FISCAL POLICY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA -PACIFIC : gender budgeting in india

This book examines how macro-fiscal policy can lead to gender-aware human development in an emerging economy like India, with special reference to gender budgeting. Integrating gender lens in macro-fiscal policies has been widely recognized in international and national policy making and budgeting. The book highlights the gender diagnosis--the measurement issues relate to construction of gender outcome variables; the statistical invisibility of unpaid care economy sector and how deficiency in public infrastructure can accentuate the private costs; the analytical link between gender outcome variables and macro-fiscal policy frameworks; the role and impact of fiscal transfers on gender equality outcomes at subnational levels; time series of gender budgets in India across sectors and its fiscal marksmanship; gender disaggregated public expenditure benefit incidence analysis to understand the distributional impacts of public spending on women across income quintiles and suggest policy alternatives. The book uses unique database--time use survey data and the disaggregated demand for grants, expenditure budgets using gender lens. The book employs case study, simple statistical tools for the analysis and econometric methodology. Dr. Lekha S. Chakraborty is Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India. She is elected as Member of Governing Board of Management of International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF), Munich. She is also affiliated as Research Associate with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, New York, USA. She is the pioneer economist who has worked for institutionalizing gender budgeting in India, working with the Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in 2004. She is the author of Fiscal Consolidation, Budget deficits and Macroeconomy (2016) and co-author of the book Social Sector in Decentralised Economy: India in the Era of Globalisation (2016). Her work experience on macro-fiscal policy and human development spans across Asia Pacific, and some specific countries include Sweden, Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Mexico Preface 6 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 Abbreviations 15 List of Figures 18 List of Tables 21 1 Introduction 24 The Macroeconomic Backdrop 25 The Rationale 29 The Analytical Framework 30 Ex Ante and Ex Post Frameworks of Gender Budgeting 33 The Structure 36 References 38 2 Macroeconomic Policy Coherence for Gender Equality in Asia-Pacific 41 Fiscal Policy Stance 42 Effective Fiscal Management and Governance 46 Inequalities in Fiscal Policy 47 Linking Resources to Results: Outcome Budgets 48 Normative Framework and Methodology to Analyse the Fiscal Policy for Gender Equality 50 Monetary Policy Stance 51 Structural Reforms 55 Mapping of Macro Policies in Asia-Pacific 57 Identifying Specific Policy Tools 59 References 61 3 Gender-Budgeting and Gender Equality Outcomes: Evidence from Asia-Pacific 65 Measuring Gender Equality 67 Interpreting Data 73 The Empirical Investigation 75 The Significance to Go Beyond Models 80 References 81 4 Gender Budgeting and the Efficacy of Measuring Unpaid Care Economy 85 Statistical Invisibility of Unpaid Care Economy 87 Time-Use Pattern Across Gender and Geography in India 92 Valuation of Unpaid Care Economy: An Illustration 105 Gender Budgeting: The Link Between Public Investment and Time Allocation 110 References 116 5 Determining Gender Equality in Fiscal Federalism: Evidence from India 119 Theoretical and Empirical Literature 120 Fiscal Federalism in India: Institutional Details 123 Fiscal Federalism Arrangements and Gender Equality 127 The Empirical Models and Results 130 References 137 6 Fiscal Decentralization and Ex Ante Gender Budgeting: Case Studies of Selected Countries Including India 141 Fiscal Decentralization and Gender Frameworks 142 Third Tier Institutional Details: Fiscal Devolution Through a Gender Lens 149 Fiscal Decentralization and Local Level Gender Budgeting: Case Studies 154 The Philippines 155 India 157 Kerala 160 Reversed Sequence of Decentralization 161 New Democratic Space for Gender 162 Identifying Spatial Gender Needs for Budgeting 163 Appraisal and Approval of Plans 164 Karnataka 165 Planning and Budgetary Process at Local Level 167 West Bengal 167 Planning and Budgetary Process at Local Level 168 Fiscal Decentralization and Local Level Gender Budgeting in Other Countries: Case Studies 169 Morocco 170 South Africa 173 Ethiopia 176 Nepal 177 IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS): Analyzing “General Government” Data 179 References 183 7 Fiscal and Regional Context of Gender Budgeting in Asia 187 Overview of Gender Budgeting in Asia 187 Country-Specific Gender Budgeting Efforts in Asia Pacific 194 Australia 195 Initial Project on Gender Budgeting 195 A Backlash: Office of Status of Women demoted from Prime Minister’s Office 197 Abrupt End to Gender Budget Statements 197 Korea 197 Legal Backing for Conducting Gender Budgeting 198 Institutionalizing Gender Budgeting 200 Gender Budgeting in Infrastructure 202 Local Level Gender Budgeting 202 Challenges 203 Summary of Prominent Gender Budgeting Efforts 203 The Philippines 204 Fiscal Decentralization and Gender Budgeting 205 Bangladesh 206 Sri Lanka 208 Indonesia 209 Pakistan 210 Country-Specific Outcomes 211 Positive Outcomes of Gender Budgeting 212 References 214 8 Gender Budgeting, as Fiscal Innovation in India 218 Gender Budgeting, as a Fiscal Innovation 218 Integrating Gender in Intergovernmental Transfers 225 Tax Side Gender Budgeting and Tax Incidence Analysis 226 Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms and Capacity Building and Gender Mainstreaming 227 Phase 1: Country-Specific Gender Diagnosis and Intergovernmental Fiscal Framework Models 228 Phase 2: Intergovernmental Institutional Design 228 Phase 3: Capacity Building 229 Phase 4: Accountability Mechanisms 231 Public Expenditure Tracking 231 Gender Equality Outcomes Across Indian States 232 References 237 9 The Political Economy of Gender Budgeting in India and Fiscal Marksmanship 239 Fiscal Rules and Financing of Deficits in India 240 The Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers in India, 2021–2022 248 Applying “Gender Lens” to Union Budget 2021–2022 252 Fiscal Marksmanship 264 References 273 10 Gender-Budgeting Outcomes and Public Expenditure Benefit Incidence 274 The Analytical Framework 275 The Public Expenditure Benefit Incidence Analysis (BIA) Methodology 279 Estimating Unit Cost 280 Identifying the Users 280 Aggregating Users into Groups 280 Calculating the Benefit Incidence 280 International Classification of Diseases (ICD)—Benefit Incidence 281 Quintile-Wise Benefit Incidence and Polarization Ratio 288 References 304 11 COVID-19 Context and the Way Ahead 306 Constraints of Rules-Based Policy Space 307 Obsession with “Economic Growth” Frameworks 307 Fiscal Sustainability in Low Interest Rate Regime 308 Strengthening Fiscal Marksmanship 308 Innovative Financing of Deficits 309 Incorporating Unpaid Care Economy into Macro Policy 309 Acknowledging Intersectionality Issues in Gender Budgeting 310 Fiscal Decentralization: Move Ahead from “One Size Fits All” Gender Budgeting 310 Link Between Fiscal Policy and Gender Equality Outcomes 310 Public Expenditure Tracking and Fiscal Incidence Analysis 311 Measuring Gender-Aware Human Development Outcomes 311 Second Generation Reforms of Gender Budgeting 312 Integrating Gender in Intergovernmental Fiscal Mechanisms 312 Gender Budgeting and Feminization U 313 Strengthening Gender Budgeting on Taxation Side 313 Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Through Gender Budgeting 313 Political Will for Sustainable Gender Budgeting as PFM 314 References 314