Takshashila at the International Conference on Public Finance, Patna December 7-8 2018
Pranay Kotasthane presented a paper titled The regressive nature of central transfers on health at the International Conference on Public Finance: Theory, Practice, and Challenges organised by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) in Patna on December 7th, 2018.The paper that Pranay presented was a part of Takshashila's ongoing economic policy research on public health expenditures. The other authors of the paper are Devika Kher, Pavan Srinath, and Aashish Chajjer. The advisor for this project is Dr. Govinda Rao.The paper makes the following observations:
- central transfers for health are not linked to health indicators. Instead, such transfers by and large tend to be incremental.
- the specific purpose transfer system for health has not been very helpful in offsetting the fiscal disabilities of the poorer states.
- states tend to substitute grants received from the union for their own spending. Hence no commensurate increase in overall spending.
The presentation is given below.[slideshare id=125489553&doc=takshashila-ppt-patna-181210052102&w=800&h=450]