doctorates). Something deeper was going on. A third possibility is that India simply isn’t creating enough jobs. A 2016 report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that India’s working-age population expanded by 300 million between 1991 and 2013. But during those same twenty-two years, the UNDP says, the economy created just 140 million new jobs. Put another way, 160 million working-age Indians were without formal employment. Job creation is the number one headache for India’s policymakers. By some estimates, India needs to create a million new jobs every month simply to keep pace with the gush of new entrants to the workforce. There is little evidence that India has a plan to meet this demand.

This chapter details how, after the rise of Indian tea triggered a collapse of its Chinese rivals, the Chinese trade underwent its own crisis of economic principles in the 1890s. It provides an overview of economic ideas during the high age of the Qing Empire, which entailed a sophisticated grasp of economic growth revolving around the utility of the soil and the importance of trade. The stimulus of competition from South Asian tea, crystallized in the crisis, pushed Qing thinkers to abandon dominant mercantilist notions of wealth as something acquired through overseas trade and instead visualize it as something produced by labor. Indeed, global competition compelled a minority of Qing officials to see wealth as something socially determined, originating from the skill and productivity of human activity, hence capable of infinite expansion through innovation. The economic thinker and Qing bureaucrat Chen Chi was exemplary of this transformation. He penned an influential memorial on reviving the tea trade, with much of his analysis tied to a simultaneous engagement with the translated works of English economist Henry Fawcett, ultimately arriving at the same classical tenets of “value” outlined by W. N. Lees in India.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Urban transportation significantly contributes towards the rapid deterioration of air quality in the Indian cities. Growing affordability has resulted in an increased two wheeler population across India. The Indian government has instituted introduction of emission legislation in phases to mitigate the impact on environment due to the increased growth. As a signatory to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) Global Technical Regulation (GTR)-2, the Worldwide Harmonized Motorcycle Test cycle (WMTC) will be adopted as a standard test cycle for emission assessment beginning 2016. This cycle development was based on the collection and analysis of driving behavior data and statistical information about motorcycles used in three different regions (Europe, Japan and USA).</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">To understand the relevance in the context of driving patterns found in the India, the team developed a city specific drive cycle which involved logging on-road vehicle data from several trips and dividing them into a database of microtrips. Using a customized script on MATLAB, these microtrips were first segregated into different classes based on maximum speed attained. Minimum error criteria for different parameters such as average speed, average acceleration, average deceleration, percentage acceleration, percentage deceleration, percentage idle and percentage cruise were applied to select the microtrips from each class. A concatenation of these individual microtrips resulted in a city specific drive cycle which incorporates the urban driving pattern of the city of Bengaluru. During the process of data logging, evaluation and scripting, the team also developed a standard procedure to simplify repeating such an exercise at other urban locations.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The Bengaluru Motorcycle Drive Cycle (BMDC) evolved using the above method attempts to represent varied traffic patterns and driving behavior providing an insight into speed, acceleration, cruising and idling modes.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In line with the WMTC, a reduced BMDC was also generated using acceleration profiles of low-powered motorcycles. A comparison between BMDC and WMTC was carried out on a chassis dynamometer to assess the impact on exhaust emissions, fuel consumption and several other parameters.</div></div>

Academic institutions are excited about the opportunities that are showcased by the Government of India’s New Education Policy 2020 regarding the potential impact that it can have on learners. Inspired by this important development, a team of engineering and architecture students took the initiative to consider exploring energy-efficient building designs through the Solar Decathlon India contest in support of the new policy. The team contributed to developing a concept for a “Student Life Centre” - a building that particularly deals with student activities to enable them to pursue their passions along with their studies. This idea was a unique concept for an educational building as participating students got an opportunity to visualize and appreciate the economic aspects. From the author’s analysis, before introducing coursework based on the New Education Policy in curricula, academic institutions may benefit if they visualize the options that the built environment may offer in accelerating learning.

Na busca pela competitividade, empresas de construção passaram a incorporar tecnologias associadas à indústria 4.0. Para implementar essas tecnologias, é importante que a empresa seja capaz de identificar onde ela se encontra no caminho da digitalização. Diante disso, este estudo tem como objetivo propor um delineamento de um modelo de maturidade que relacione as tecnologias da Indústria 4.0, distribuídas em níveis de maturidade, para dimensões de excelência operacional baseadas em indicadores-chave. Realizou-se uma Revisão Sistemática da Literatura (RSL) para analisar os principais modelos de maturidade da Indústria 4.0 para a construção. Os resultados da RSL apontam para modelos de maturidade que não relacionam tecnologias da Indústria 4.0 a níveis de maturidade numa jornada de transformação digital, e indica para lacunas importantes onde pouca ênfase tem sido dedicada às áreas que refletem custos e entrega em modelos de maturidade para Indústria 4.0. Os resultados da RSL foram assimilados para propor um modelo de maturidade baseado nas dimensões de excelência operacional. Para trabalhos futuros, é sugerido o aprimoramento e validação do modelo proposto com especialistas.

As a country of agricultural origin in the developing world, Sri Lanka has not adequately focused on the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) to gain substantial economic returns. Presently, “Ceylon Tea” and “Ceylon Cinnamon” are protected under the Sri Lankan GI regime. India and Vietnam, although in the developing world, have gained considerable success in GI protection and therefore many lessons can be learned from them. The doctrinal and comparative research methodologies were adopted in this study using primary and secondary sources, to compare the GI systems with India and Vietnam. Recently, Sri Lanka has introduced a registration procedure under the sui generis system by an amendment to the Intellectual property (IP) Act. Yet, the efficiency can only be seen in the future, as this mechanism was only enforced from the 16th of March 2022. The same registration procedure is followed by India for a considerable period, and they have been successful in achieving agricultural development through proper enforcement. As per the Vietnamese system, it is necessary to increase the level of awareness in promoting GIs by training national experts, funding technical assistance and providing funds for implementation. They highlight adequate government interventions are necessary for the protection mechanism to be effective which Sri Lanka should look into in greater detail. The main reasons for the slow progress in obtaining protection for potential products are inadequate Government interventions and the recently introduced registration system being too new to assess the progress, as it takes time for the results to be seen. Keywords: Agricultural Sector; Developing Countries; Geographical Indications; Sui Generis System

A desigualdade de rendimentos no mercado de trabalho brasileiro é bastante expressiva como mostram diversos estudos. Esta desigualdade tem alguns determinantes, entre eles estão características que indicam produtividade dos indivíduos como escolaridade e experiência, segmentação do mercado de trabalho e outras características que são meramente discriminatórias como gênero e raça. A desigualdade causada pelas diferenças de produtividade e segmentação pode ser identificada pelo efeito dotação, e a causada por fatores discriminatórios é identificada pelo efeito discriminação. O objetivo aqui é medir quanto da desigualdade de renda entre os grupos de raça/gênero é explicada pela discriminação e quanto pela diferença de habilidades dos trabalhadores. Para tanto, considerou-se a decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) e decomposição de Machado e Mata (2005). Esta última leva em consideração o resultado por quantil, a partir de regressões quantílicas. A análise foi realizada para o Brasil e regiões, a partir dos dados das PNADs de 2001 e 2011. Os principais resultados são: i) discriminação é o que explica a diferença salarial entre gêneros; ii) diferenças de características produtivas é a principal causa da diferença salarial entre as raças; iii) há diferentes padrões regionais e por quantis da discriminação

Abstract Surfactants are widely employed in chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) technique. The economics of a cEOR project is directly impacted by the amount of surfactant loss caused by adsorption on a rock. Therefore, surfactant adsorption reduction is imperative. Both static and dynamic adsorption experiments were conducted to test the adsorption reduction of a novel Gemini surfactant on Indiana limestone. This novel surfactant is tolerant to high-salinity and high-temperature environments. Low salinity water was made by diluting sea water ten times. The salinity of Low salinity water was 6771 ppm. Rock characterization was performed first using XRD. Static adsorption tests were run using a crushed rock sample. Whereas core flood experiments were conducted to determine the dynamic adsorption behavior. High-performance liquid chromatography integrated with an evaporative light scattering detector was employed to calculate the unknown concentration of the surfactant. The effect of both high and low salinity water along with Gemini surfactant was investigated on the static adsorption of Gemini surfactant on Indiana limestone. It was shown that high salinity conditions result in the adsorption reduction in comparison with Gemini surfactant in deionized water. However, the use of low salinity water in the aqueous solution of Gemini surfactant further results in reducing surfactant adsorption. Dynamic adsorption test on Indiana limestone was found consistent with static tests. The ultimate reduced adsorption value of Gemini surfactant on Indiana limestone was found to be 0.11 mg/g-rock using low salinity conditions in dynamic experiments. Such low value lies under the economic limit, making a chemical EOR process efficient and economical. The novelty of this work is the use of low-salinity water in reducing the adsorption of a Gemini surfactant on Indiana limestone. The use of such a technique helps industrialists and researchers in designing an efficient and economical chemical EOR process.

As perdas por making-do acontecem quando uma atividade se inicia sem ter todos os requisitos necessários para sua execução ou conclusão. Levantamentos indicam que 49% das perdas ocasionadas em canteiros de obras relacionam-se ao making-do. Tais perdas geram impactos na segurança, na qualidade e no planejamento da obra. O objetivo deste trabalho é propor diretrizes para diminuir e/ou eliminar as perdas por making-do. Inicialmente foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura com o intuito de se compreender o tema da pesquisa em amplitude. Posteriormente, a partir da revisão bibliográfica e com a experiência prévia dos autores foi construída uma tabela com os problemas apontados na literatura e definidas diretrizes que buscam reunir soluções para as reduzir e/ou evitar as perdas por making-do. Como resultados, confirmou-se a viabilidade da proposição e implantação das diretrizes e percebeu-se que os artigos que apresentavam problemas causados por making-do não apresentavam possíveis soluções para os mesmos.

Qualidade na execução de obras e na mão de obra pode ser interpretada de diferentes formas pela sociedade. Com base nessa questão e embasada nos requisitos de qualidade na execução de obras apresentado pelo Programa Brasileiro da Qualidade e Produtividade do Habitat (PBQP-H), o objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar o conhecimento de uma parcela da sociedade a respeito do conceito de qualidade na execução de obras e na mão de obra. O método de pesquisa adotado foi a investigação Survey, por meio do compartilhamento de um formulário, para pessoas de diferentes áreas de atuação e diferentes faixas etárias. Com isso, foi possível obter resultados que indicam um cenário otimista para a evolução da qualidade e, consequentemente, uma tendência de melhoria da produtividade na indústria da construção civil. A pesquisa tem como contribuição ajudar a identificar os principais problemas percebidos que afetam a qualidade das obras e da mão de obra, promover soluções e divulgar as melhores práticas neste contexto.

Pedestrians are vulnerable road users since they are prone to more severe injuries in any vehicular collision. While innovative solutions promise improved pedestrian safety, a careful analysis of local conditions is required before selecting proper corrective measures. This research study had two focuses: (1) methodology to identify roads and areas in Indiana where the frequency and severity of pedestrian collisions are heightened above the acceptable level, and (2) selecting effective countermeasures to mitigate or eliminate safety-critical conditions. Two general methods of identifying specific pedestrian safety concerns were proposed: (1) area-wide analysis, and (2) road-focused analysis. A suitable tool, Safety Needs Analysis Program (SNAP), is currently under development by the research team and is likely the future method to implement an area-wide type of analysis. The following models have been developed to facilitate the road-focused analysis: (1) pedestrian crossing activity level to fill the gap in pedestrian traffic data, and (2) crash probability and severity models to estimate the risk of pedestrian crashes around urban intersections in Indiana. The pedestrian safety model was effectively utilized in screening and identifying high-risk urban intersection segments for safety audits and improvements. In addition, detailed guidance was provided for many potential pedestrian safety countermeasures with specific behavioral and road conditions that justify these countermeasures. Furthermore, a procedure was presented to predict the economic feasibility of the countermeasures based on crash reduction factors. The findings of this study should help expand the existing RoadHAT tool used by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to emphasize and strengthen pedestrian safety considerations in the current tool.

On the surface, global gains in educating children have been remarkable. Access has expanded enormously. So, too, has knowledge about ‘best practices’—both education-sector-specific knowledge about how students learn and successful teachers teach, and knowledge about ‘best practice’ arrangements for governing education systems. Yet the combination of access and knowledge has not translated into broad-based gains in learning outcomes. Why? In seeking to address this question, a useful point of departure is the 2018 Learning World Development Report’s distinction between proximate and underlying causes of learning shortfalls. Proximate causes include the skills and motivations of teachers, the quality of school management, the available of other inputs used in schools, and the extent to which learners come to school prepared to learn. Underlying these are the governance arrangements through which these inputs are deployed. Specialist knowledge on the proximate drivers of learning outcomes can straightforwardly be applied in countries where governance works well. However, in countries where the broader governance context is less supportive, specialist sector-specific interventions to support learning are less likely to add value. In these messy governance contexts, knowledge about the governance and political drivers of policymaking and implementation can be an important complement to sector-specific expertise. To help uncover new ways of improving learning outcomes (including in messy governance contexts), the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Programme has championed a broad-ranging, interdisciplinary agenda of research. RISE was organised around a variety of thematic and country-focused research teams that probed both proximate and underlying determinants of learning. As part of the RISE work programme, a political economy team commissioned studies on the politics of education policy adoption (the PET-A studies) for twelve countries (Chile, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania and Vietnam). A December 2022 RISE synthesis of the individual country studies1 laid out and applied a framework for systematically assessing how political and institutional context influences learning outcomes—and used the results to suggest some ‘good fit’ soft governance entry points for improving learning outcomes across a variety of different contexts. This insight note elaborates on the synthesis paper’s argument and its practical implications.

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water, leading to significant health complications, and social and economic losses. Currently, a wide range of technologies exists to remove arsenic from water. However, despite ongoing research on such technologies, their widespread application remains limited. To bridge this gap, this review aims to compare the effectiveness and costs of various arsenic remediation technologies while considering their practical applicability. A search conducted using the Medline and Embase databases yielded 31 relevant articles published from 1996 to 2018, which were categorized into laboratory and field studies. Data on the effectiveness of technologies in removing arsenic and associated costs were extracted and standardized for comparison as much as was possible, given the diversity of ways that studies report their key results. The twenty-three (23) technologies tested in laboratory settings demonstrated efficiencies ranging from 50% to ~100%, with the majority reaching relatively high removal efficiencies (>90%). Approximately half achieved the WHO standard of 10 µg/L. Laboratory studies used groundwater samples from nine (9) different countries – Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Guatemala, India, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. The fourteen (14) technologies tested in the field achieved removal efficiency levels ranging between 60% and ~99%, with ten (10) attaining above 90% removal efficiency. Of these, only five (5) reached established the WHO standard. Some of the technologies under-performed when their influent water contained excessive concentrations of arsenic. Only six (6) countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, and Nicaragua) were represented among the studies that implemented and tested technologies in the field, either at household or community level. For technologies tested in the laboratory, the cost of treating one cubic meter of water ranged from near-zero to ~USD 93, except for one technology which cost USD 299/m³. For studies conducted in the field, the cost of treating one cubic meter of water ranged from near-zero to ~USD 70. Key factors influencing the removal efficiencies and their costs include the arsenic concentration of the influent water, pH of the influent water, materials used, the energy required, absorption capacity, labour used, regeneration period and geographical location. Technologies that demonstrate high removal efficiencies when treating moderately arsenic-contaminated water may not be as efficient when treating highly contaminated water. Also, the lifetime of the removal agents is a significant factor in determining their efficiency. It is suggested that remediation technologies that demonstrate high arsenic removal efficiencies in a laboratory setting need to be further assessed for their suitability for larger-scale application, considering their high production and operational costs. Costs can be reduced by using locally available materials and natural adsorbents, which provide near zero-cost options and can have high arsenic removal efficiencies. A notable feature of many arsenic removal approaches is that some countries with resource constraints or certain environmental circumstances – like typically high arsenic concentrations in groundwater –aim to reach resultant arsenic concentrations that are much higher than WHO’s recommended standard of 10 µg/L. This report maintains that – while this may be a pragmatic approach that helps progressively mitigate the arsenic-related health risks – it is unfortunately not a sustainable solution. Continuing exposure to higher levels of arsenic ingestion remains harmful for humans. Hence arsenic-removal technology should only be seen efficient if it can bring the water to the WHO standard. A less radical approach effectively shifts the attention from the origin of the problem in addressing the impacts and postpones achieving the best possible outcome for populations. The quantitative summary of costs and effectiveness of arsenic remediation technologies reviewed in this report can serve as a preliminary guideline for selecting the most cost-effective option. It may also be used as an initial guideline (minimum standard) for summarising the results of future studies describing arsenic remediation approaches. Looking ahead, this study identifies four priority areas that may assist in commercializing wide-scale implementation of arsenic removal technologies. These include: i) focusing efforts on determining market viability of technologies, ii) overcoming practical limitations of technologies, iii) determining technology contextual appropriateness and iv) concerted effort to increase knowledge sharing in and across regions to accelerate the implementation of research on the ground. Overall, the current science and knowledge on arsenic remediation technologies may be mature enough already to help significantly reduce the global numbers of affected populations. The missing link for today’s arsenic removal challenge is the ability to translate research evidence and laboratory-level successes into quantifiable and sustainable impacts on the ground. Achieving this requires a concerted and sustained effort from policymakers, engineers, healthcare providers, donors, and community leaders.

Introducción En 2023 el Banco de la República celebra 100 años de su fundación. Este es un aniversario de gran significado, el cual ofrece la oportunidad de resaltar el aporte que el Banco ha hecho al desarrollo del país. Su trayectoria como garante de la estabilidad monetaria lo ha consolidado como la institución estatal independiente que genera mayor confianza entre los colombianos por su transparencia, capacidad de gestión y el cumplimiento efectivo de las funciones de banca central y culturales encomendadas en la Constitución y la Ley. En una fecha tan importante como esta, la Junta Directiva del Banco de la República (JDBR) hace un reconocimiento a las generaciones de directivos y funcionarios que con su compromiso y dedicación contribuyeron a engrandecer esta institución1. El mandato del Banco de la República se consolidó en la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente de 1991, para cuya integración los ciudadanos tuvieron la oportunidad de elegir a las setenta personas que tendrían como tarea redactar una nueva constitución. Los dirigentes de los tres movimientos políticos más votados fueron elegidos presidentes de la Asamblea, y esta presidencia tripartita reflejó la pluralidad y la necesidad de consenso entre las diferentes fuerzas políticas para sacar adelante la reforma. Entre los asuntos considerados, la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente le otorgó especial importancia a la estabilidad monetaria. Por esta razón decidió incluir el tema de banca central y dotar al Banco de la República de la autonomía necesaria para utilizar los instrumentos a su cargo sin injerencia de otras autoridades. El constituyente entendió que velar por la estabilidad de precios es un deber del Estado y que la entidad responsable de este cometido debe estar consagrada en la Constitución y contar con la capacidad técnica y autonomía institucional necesaria para adoptar las decisiones que considere pertinentes para alcanzar este objetivo fundamental, en coordinación con la política económica general. En particular, el artículo 373 estableció que “el Estado, por intermedio del Banco de la República, velará por el mantenimiento de la capacidad adquisitiva de la moneda”, disposición que coincidía con el esquema de banca central adoptado por países exitosos en el control de la inflación. En 1999, mediante sentencia 481, la Corte Constitucional indicó que “el deber de mantener la capacidad adquisitiva de la moneda no solo se predica de la autoridad monetaria, crediticia y cambiaria, esto es de la Junta del Banco de la República, sino también de quienes tienen responsabilidades en la formulación y ejecución de la política económica general del país” y que “la finalidad constitucional básica del Banco de la República es la protección de la moneda sana, pero esa autoridad debe tomar en consideración en sus decisiones los otros objetivos económicos de la intervención del Estado, como el pleno empleo, pues sus funciones deben coordinarse con la política económica general.” La reforma al Banco de la República concertada en la Constituyente de 1991 y en la Ley 31 de 1992 se puede resumir en los siguientes aspectos: i) asignó al Banco un mandato específico: mantener la capacidad adquisitiva de la moneda, en coordinación con la política económica general; ii) designó a la JDBR como autoridad monetaria, cambiaria y crediticia; iii) otorgó al Banco y a su Junta Directiva un importante grado de independencia frente al Gobierno; iv) prohibió al Banco otorgar crédito al sector privado distinto del financiero; v) estableció que para otorgar crédito al Gobierno se requería del voto unánime de su Junta Directiva, a menos que se trate de operaciones de mercado abierto; vi) determinó que el legislador, en ningún caso, podrá ordenar cupos de crédito a favor del Estado o de los particulares; vii) designó al Congreso, en representación de la sociedad, como principal destinatario del ejercicio de rendición de informes del Banco; y viii) delegó en el presidente de la República la función de inspección, vigilancia y control sobre el Banco de la República. Los miembros de la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente entendieron claramente que los beneficios de una inflación baja y estable se extienden a toda la sociedad y contribuyen al buen funcionamiento del sistema económico. Entre los más importantes cabe mencionar que una inflación baja promueve el uso eficiente de los recursos productivos, al permitir que los precios relativos guíen de mejor forma la asignación de recursos, lo cual promueve el crecimiento económico y aumenta el bienestar de la población. Igualmente, una inflación baja reduce la incertidumbre sobre la rentabilidad esperada de la inversión y sobre el precio futuro de los activos, lo que aumenta la confianza de los agentes económicos, facilita la financiación de largo plazo y estimula la inversión. Una inflación baja evita redistribuciones arbitrarias del ingreso y la riqueza, debido a que los estratos de ingresos bajos de la población no pueden protegerse de la inflación mediante la diversificación de sus activos, y concentran una elevada proporción de su ingreso en la compra de alimentos y otros bienes básicos, ítems que generalmente son los más afectados por los choques inflacionarios2. Por otra parte, una baja inflación facilita las negociaciones salariales, lo cual crea un buen clima laboral y reduce la volatilidad del nivel de empleo. Finalmente, una inflación baja contribuye a que el sistema de impuestos sea más transparente y equitativo, al evitar las distorsiones que la inflación introduce sobre el valor de los activos y de los ingresos que componen la base tributaria. Desde el punto de vista de la autoridad monetaria, uno de los beneficios más relevantes de una inflación baja es la credibilidad que los agentes económicos adquieren en la meta de inflación, lo que la convierte en un ancla nominal efectiva sobre el nivel de precios. Al recibir su mandato, y en uso de su autonomía, el Banco de la República empezó a anunciar metas puntuales de inflación anual a partir de 1992. Si bien en esta primera etapa las metas de inflación propuestas no se lograron cumplir de forma precisa, sí se consiguió imprimirle a la inflación una tendencia descendente, que la llevó desde un nivel del 32,4% en 1990 al 16,7% en 1998. Para aquella época la tasa de cambio se mantenía dentro de una banda, lo cual limitaba la efectividad de la política monetaria, que buscaba cumplir simultáneamente una meta de inflación y un objetivo de tasa de cambio. La crisis asiática se contagió a las economías emergentes y afectó de manera importante a la economía colombiana. La tasa de cambio presentó una fuerte presión a la depreciación al cerrarse el acceso al financiamiento externo en condiciones de un elevado desequilibrio externo. Lo anterior, junto con la falta de flexibilidad cambiaria, impidió hacer una política monetaria contracíclica, lo que condujo a una contracción del PIB del 4,2% en dicho año. En este contexto de desaceleración económica, la inflación anual se redujo al 9,2% a finales de 1999, situándose por debajo de la meta del 15% que se había fijado para ese año. Este episodio reveló plenamente lo costoso que podría ser, en términos de actividad económica, el tener simultáneamente metas para la inflación y para la tasa de cambio. Hacia finales de 1999 el Banco de la República anunció la adopción de un nuevo régimen de política monetaria que denominó Esquema de Inflación Objetivo. Este régimen, conocido internacionalmente como ‘Inflation Targeting,’ venía ganando creciente aceptación en países desarrollados, al haber sido adoptado a partir de 1991 por Nueva Zelanda, Canadá e Inglaterra, entre otros, logrando importantes avances en el manejo de la inflación, sin incurrir en costos en términos de actividad económica. En América Latina, Brasil y Chile también lo acogieron en 1999. En el caso colombiano, el último requisito pendiente por cumplir para adoptar dicho esquema de política era la flexibilidad de la tasa de cambio, la cual se materializó hacia septiembre de 1999, cuando la JDBR decidió abandonar las bandas cambiarias para permitir que la tasa de cambio se determinara libremente en el mercado. De forma coherente con el mandato constitucional, el objetivo fundamental de este nuevo esquema de política consistía en “el cumplimiento de una meta de inflación que contribuya a mantener un crecimiento del producto alrededor de su capacidad potencial”3. Dicha capacidad potencial se entendía como aquel crecimiento del PIB que la economía puede obtener si utiliza plenamente sus recursos productivos. Para cumplir este objetivo la política monetaria debe cumplir necesariamente un papel contracíclico en la economía. Ello porque cuando la actividad económica está por debajo de su potencial y existen recursos ociosos, la autoridad monetaria puede reducir la tasa de interés ante la ausencia de presiones inflacionarias para estimular por esa vía la economía y, de manera inversa, cuando el producto supera su capacidad potencial. Este principio de política, que está inmerso en los modelos para guiar la postura de política monetaria, hace que, en el mediano plazo, sean totalmente compatibles los objetivos del cumplimiento de la meta de inflación y de un nivel de actividad económica compatible con su capacidad productiva. Para alcanzar este propósito, en el esquema de inflación objetivo se utiliza la tasa de interés del mercado monetario (a la cual el banco central suministra liquidez primaria a los bancos comerciales), como el instrumento primordial de política. Con ello se sustituyó la cantidad de dinero como meta intermedia de política monetaria, que el Banco de la República, al igual que varios otros bancos centrales, utilizaron por mucho tiempo. En el caso colombiano, el objetivo del nuevo esquema de política monetaria implicaba, en términos prácticos, que la recuperación de la economía, luego de la contracción ocurrida en 1999, debía lograrse al tiempo que se cumplían las metas decrecientes de inflación establecidas por la JDBR. De manera notable este propósito se cumplió. En la primera mitad de la década del 2000 la actividad económica logró una recuperación importante, hasta alcanzar un crecimiento del 6,8% en 2006. Entretanto, la inflación fue descendiendo gradualmente, en línea con las metas de inflación. Fue así como la tasa de inflación se redujo desde el 9,2% en 1999 al 4,5% en 2006, cumpliendo con la meta de inflación establecida para ese año, mientras que el PIB alcanzó su nivel potencial. Después de lograrse este equilibrio en 2006, la inflación repuntó al 5,7% en 2007, por encima de la meta del 4% fijada para ese año, debido a que el crecimiento del PIB del 7,5% superó su capacidad potencial4. Luego de comprobarse la eficacia del esquema de inflación objetivo en sus primeros años de operación, este régimen de política continuó consolidándose a medida que la JDBR y el equipo técnico ganaron experiencia en su manejo y se incorporaron modelos económicos de última tecnología para diagnosticar el estado presente y futuro de la economía, y evaluar la persistencia de los desvíos de la inflación y sus expectativas con respecto a la meta de inflación. A partir de 2010 la JDBR estableció la meta de inflación anual de largo plazo del 3%, que continúa vigente en la actualidad. La menor inflación ha contribuido a crear un entorno macroeconómico más estable, que ha favorecido el crecimiento económico sostenido, la estabilidad financiera, el desarrollo del mercado de capitales y el funcionamiento de los sistemas de pagos. Gracias a ello se lograron reducciones en la prima por riesgo inflacionario y menores tasas de interés de los TES y de crédito. A su vez, la duración de la deuda interna pública aumentó de forma importante pasando de 2,27 años en diciembre de 2002 a 5,86 años en diciembre de 2022 y la profundización financiera, medida como el nivel de la cartera como porcentaje del PIB, pasó de cerca del 20% a mediados de la década de los noventa a valores superiores al 45% en años recientes, en un contexto saludable de los establecimientos de crédito. Los logros tangibles alcanzados por el Banco de la República en el manejo de la inflación al haber contado con la autonomía que le otorgó la Constitución para cumplir con el mandato de preservar el poder adquisitivo de la moneda, junto con los importantes beneficios que se derivaron del proceso de llevar la inflación a su meta de largo plazo, hacen que el reto que actualmente enfrenta la JDBR de retornar la inflación a la meta del 3% sea aún más exigente y apremiante. Como es bien conocido, a partir de 2021, y especialmente en 2022, la inflación en Colombia volvió a convertirse en un serio problema económico, con elevados costos de bienestar. El fenómeno inflacionario no ha sido exclusivo de Colombia y es así como muchos otros países desarrollados y emergentes han visto alejarse sus tasas de inflación de las metas propuestas por sus bancos centrales5. Las razones de este fenómeno se han analizado en los recientes Informes al Congreso, y en esta nueva entrega se profundiza al respecto con información actualizada. La sólida base institucional y técnica que soporta el esquema de inflación objetivo bajo el cual opera la estrategia de política monetaria le da a la JDBR los elementos necesarios para enfrentar con confianza este difícil reto. Al respecto, en su comunicado del 25 de noviembre la JDBR reiteró su compromiso con la meta de inflación del 3,0%, la cual prevé alcanzar hacia finales de 20246. La política monetaria continuará enfocada en cumplir este objetivo, al tiempo que velará por la sostenibilidad de la actividad económica, tal y como lo ordena la Constitución. Las encuestas a analistas llevadas a cabo en marzo mostraron un incremento importante (del 32,3% en enero al 48,5% en marzo) en el porcentaje de respuestas que sitúan las expectativas de inflación a dos años o más en un rango entre el 3% y 4%. Este es un indicativo claro de recuperación de credibilidad en la meta de inflación a mediano plazo, lo cual guarda coherencia con el anuncio de la JDBR de noviembre pasado. La moderación de la tendencia alcista de la inflación que se observó en enero, y especialmente en febrero, contribuirá a reforzar esta revisión de expectativas de inflación, y ayudará a cumplir los objetivos propuestos. Luego de registrarse una inflación del 5,6% a finales de 2021, la inflación mantuvo una tendencia alcista a lo largo de 2022 debido a las presiones inflacionarias tanto de origen externo, asociadas con las secuelas de la pandemia y las consecuencias del conflicto bélico en Ucrania, como de origen interno, resultantes de: el fortalecimiento de la demanda local; los procesos de indexación de precios estimulados por el aumento de las expectativas de inflación; las afectaciones a la producción de alimentos provocadas por el paro de mediados de 2021, y el traspaso de la depreciación a los precios. Los aumentos del salario mínimo del 10% en 2021 y del 16% en 2022, que en ambos casos superaron la inflación observada y el incremento de la productividad, acentuaron los procesos de indexación al haber establecido un elevado referente de ajuste nominal. De esta forma, la inflación total aumentó al 13,1% a finales 2022. La variación anual de alimentos, que subió del 17,2% al 27,8% entre esos dos años, fue el factor que más influyó en la aceleración del Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC). Otro rubro que contribuyó de manera importante a las alzas de precios fue el de regulados, cuya variación anual aumentó del 7,1% en diciembre de 2021 al 11,8% a finales de 2022. Por su parte, la medida de inflación básica sin alimentos ni regulados subió del 2,5% al 9,5% entre finales de 2021 y finales de 2022. El aumento sustancial de la inflación básica muestra que la presión inflacionaria se extendió a la mayoría de los rubros de la canasta familiar, lo cual es característico de procesos inflacionarios con una indexación de precios generalizada, como ocurre en Colombia. La política monetaria empezó a reaccionar tempranamente a estas presiones inflacionarias. Fue así como a partir de su sesión de septiembre de 2021 la JDBR inició un cambio progresivo de la postura de la política monetaria a partir del mínimo histórico del 1,75% de la tasa de interés de política al cual se había llegado para estimular la recuperación de la economía. Este proceso de ajuste prosiguió sin interrupción a lo largo de 2022 y hasta inicios de 2023, cuando la tasa de política monetaria alcanzó el 12,75% en enero pasado, con lo cual acumuló un incremento de 11 puntos porcentuales (pp). El público y los mercados se han mostrado sorprendidos de que la inflación continuara aumentando, a pesar de los significativos incrementos de la tasa de interés. Pero como lo ha explicado la JDBR en sus diversas comunicaciones, la política monetaria actúa con rezago. Así como en 2022 la actividad económica se recuperó hasta alcanzar un nivel superior al de prepandemia, impulsada, entre otros factores, por el estímulo monetario otorgado durante el período de pandemia y de los meses subsiguientes, así también los efectos de la actual política monetaria restrictiva se irán dando paulatinamente, lo que permite esperar que hacia finales de 2024 la tasa de inflación converja hacia el 3%, como es el propósito de la JDBR. Los resultados de la inflación en enero y febrero de este año mostraron incrementos marginales decrecientes (13 pb y 3 pb respectivamente), en comparación con la variación observada en diciembre (59 pb). Esto sugiere que se aproxima un punto de inflexión en la tendencia de la inflación. En otros países de América Latina, como Chile, Brasil, Perú y México, la inflación llegó a su techo y ha empezado a descender lentamente, aunque con algunos altibajos. Es previsible que en Colombia ocurra un proceso similar durante los próximos meses. El descenso previsto de la inflación en 2023 obedecerá, entre otros factores, a las menores presiones de costos externos por cuenta de la progresiva normalización de las cadenas de suministro, a la superación de los choques de oferta por razones de clima y por los bloqueos viales de años anteriores, lo que se reflejará en menores ajustes en los precios de los alimentos, como ya se observó en los primeros dos meses del año y, por supuesto, al efecto rezagado de la política monetaria. El proceso de convergencia de la inflación a la meta será gradual y se extenderá más allá de 2023. Dicho proceso se facilitará si se revierten las presiones a la devaluación, para lo cual resulta esencial que se continúe consolidando la sostenibilidad fiscal y se eviten mensajes en diferentes frentes de la política pública que generan incertidumbre y desconfianza. _______________________________________ 1 Este Informe al Congreso contiene el recuadro 1 que resume la trayectoria del Banco de la República en estos 100 años. Adicionalmente, con auspicio del Banco, varios libros que profundizan diversos aspectos de la historia de esta institución fueron publicados en años recientes. Véase, por ejemplo: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República : 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 Es por ello que una menor inflación se ha reflejado en la reducción de la desigualdad del ingreso medida a través del coeficiente de Gini al pasar de 58,7 en 1998 a 51,3 en el año previo a la pandemia. 3 Véase Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borrador de Economía, núm. 202, marzo, disponible en: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 Véase López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando y Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “La estrategia de inflación objetivo en Colombia. Una visión histórica”, Borrador de Economía, núm. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 Según el FMI, la variación porcentual de los precios al consumidor entre 2021 y 2022 pasó del 3,1 % al 7,3 % para las economías avanzadas, y del 5,9 % al 9,9 % para las economías de mercados emergentes y en vías de desarrollo. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

A crise sanitaria está a afectar de forma xeneralizada a todos os sectores sociais e económicos en Galicia. O Consello da Cultura Galega analizou os efectos que está a ter no ámbito cultural dende o comezo da aplicación das primeiras restricións. Os diferentes informes publicados dende marzo de 2020 indican un tecido produtivo especialmente vulnerable, sobre todo entre as actividades relacionadas cos espectáculos, unha contracción do consumo da maioría de produtos culturais e unha situación laboral incerta para os traballadores da cultura. A crise da COVID-19 impulsou uns programas de estímulo económico sen precedentes na maioría dos Estados. Dentro da Unión Europea puxéronse en marcha unha serie de medidas de grande alcance en forma de subvencións e préstamos co obxectivo de financiar os instrumentos para combater a pandemia e paliar os efectos económicos que as restricións á mobilidade están a ter en moitos sectores da economía.

Bangladesh has a successful family planning (FP) program and has succeeded in bringing about a demographic transition at a much faster rate than many of its neighboring countries. The contraceptive prevalence rate in Bangladesh increased from 3 percent in 1971 to 45 percent in 1993, and the fertility rate decreased from 7.0 to 3.4 births per woman during the same period. This reflects the effort that the Government of Bangladesh, with the help of international agencies, has made to educate couples about FP and increase access and choice of contraceptive methods, even in remote areas. Another predominantly Muslim country that has achieved remarkable success in FP is Indonesia which has had unprecedented economic growth in recent years. A visit to these countries to study their FP programs provided opportunities to closely observe activities that have contributed to this success. The Population Council, under the Asia and Near East Operations Research and Technical Assistance (ANE OR/TA) project funded by USAID, organized a study tour of Bangladesh and Indonesia for Indian officials, and results are provided in this report.