India has a longstanding reputation for its acclaimed film industry and continues to be by far the world's largest producer of films. Nevertheless, domestic demand for films appears to be waning as in a number of developed countries with mature film industries. Hence, the econometric analysis in this paper is particularly timely as with demand for films in Indian cinemas falling it is important to identify those factors that make films appealing for Indian audiences. An original dataset is utilised that includes data on all Bollywood films released in India between 2011 and 2015. Account is taken of the potential endogeneity between variables through the use of the generalised method of moments approach. Results are used to demonstrate how the Indian film market can continue to have a significant positive impact on the Indian economy. The discussion highlights appropriate film production company strategies and government policy responses that should be considered to ensure the continued success of the Indian film industry both domestically and in an increasingly competitive international market.

The paper examines the empirical relationship between remittances and economic growth for a sample of 62 developing countries over the time period 1990–2014. Remittances seem to promote growth only in the ‘more open’ countries. That is because remittances are in themselves not sufficient for growth. The extent of the benefit depends on domestic institutions and macroeconomic environment in the receiving country. Unlike the ‘less open’ countries, ‘more open’ countries have better institutions and better financial markets to take advantage of the remittances income and channelise them into profitable investments which, in turn, accelerates the rate of economic growth in these countries.

No abstract

The paper examines the empirical relationship between remittances and economic growth for a sample of 62 developing countries over the time period 1990-2014. Remittances seem to promote growth only in the 'more open' countries. The study uses a variety of indicators of 'openness' to test the hypothesis that openness of a country increases the growth effects of remittances. The finding, remittances lead to higher growth in open countries, is robust regardless of how 'openness' is defined. Conversely, no significant effect of remittances on growth could be detected in the case of 'less open' countries. That is because remittances are in themselves not sufficient for growth. The extent of the benefit depends on domestic institutions and macroeconomic environment in the receiving country. Unlike the 'less open' countries, 'more open' countries have better institutions and better financial markets to take advantage of the remittances income and channelise them into profitable investments which, in turn, accelerates the rate of economic growth in these countries.

The study examines the determinants of rapes in India using state-level data for the time period 2001-2015. The panel model analysis indicates that there is no impact of education and economic growth, pointing towards a larger role of social and cultural factors in this context. The effect of deterrence variables (such as, the number of police stations) is non-existent, indicating possibly towards the incompetency of the police force. Social attitude towards women emerged as the most robust predictor of the extent of rapes in India. We argue that the fundamental problem lies in the misogyny deep-rooted in the Indian society.