Abstract:

    We study an empirical occurrence largely overlooked in studies on income clusters: (i) most clusters include geographic neighbours and non-neighbours; and (ii) not all geographic neighbours are cluster-co-members. Using agricultural income across Indian states, we find a similar pattern in income-clusters over the last 45 years. Logistic regressions that consider state-pairs as the unit of analysis show that cluster membership is not driven by geographic variables but rather by non-geographic factors like weather shock, resource constraints, technology/input usage, extent of crop diversification, infrastructure, policy and institutions. 

Brief Bio:

 Dr. Tirtha Chatterjee is presently working as a Research Associate at Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations, New Delhi. Here, she is involved in research on issues related to agricultural marketing in India. She received her Ph.D. degree in Development Studies from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in 2018. Based on her Ph.D. thesis, she has two publications in Journal of Development Studies (Co-authored with Prof. A. Ganesh- Kumar) and Journal of Quantitative Economics. She holds an M.Phil. in Development Studies from IGIDR and received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Economics from University of Calcutta. Between her M.Phil. and Ph.D., she worked as a Consultant for two years in Centre for Insurance and Risk Management, Institute of Financial Management and Research, Chennai.