Pub Date : 2024-01-18DOI: 10.1177/00194662231223698
Rajesh Gupta, Atulan Guha
This article examines the nexus between economic growth and two renewable energy sources, namely wind and solar, to separate out the contrast between these two sources, for India deploying system generalised method of moments and vector error correction method suitable to capture the dynamic nature of panel data. Unlike most of the earlier studies, it takes into account cross-sectional dependence and addresses the issue of endogeneity. India has been chosen because despite India being one of the largest producers of renewable energy globally; the nexus is under-studied. This article finds the installation of solar energy capacity positively influences the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth. Moreover, there is a bi-directional positive relation between the installation of wind energy capacity and GSDP growth. Hence the adoption of renewable energy is helping the states to grow faster. However, the study found not much difference in the nature of the nexus between solar energy growth and wind energy growth for India. JEL Codes: O13, P28, P44, Q56
{"title":"Renewable Energy and Economic Growth: Evidence from India","authors":"Rajesh Gupta, Atulan Guha","doi":"10.1177/00194662231223698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231223698","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the nexus between economic growth and two renewable energy sources, namely wind and solar, to separate out the contrast between these two sources, for India deploying system generalised method of moments and vector error correction method suitable to capture the dynamic nature of panel data. Unlike most of the earlier studies, it takes into account cross-sectional dependence and addresses the issue of endogeneity. India has been chosen because despite India being one of the largest producers of renewable energy globally; the nexus is under-studied. This article finds the installation of solar energy capacity positively influences the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth. Moreover, there is a bi-directional positive relation between the installation of wind energy capacity and GSDP growth. Hence the adoption of renewable energy is helping the states to grow faster. However, the study found not much difference in the nature of the nexus between solar energy growth and wind energy growth for India. JEL Codes: O13, P28, P44, Q56","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"68 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139526961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-17DOI: 10.1177/00194662231212721
Joseph J. French, Michael Martin, Christine McClatchey
We compare the impacts of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU)-related shocks on equity fund flows (EFFs) to India using a Bayesian vector autoregression approach. We find that (a) Indian EPU and GEPU are strongly and negatively related to EFF; (b) EFF are more sensitive to GEPU relative to Indian EPU; (c) evidence of trend-chasing behaviour by fund managers in India; and (d) GEPU is an important factor for forecasting returns on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Taken together, our findings indicate that EPU is important to understanding equity allocation decisions and returns in India. JEL Codes: F21, F39, G11
{"title":"Economic Policy Uncertainty and Equity Fund Flows to India: A Bayesian Approach","authors":"Joseph J. French, Michael Martin, Christine McClatchey","doi":"10.1177/00194662231212721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231212721","url":null,"abstract":"We compare the impacts of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU)-related shocks on equity fund flows (EFFs) to India using a Bayesian vector autoregression approach. We find that (a) Indian EPU and GEPU are strongly and negatively related to EFF; (b) EFF are more sensitive to GEPU relative to Indian EPU; (c) evidence of trend-chasing behaviour by fund managers in India; and (d) GEPU is an important factor for forecasting returns on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Taken together, our findings indicate that EPU is important to understanding equity allocation decisions and returns in India. JEL Codes: F21, F39, G11","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"60 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139526764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-12DOI: 10.1177/00194662231215452
Akhil Sharma, Sanjeev Gupta, A. Rishad
This study provides a brief analysis of time-varying cointegration between the INR–USD bilateral exchange rate and Brent crude oil prices in the post–subprime crisis period. Prior studies established this relationship using the assumption that the long-run relation is intertemporally constant. However, there is much recent evidence demonstrating that this assumption may not be feasible. To address this issue and to go beyond the restrictive time-invariant environment, we employed the time-varying cointegration framework of Bierens and Martins (2010) , which was assessed through orthogonal Chebyshev time polynomials. The result shows that the Rupee was decoupled from oil price shocks in the first two samples. However, the oil price pass-through effect will become stronger in the third and fourth samples. The endogenous structural break test suggests the presence of serious parameter instabilities due to fluctuations in oil prices and the exchange rate over the period under study. This indicates the ability of international crude oil prices to influence domestic economic activities through the exchange rate. Policymakers should consider this factor while making monetary and foreign exchange policies. JEL Codes: E44, G14, G15
{"title":"Unveiling the Relationship Between Oil Price and Exchange Rate: New Insight from Time-varying Versus Fixed Coefficient Cointegration","authors":"Akhil Sharma, Sanjeev Gupta, A. Rishad","doi":"10.1177/00194662231215452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231215452","url":null,"abstract":"This study provides a brief analysis of time-varying cointegration between the INR–USD bilateral exchange rate and Brent crude oil prices in the post–subprime crisis period. Prior studies established this relationship using the assumption that the long-run relation is intertemporally constant. However, there is much recent evidence demonstrating that this assumption may not be feasible. To address this issue and to go beyond the restrictive time-invariant environment, we employed the time-varying cointegration framework of Bierens and Martins (2010) , which was assessed through orthogonal Chebyshev time polynomials. The result shows that the Rupee was decoupled from oil price shocks in the first two samples. However, the oil price pass-through effect will become stronger in the third and fourth samples. The endogenous structural break test suggests the presence of serious parameter instabilities due to fluctuations in oil prices and the exchange rate over the period under study. This indicates the ability of international crude oil prices to influence domestic economic activities through the exchange rate. Policymakers should consider this factor while making monetary and foreign exchange policies. JEL Codes: E44, G14, G15","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"58 36","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139532419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-12DOI: 10.1177/00194662231214680
Bornali Bhandari, Samarth Gupta, Ajaya K. Sahu, K. S. Urs
Using a unique survey of Indian firms conducted in June 2020, we analyse whether innovating into a new product line or adapting e-commerce platforms improved business outlook. A structural equation framework is used to address the endogenous relationship between six-month advance expectations of key demand (new orders) and supply (labour costs and raw material costs) variables to the two innovation strategies. Innovation strategies are in turn determined by unobservable latent variables, that is, shocks experienced due to the COVID-19-associated national lockdown. Both innovation strategies had a positive and significant impact on demand-side sentiments but had a mixed impact on the supply side. JEL Codes: M21, O31
{"title":"Impact of Product and Process Adoption Strategies on Business Expectations: Evidence from India During the Pandemic","authors":"Bornali Bhandari, Samarth Gupta, Ajaya K. Sahu, K. S. Urs","doi":"10.1177/00194662231214680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231214680","url":null,"abstract":"Using a unique survey of Indian firms conducted in June 2020, we analyse whether innovating into a new product line or adapting e-commerce platforms improved business outlook. A structural equation framework is used to address the endogenous relationship between six-month advance expectations of key demand (new orders) and supply (labour costs and raw material costs) variables to the two innovation strategies. Innovation strategies are in turn determined by unobservable latent variables, that is, shocks experienced due to the COVID-19-associated national lockdown. Both innovation strategies had a positive and significant impact on demand-side sentiments but had a mixed impact on the supply side. JEL Codes: M21, O31","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":" 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139624204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/00194662231212750
D. Joshi, R. Gopinathan
We undertake an extensive literature survey and segregate the methods mainly into two approaches: parametric and non-parametric. Further, we categorise the non-parametric techniques into the Growth Accounting Approach and the Deterministic Frontier Approach. The evaluation and development of methods used in the study of productivity growth measurement is a continuous process over the years, even if we found a longstanding critical debate from the classical school, popularly known as the Cambridge controversy. This article presents a holistic review of methods for documenting the growth debates in independent India, which helps understand the concepts for the new researcher in the field and the policymakers in the developing and less developed countries. JEL Codes: D24, E24, O47
{"title":"Manufacturing Productivity Measurement in India: An Evolutionary Trend","authors":"D. Joshi, R. Gopinathan","doi":"10.1177/00194662231212750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231212750","url":null,"abstract":"We undertake an extensive literature survey and segregate the methods mainly into two approaches: parametric and non-parametric. Further, we categorise the non-parametric techniques into the Growth Accounting Approach and the Deterministic Frontier Approach. The evaluation and development of methods used in the study of productivity growth measurement is a continuous process over the years, even if we found a longstanding critical debate from the classical school, popularly known as the Cambridge controversy. This article presents a holistic review of methods for documenting the growth debates in independent India, which helps understand the concepts for the new researcher in the field and the policymakers in the developing and less developed countries. JEL Codes: D24, E24, O47","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"87 24","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139440510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/00194662231212664
Mohd Yousuf Malik, Kulsoom Raza, Samia Ansari
The current article examines the tax efforts of India’s main mountainous states that have been accorded special category status by the National Development Council. These states have been under persistent budgetary pressure and are partially reliant on central funds in the form of grants in ‘aid’ and other central transfers. The present article employs the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model to assess ‘tax effort’ of special category states. The model results implied that ‘tax effort’ rises with increase in the share of secondary sector, revenue expenditure and road infrastructure. Further, the level of debt lowers ‘tax effort’, whereas the introduction of FRBM and Goods and Service Tax Regime (GST) has raised the inefficiency in own tax mobilization. On the basis of tax effort index, computed through John Drew (JLMS) methodology, this study also indicates that Assam, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir are in a far better position in tax efforts score compared to the north eastern special category states. JEL Codes: H2, H21, H22, H71
{"title":"Inefficiency Analysis of Tax Efforts in Special Category States of India: Evidence from a Stochastic Frontier Model","authors":"Mohd Yousuf Malik, Kulsoom Raza, Samia Ansari","doi":"10.1177/00194662231212664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231212664","url":null,"abstract":"The current article examines the tax efforts of India’s main mountainous states that have been accorded special category status by the National Development Council. These states have been under persistent budgetary pressure and are partially reliant on central funds in the form of grants in ‘aid’ and other central transfers. The present article employs the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model to assess ‘tax effort’ of special category states. The model results implied that ‘tax effort’ rises with increase in the share of secondary sector, revenue expenditure and road infrastructure. Further, the level of debt lowers ‘tax effort’, whereas the introduction of FRBM and Goods and Service Tax Regime (GST) has raised the inefficiency in own tax mobilization. On the basis of tax effort index, computed through John Drew (JLMS) methodology, this study also indicates that Assam, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir are in a far better position in tax efforts score compared to the north eastern special category states. JEL Codes: H2, H21, H22, H71","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"37 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139441382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/00194662231212752
Akriti Gupta, Parul Kumar
The liberalisation of Indian financial markets has smoothened the capital flows of international institutional investors, resulting in rising foreign investor participation in the domestic equity and debt markets. Since the reforms of the 1990s, India has become one of the favourite investment hubs of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) across the globe. The research aims to analyse the variation in contribution to foreign inflows by the three different categories of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) and the determinants of inflows of the categories of FPIs. The study is based on the use of secondary data collected from the National Securities Depository Limited and the Securities Exchange Board of India. One-way ANOVA has been employed to examine the variation in inflows by different categories of FIIs. Autor regressive distributed lag model has been used to understand the factors determining the inflows of FPIs. The results of the study revealed that there exists variation in the inflows of investments among the different categories of FIIs. The variation in inflows by different categories into equity instruments was significant, while the inflows into debt instruments were not significant. Furthermore, the highest inflows were seen from the second category of FIIs. JEL Codes: C32, G2
{"title":"Analysis of Variation in Foreign Inflows by Different Categories of Foreign Portfolio Investors","authors":"Akriti Gupta, Parul Kumar","doi":"10.1177/00194662231212752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231212752","url":null,"abstract":"The liberalisation of Indian financial markets has smoothened the capital flows of international institutional investors, resulting in rising foreign investor participation in the domestic equity and debt markets. Since the reforms of the 1990s, India has become one of the favourite investment hubs of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) across the globe. The research aims to analyse the variation in contribution to foreign inflows by the three different categories of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) and the determinants of inflows of the categories of FPIs. The study is based on the use of secondary data collected from the National Securities Depository Limited and the Securities Exchange Board of India. One-way ANOVA has been employed to examine the variation in inflows by different categories of FIIs. Autor regressive distributed lag model has been used to understand the factors determining the inflows of FPIs. The results of the study revealed that there exists variation in the inflows of investments among the different categories of FIIs. The variation in inflows by different categories into equity instruments was significant, while the inflows into debt instruments were not significant. Furthermore, the highest inflows were seen from the second category of FIIs. JEL Codes: C32, G2","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"14 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139439725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/00194662231215451
Asif Tariq, Masroor Ahmad, Aadil Amin
This article examines the threshold effects of government size (measured as a percentage share of government final consumption expenditure in GDP) on economic growth from a non-linear perspective. We apply a smooth transition autoregression (STAR) model to estimate the threshold level of government size and its impact on economic growth in India for the period spanning from 1971 to 2019. The empirical results reveal that the relationship between government size and economic growth is non-linear. The study finds a statistically significant positive relationship between the size of the government and economic growth below the estimated threshold level of government size of 10.45 per cent. Above the 10.45 per cent threshold level, government size has a deleterious impact on economic growth. The results also reveal that the transition from one extreme economic phase to another is gradual. The findings of our study recommend that policymakers can enhance India’s economic growth by restricting government size to the estimated threshold level or by reducing the size of the government when it lies well above the threshold level. JEL Codes: JEL H00, JEL E6, JEL E62
{"title":"On the Impacts of Government Size on Economic Growth in India: Some Evidence from Smooth Transition Autoregression Model","authors":"Asif Tariq, Masroor Ahmad, Aadil Amin","doi":"10.1177/00194662231215451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231215451","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the threshold effects of government size (measured as a percentage share of government final consumption expenditure in GDP) on economic growth from a non-linear perspective. We apply a smooth transition autoregression (STAR) model to estimate the threshold level of government size and its impact on economic growth in India for the period spanning from 1971 to 2019. The empirical results reveal that the relationship between government size and economic growth is non-linear. The study finds a statistically significant positive relationship between the size of the government and economic growth below the estimated threshold level of government size of 10.45 per cent. Above the 10.45 per cent threshold level, government size has a deleterious impact on economic growth. The results also reveal that the transition from one extreme economic phase to another is gradual. The findings of our study recommend that policymakers can enhance India’s economic growth by restricting government size to the estimated threshold level or by reducing the size of the government when it lies well above the threshold level. JEL Codes: JEL H00, JEL E6, JEL E62","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"79 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139440652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-04DOI: 10.1177/00194662231203451
Santosh Kumar Sahu, K. Narayanan, Semetko Holli A.
This study is an ex-post analysis of household health expenditure for rural India in the presence of climate shock. Primary data from Odisha state, located on the east coast of India, are collected for empirical analysis. We have also used information from focus group discussions at the village level and the primary data. Further, an adaptive response measure is created to understand household spending behaviour on health better. Econometric techniques such as regression and propensity score matching explain sample households’ ex-post-health spending behaviour. Our findings indicate that mitigation and adaptation strategies must be heterogeneous among villages classified as near or far from the coast. Social status matters in the health spending behaviour of households. Hence, a particular focus must be given to socially backward castes or classes in designing health policies and information at the state and national levels. JEL Codes: D31, I18, Q54, Q56
{"title":"Determinants of Health Expenditure during Extreme Climate Events: An Ex-post Analysis of Households in Rural Odisha of India","authors":"Santosh Kumar Sahu, K. Narayanan, Semetko Holli A.","doi":"10.1177/00194662231203451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231203451","url":null,"abstract":"This study is an ex-post analysis of household health expenditure for rural India in the presence of climate shock. Primary data from Odisha state, located on the east coast of India, are collected for empirical analysis. We have also used information from focus group discussions at the village level and the primary data. Further, an adaptive response measure is created to understand household spending behaviour on health better. Econometric techniques such as regression and propensity score matching explain sample households’ ex-post-health spending behaviour. Our findings indicate that mitigation and adaptation strategies must be heterogeneous among villages classified as near or far from the coast. Social status matters in the health spending behaviour of households. Hence, a particular focus must be given to socially backward castes or classes in designing health policies and information at the state and national levels. JEL Codes: D31, I18, Q54, Q56","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"28 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139384457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-03DOI: 10.1177/00194662231212753
Ritika Jain, Tirtha Chatterjee
We examine if policy interventions to curb the spread of COVID-19 were driven by political factors. We focus on the period between 1 June and 31 August 2020 when lockdowns and testing were the only responses available with governments and policymakers across the world. These instruments are costly. Stringent lockdowns post challenges to livelihoods while only testing without any lockdown accentuates health risks. This choice between life and livelihood becomes all the more pertinent in a developing country like India. We find that state governments in India that had upcoming elections, faced close margin victory in the last election, were non-incumbents and were aligned with the party at the centre adhered to aggressive testing as a strategy and did not impose strict lockdowns to avert losses in economic activity. Such policy responses indicate an attempt to avert possible losses in future elections. These findings confirm the strong role of political factors in policy decisions. JEL Codes: P52, P16, P36
{"title":"The Politics of State-level COVID-19 Responses in India: Evidence from the First Wave in 2020","authors":"Ritika Jain, Tirtha Chatterjee","doi":"10.1177/00194662231212753","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662231212753","url":null,"abstract":"We examine if policy interventions to curb the spread of COVID-19 were driven by political factors. We focus on the period between 1 June and 31 August 2020 when lockdowns and testing were the only responses available with governments and policymakers across the world. These instruments are costly. Stringent lockdowns post challenges to livelihoods while only testing without any lockdown accentuates health risks. This choice between life and livelihood becomes all the more pertinent in a developing country like India. We find that state governments in India that had upcoming elections, faced close margin victory in the last election, were non-incumbents and were aligned with the party at the centre adhered to aggressive testing as a strategy and did not impose strict lockdowns to avert losses in economic activity. Such policy responses indicate an attempt to avert possible losses in future elections. These findings confirm the strong role of political factors in policy decisions. JEL Codes: P52, P16, P36","PeriodicalId":509033,"journal":{"name":"The Indian Economic Journal","volume":"28 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139389238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}