IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v23y1992i4p101-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumer Subsidies in India: Is Targeting Effective?

Author

Listed:
  • Shikha Jha

Abstract

This article analyses the effectiveness of self‐targeting in the Indian public distribution system and shows that implicit targeting leaves considerable scope for improvement. There is a wastage of the associated consumer subsidy in the sense that a substantial amount goes to the non‐targeted population while a part of the deserving population is left out of the scheme for various reasons. Hence, it is worth diverting resources to goods which are better targeted from goods which are poorly targeted. That is, even if targeting cannot be improved, switching of subsidies both between goods and areas can lead to improved distribution of subsidies to the poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Shikha Jha, 1992. "Consumer Subsidies in India: Is Targeting Effective?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 23(4), pages 101-128, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:23:y:1992:i:4:p:101-128
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.1992.tb00471.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1992.tb00471.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1992.tb00471.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jha, S., 1991. "Factors Determining the Allocation of Food Subsidies in India," Papers 63, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research-.
    2. Parikh, K.S. & Suryanarayana, M.H., 1989. "Food And Agricultural Subsidies: Incidence And Welfare Under Alternative Schemes," Papers 14, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research-.
    3. Isenman, Paul, 1980. "Basic needs: The case of Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 237-258, March.
    4. Besley, Timothy J & Kanbur, S M Ravi, 1988. "Food Subsidies and Poverty Alleviation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(392), pages 701-719, September.
    5. Dantwala, M.L., 1967. "Incentives and Disincentives in Indian Agriculture," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 1-26.
    6. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1990. "On the Effect of Subsidies to Basic Food Commodities in Egypt," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 772-792, October.
    7. Sen, Amartya, 1981. "Public Action and the Quality of Life in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 43(4), pages 287-319, November.
    8. Srinivasan, T. N., 1981. "Malnutrition : Some measurement and policy issues," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-19, February.
    9. Jha, S., 1991. "Consumer Subsidies in India is Targetting Effective?," Papers 64, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research-.
    10. Laraki, Karim, 1989. "Ending Food Subsidies: Nutritional, Welfare, and Budgetary Effects," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 3(3), pages 395-408, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Zhang-Yue & Gandhi, Vasant P., 2000. "Public Food Distribution System and Food Security of the Poor: The Indian and Chinese Experience Compared," 2000 Conference (44th), January 23-25, 2000, Sydney, Australia 123746, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    2. Zhangyue Zhou & Guanghua Wan, 2006. "The Public Distribution Systems of Foodgrains and Implications for Food Security: A Comparison of the Experiences of India and China," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-98, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. David Coady, 2015. "Designing and Evaluating Social Safety Nets: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Conclusions," Working Papers id:7496, eSocialSciences.
    4. Ruchira Bhattacharya, 2015. "Estimating Poverty Including Social Expenditure: Adequacy and Implications of New Official Methods in the Context of Urban India," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 4(3), pages 394-432, December.
    5. Rai, Marina, 2013. "Targeted or Universal Public Distribution System: A Comparative Study in India," EY International Congress on Economics I (EYC2013), October 24-25, 2013, Ankara, Turkey 256, Ekonomik Yaklasim Association.
    6. Jos Mooij, 1999. "Food policy in India: the importance of electoral politics in policy implementation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(4), pages 625-636.
    7. Chung, Kimberly & Haddad, Lawrence James & Ramakrishna, Jayashree & Riely, Frank Z., 1997. "Alternative approaches to locating the food insecure," FCND discussion papers 22, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Reardon, Thomas & Barrett, Christopher B. & Berdegué, Julio A. & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2009. "Agrifood Industry Transformation and Small Farmers in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1717-1727, November.
    9. Suryanarayana, M. H., 1995. "PDS: beyond implicit subsidy and urban bias -- the Indian experience," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 259-278, August.
    10. T Jayan, 2015. "Performance of Targeted Public Distribution System in Kerala," IEG Working Papers 358, Institute of Economic Growth.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chintapalli, Prashant, 2023. "Optimal multi-period crop procurement and distribution policy with minimum support prices," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. repec:ilo:ilowps:259104 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. S. R. Osmani, 1993. "Is There a Conflict between Growth and Welfarism?: The Tale of Sri Lanka," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1993-109, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Datt, Gaurav & Gunewardena, Dileni, 1997. "Some aspects of poverty in Sri Lanka : 1985-90," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1738, The World Bank.
    5. S. R. Osmani, 1988. "Social Security in South Asia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1988-049, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Indrani Chakraborty, 2010. "Living Standard and Economic Growth: A Fresh Look at the Relationship Through The Nonparametric Approach," Working Papers id:3161, eSocialSciences.
    7. Gupta, Sanjeev & Verhoeven, Marijn, 2001. "The efficiency of government expenditure: experiences from Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 433-467, May.
    8. Alessandro Santoro, 2007. "Marginal Commodity Tax Reforms: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 827-848, September.
    9. S.R. Osmani, 1994. "Is There a Conflict Between Growth and Welfarism? The Significance of the Sri Lanka Debate," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 387-421, April.
    10. Fields GS., 1988. "Rural labour markets and the economic development of Sri Lanka," ILO Working Papers 992591043402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Bhalla, Surjit S. & Leiserson, Mark, 1982. "Issues in the Measurement and Analysis of Income Distribution in Developing Countries: Some Comparative Perspectives," 1982 Conference, August 24-September 2, 1982, Jakarta, Indonesia 182444, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Sreenivasan Subramanian, 2004. "Indicators of Inequality and Poverty," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-25, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Partha Dasgupta, 1989. "Well-Being: Foundations, and the Extent of its Realization in Poor Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1989-080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Dushni Weerakoon & Utsav Kumar & Roselle Dime, 2019. "Sri Lanka’s Macroeconomic Challenges: A Tale of Two Deficits," Working Papers id:13022, eSocialSciences.
    15. Daniel R. Vining Jr., 1986. "Population Redistribution towards Core Areas of Less Developed Countries, 1950-1980," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 10(1), pages 1-45, April.
    16. Mendis, Patrick, 1995. "Capitalism In Human Scale: Are There "Virtuous Circles" In Economic Growth And Human Development In Achieving A Newly Industrialized Country Status?," Staff Papers 13901, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    17. Mendis, Patrick, 1992. "The Political Economy Of Poverty Alleviation In Developing Countries: Is Sri Lanka Really An Exception?," Staff Papers 14052, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    18. B. Essama‐Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2009. "Measuring Pro‐Poorness: A Unifying Approach With New Results," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 752-778, September.
    19. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2023. "Inequality Beyond GDP: A Long View," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(3), pages 533-554, September.
    20. Schiff, Maurice, 1994. "The Impact of Two-Tier Producer and Consumer Food Pricing in India," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 8(1), pages 103-125, January.
    21. Chandana Maitra & Sriram Shankar & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2016. "Income Poor or Calorie Poor? Who should get the Subsidy?," Discussion Papers Series 564, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:23:y:1992:i:4:p:101-128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.