IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/anf/wpaper/4.html

Indian health policy in the light of Covid-19: The puzzles of state capacity and institutional design

Author

Listed:
  • Ajay Shah

    (xKDR Forum and Jindal Global University)

Abstract

The pandemic has constituted a severe stress test for the Indian health system. In this article, we review India's experience with Covid-19 in 2020. An array of initiatives are required in response to these experiences, in public health and in health care. In testing and in health care, the substantial role of the private sector needs to be recognised, and integrated into thinking about health policy. There is a need to reform government organisations, which wield coercive power or spend public money, so as to refocus them upon addressing market failure, and achieving state capacity. There is considerable knowledge, in the field of state capacity in India, which can help in this task.

Suggested Citation

  • Ajay Shah, 2021. "Indian health policy in the light of Covid-19: The puzzles of state capacity and institutional design," Working Papers 4, xKDR.
    • Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/Shah2021_puzzlesofStatecapacityandInstitutionaldesign.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patnaik, Ila & Roy, Shubho & Shah, Ajay, 2018. "The rise of government-funded health insurance in India," Working Papers 18/231, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    2. Minu Philip & Debraj Ray & S. Subramanian, 2021. "Decoding India's Low Covid-19 Case Fatality Rate," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 27-51, January.
    3. Pritchett, Lant & Woolcock, Michael, 2004. "Solutions When the Solution is the Problem: Arraying the Disarray in Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 191-212, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lewis, David & Rodgers, Dennis & Woolcock, Michael, 2005. "The fiction of development: knowledge, authority and representation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 379, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Gulrajani, Nilima, 2017. "Bilateral Donors and the Age of the National Interest: What Prospects for Challenge by Development Agencies?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 375-389.
    3. Cook, Nathan J. & Karna, Birendra K. & Steinberg, Jessica & Torrens, Gustavo, 2025. "Ostromian institutions and violence: Community forestry and Nepal’s civil war," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Jilani, Amir Hamza & Negara, Siwage Dharma & Suryadarma, Daniel, 2025. "Improving the quality of basic education in ASEAN–Emerging challenges and reforms," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Kyle, Jordan, 2017. "Perspectives on the role of the state in economic development: Taking stock of the “Developmental State” after 35 years," IFPRI discussion papers 1597, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. John Creedy & S. Subramanian, 2023. "Mortality comparisons and age: a new mortality curve," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 18-30, January.
    7. World Bank, 2008. "Afghanistan - Building an Effective State : Priorities for Public Administration Reform," World Bank Publications - Reports 8046, The World Bank Group.
    8. Musacchio, Aldo & Fritscher, André Martínez & Viarengo, Martina, 2014. "Colonial Institutions, Trade Shocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889–1930," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 730-766, September.
    9. Gulrajani, Nilima, 2009. "The future of development management: examining possibilities and potential," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 24206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Andrews, Matt, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," Working Paper Series rwp14-022, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    11. Michael Woolcock, 2007. "Higher education, policy schools, and development studies: what should masters degree students be taught?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 55-73.
    12. Kamanda, Josey & Birner, Regina & Bantilan, Cynthia, 2017. "The “efficient boundaries” of international agricultural research: A conceptual framework with empirical illustrations," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 78-85.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Mohamed Jellal, 2014. "Foreign aid, investment and fiscal policy behavior: theory and empirical evidence," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/030, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    14. Nabil Maghrebi & Abbas Mirakhor, 2015. "Risk Sharing and Shared Prosperity in Islamic Finance," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 23, pages 85-117.
    15. Matt Andrews, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," CID Working Papers 281, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    16. Maria Gonzalez Asis & Michael Woolcock, 2015. "Operationalizing the Science of Delivery Agenda to Enhance Development Results," World Bank Publications - Reports 23226, The World Bank Group.
    17. Andrew McNee, 2012. "Rethinking Health Sector Wide Approaches through the lens of Aid Effectiveness," Development Policy Centre Discussion Papers 1214, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    18. World Bank, 2010. "Making Infrastructure Work for Women and Men," World Bank Publications - Reports 28131, The World Bank Group.
    19. Andrews, Matt & Pritchett, Lant & Woolcock, Michael, 2015. "Doing Problem Driven Work," Working Paper Series 15-073, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    20. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:anf:wpaper:4. 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: Ami Dagli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://papers.xkdr.org/ .

    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.