Global imbalances: the perspective of the Reserve Bank of India

The pre as well as post crisis discourse on global imbalances has largely focused on the zero-sum current account equation involving United States on the one side and the rest of the world (ROW) on the other. Most of the analysis has been from the perspective of the countries which are perceived to be integral part of the above equation. However, the implications of the imbalances went much beyond these few countries and had profound influence on the financial stability and monetary management in many countries. The huge cross border capital flows during the pre crisis period, arising from the liquidity glut in advanced economies and abetted by the expansion of the financial sector balance sheets, posed significant challenges for domestic policy makers. It is this peripheral perspective that this paper attempts to bring forth. India is indeed a peripheral country as far as global imbalances are concerned as it did not contribute to either the origination or propagation of the imbalances. Its growth process is not dependent in any significant measure either on external demand or capital flows. It does not pursue a policy of achieving a particular level of current account deficit or surplus to support its growth strategy. Its exchange rate is essentially market determined and it does not pursue an explicit policy of reserve accumulation. However, India did face the impact of global imbalances as a receptacle of global funds flow which were essentially volatile in nature. The paper articulates the policy imperatives that arose in this context and the design of policy framework that helped in addressing the challenges. The response was, and continues to be driven by a non-doctrinaire, pragmatic approach with the sole objective of maintaining broader macroeconomic and financial stability.The paper concludes with a discussion on the potential risks to global financial stability on account of persisting global imbalances and the feasibility of post crisis efforts being pursued globally at various multinational fora to address these.

Issues and Constrains in Manpower Supply in Indian Hospitality Industry

By the very nature of tourism as a service industry, its efficient management and successful operation depend largely on the quality of manpower. In India, the shortage of skilled manpower poses a major threat to the overall development of tourism. In particular, the rapid expansion of hotels of an international standard in India is creating a high level of demand for skilled and experienced staff. The nature of the decisions facing hotel management is continually expanding. For their business to remain competitive, managers must be skilful in many diverse areas. Tourism statistics reveal that both domestic and foreign tourism are on a robust growth path. This growth will need to be serviced by a substantial increase in infrastructure, including air-road, rail connectivity as well as hotels and restaurants The availability of skilled and trained manpower is a crucial element in the successful long-term development and sustainability of a tourist destination. Skilled and trained human resources will ensure the delivery of efficient, high-quality service to visitors, which is a direct and visible element of a successful tourism product. High standards of service are particularly important in sustaining long-term growth, since success as a tourist destination is determined not only by price competitiveness or the range of attractions available, but also by the quality of the services provided, there by the qualified human capital. This paper elaborates the issues and constrains relating to demand and supply of manpower in hospitality industry and also suggested the recommendations to fill the gap.

Explanation-based generalization of partially ordered plans

Most previous work in analytic generalization of plans dealt with totally ordered plans. These methods cannot be directly applied to generalizing partially ordered plans, since they do not capture all interactions among plan operators for all total orders of such plans. We introduce a new method for generalizing partially ordered plans. This method is based on providing explanation-based generalization (EBG) with explanations which systematically capture the interactions among plan operators for all the total orders of a partially-ordered plan. The explanations are based on the Modal Truth Criterion which states the necessary and sufficient conditions for ensuring the truth of a proposition at any point in a plan, for a class of partially ordered plans. The generalizations obtained by this method guarantee successful and interaction-free execution of any total order of the generalized plan. In addition, the systematic derivation of the generalization algorithms from the Modal Truth Criterion obviates the need for carrying out a separate formal proof of correctness of the EBG algorithms

Jamaica's food stamp program - impacts on poverty and welfare

The authors examine how the food stamp program affected measures of poverty during devaluation of the Jamaican dollar in the early 1990s. They find that without the food stamp program, the poverty gap in Jamaica would have been much worse, especially in 1990 and 1991. For the country as a whole, not having a food stamp program wouldn't have affected the incidence of poverty significantly, but particular groups among the poor would have fared worse. Households with elderly residents benefited most from the program. Households with young children benefited more than households without, in terms of the poverty headcount and gap. The program also appears to have had more effect on extremely poor households than on those of the transient poor (people who move in and out of poverty). Explicitly incorporating behavioral responses into the model reduces the contribution of food stamps to household consumption and poverty, but the poorest benefited most from the program even after accounting for behavioral responses. The program contributed more to reducing poverty than to smoothing consumption.Poverty Reduction Strategies,Services&Transfers to Poor,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Rural Poverty Reduction,Safety Nets and Transfers,Services&Transfers to Poor,Poverty Assessment,Environmental Economics&Policies