Economic Analysis of Institutiions

Economic Analysis of Institutions provides a case studies-based took kit to help readers analyse institutional changes, reforms and efforts to improve governance in the nation. The author applies the concepts of new institutional economics to a number of real-world problems and public policy issues relevant for developing economies. Divided into two parts, the book provides a succinct summary of the relevant theoretical insights of new institutional economics in the first, and application of these insights to eight specific issues in the second. These issues cover a wide range of areas including environment and natural resources, higher education, international migration, agricultural research, reforming the institutional framework for provision of electricity and water, and so on.The author also highlights the existence of a strong positive correlation between the quality and performance of institutions on the one hand and development outcomes on the other. As a basis for successful institutions, the author advocates rational policies through social consensus in a democratic process.

V. Santhakumar is currently Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He had been a faculty, for 15 years (1996–2011), and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. He worked as a full-time volunteer in a major non-governmental organisation called Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad. He completed doctoral research from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has held postdoctoral scholarships at the Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands, and Vanderbilt University, United States.V. Santhakumar has also carried out a number of consultant assignments for the Asian Development Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Development Programme in different states of India, and in Tajikistan, Palestine, Laos and so on. He has received the research medal and the outstanding research award of the Global Development Network, during its initial years. He specialises in institutional issues of environment, natural resources, energy and infrastructure. In addition to publishing in international journals, he has authored Analysing Social Opposition to Reforms (2008), Economic Analysis of Institutions: A Practical Guide (2011) and Economics in Action: An Easy Guide for Development Practitioners (2013)—all published by SAGE India. He has also co-edited the two-volume series on Law and Economics (2013) published by SAGE India.