Prof Ranjan Ray - Researcher Profile

Ranjan Ray

Address

Department of Economics
Building 11E, Clayton

Biography

Ranjan undertook his undergraduate studies in Presidency College at the University of Calcutta, his postgraduate studies at the Delhi School of Economics and completed his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. Prior to moving to Monash, Ranjan served as Lecturer in Econometrics at Manchester University, UK,  Professor of Public Economics at the Delhi School of Economic, India  and Professor and Head of Economics at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He has also held visting positions at the University of British Columbia, Canada, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy and Cornell University, USA. Ranjan is currently on the editorial board of the Review of Income and Wealth (journal of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth), Journal of Human Development and Capabilities (journal of the Human Development and Capability Association), and Economic Record (journal of the Economic Society of Australia).

A measure of social justice

Deprivation and social justice are not only recurring themes in Professor Ranjan Ray’s wide-ranging research, but ones that cut firmly through some established boundaries. “The old line between developed and developing countries, and development and non-development economics, is blurred and that’s reflected in my research,” he says. “I don’t divorce the two.”

An early interest in data, methodology, analytical framework and policy has persisted throughout Ranjan’s 30 or so years in economics research, but he has slowly shifted his emphasis away from statistics and towards development.

“I don’t see development as being only the preserve of or restricted to third world countries,” he says. “There are a lot of developmental issues and implications for people in Australia; the divide between indigenous and non-indigenous people, for example.”

One-time boundaries are also collapsing, he says, as booming countries like India and China close the gap in one direction, and global financial crises draw others back.

Poverty and inequality are relevant across the spectrum. Ranjan has recently been widening his study of such issues to multidimensional deprivation, a term that recognises the complex nature of deprivation, of which capacity to spend is merely one aspect.

“You may not be poor but you may be deprived,” he says. “It is perfectly possible that you are above the poverty line but still don’t have access to health, to electricity, to schooling, to water.”

His research drills deeper to determine how different groups in society are affected, comparing, for example, those who own their own homes and those who don’t, city dwellers and those in remote areas, and indigenous and non-indigenous people.

This project highlights Ranjan’s broad view of his field, using not only data from developing countries but also Australian data from the HILDA (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) survey. 

Other research relates to issues arising throughout the development spectrum. 

Child labour is a longstanding interest that sits at the developing end, as does a current project on the interplay between corruption and the informal sector. Small businesses such as tea-stalls tend to slip under the radar; some may be entirely legitimate, others may not. Ranjan is considering whether corruption contributes to the informal sector, and vice versa.

Quite different issues -- the effects of price changes, measurements of equality, and how inflation redistributes wealth towards or away from certain socioeconomic groups – involve study of developed nations such as Australia and Britain.

Australian Research Council Discovery Project grants have supported many of Ranjan’s projects.

Qualifications

PHD
Institution: London School of Economics (LSE)
Year awarded: 1977
MA (ECONOMICS)
Institution: Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
Year awarded: 1971
BACHELOR (HONORS IN ECONOMICS)
Institution: Presidency College, Calcutta
Year awarded: 1969

Publications

Book Chapters

Ray, R., 2009, Education and child labor: A global perspective, in The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey, eds Hugh D. Hindman, ME Sharpe, New York, USA, pp. 118-126.

Ray, R., 2009, Food insecurity, undernourishment and poverty in India during the 1990s, in Post-Reform Development In Asia: Essays for Amiya Kumar Bagchi, eds Manoj Kumar Sanyal, Mandira Sanyal and Shahina Amin, Orient Blackswan Private Limited, India, pp. 61-82.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2006, Equity implications of reforms on living standards and child health in post-apartheid South Africa, in Trade, Growth and Inequality in the Era of Globalization, eds Kishor Sharma and Oliver Morrissey, Routledge, Abingdon UK, pp. 86-101.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2004, Analysis of resource inflows and their impact on household behaviour: evidence from South Africa, in Household Behaviour, Equivalence Scales, Welfare and Poverty, eds Camilo Dagum, Gido Ferrari, Physica-Verlag, Germany, pp. 107-127.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2004, Household characteristics and living standards: evidence from India, in South Asia in the Era of Globalization: Trade, Industrialisation and Welfare, eds Mita Bhattacharya, Russell Smyth, Marika Vicziany, Nova, New York NY USA, pp. 165-194.

Journal Articles

Majumder, A., Ray, R., Sinha, K., 2012, Calculating rural-urban food price differentials from unit values in household expenditure surveys: A comparison with existing methods and a new procedure, American Journal of Agricultural Economics [P], vol 94, issue 5, Oxford University Press, Cary NC USA, pp. 1218-1235.

Chatterjee, I., Ray, R., 2012, Does the evidence on corruption depend on how it is measured? Results from a cross-country study on microdata sets, Applied Economics [P], vol 44, issue 25, Routledge, Abingdon UK, pp. 3215-3227.

Nicholas, A.J., Ray, R., 2012, Duration and persistence in multidimensional deprivation: Methodology and Australian application, Economic Record [P], vol 88, issue 280, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 106-126.

Ray, R., Sinha, K., 2012, Interaction between HIV awareness, knowledge, safe sex practice and HIV prevalence: Evidence from Botswana, Journal Of Biosocial Science [P], vol 44, issue 3, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, pp. 321-344.

Ray, R., Mishra, A., 2012, Multi-dimensional deprivation in the awakening giants: A comparison of China and India on micro data, Journal of Asian Economics [P], vol 23, issue 4, Elsevier BV, Amsterdam Netherlands, pp. 454-465.

Ray, R., Sinha, K., 2011, Measuring the multi-dimensional knowledge deprivation of HIV/Aids: A new approach with Indian evidence on its magnitude and determinants, Journal Of Biosocial Science [P], vol 43, issue 6, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, pp. 657-684.

Mishra, A., Ray, R., 2011, Prices, inequality, and poverty: Methodology and Indian evidence, Review Of Income And Wealth [P], vol 57, issue 3, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 428-448.

Blacklow, P., Nicholas, A., Ray, R., 2010, Demographic demand systems with application to equivalence scales estimation and inequality analysis: The Australian evidence, Australian Economic Papers [P], vol 49, issue 3, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 161-179.

Nicholas, A., Ray, R., Valenzuela, M., 2010, Evaluating the distributional implications of price movements: Methodology, application and Australian evidence, Economic Record [P], vol 86, issue 274, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 352-366.

Mishra, V., Ray, R., 2009, Dietary diversity, food security and undernourishment: The Vietnamese evidence, Asian Economic Journal [P], vol 23, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 225-247.

Lancaster, G., Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2008, Household expenditure patterns and gender bias: Evidence from selected Indian states, Oxford Development Studies, vol 36, issue 2, Routledge, UK, pp. 133-157.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2008, Is there gender bias in the household's time allocation in a developing country? The Indian experience, Journal of Quantitative Economics [P], vol 6, issue 1-2, The Indian Econometric Society, India, pp. 81-100.

Ray, R., 2007, Changes in food consumption and the implications for food security and undernourishment: India in the 1990s, Development and Change, vol 38, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, UK, pp. 321-343.

Mishra, V., Ray, R., 2007, Changes in household and child nutritional status and their determinants in a transition economy: Evidence from Vietnamese panel data, Journal of Quantitative Economics [P], vol 5, issue 1, The Indian Econometric Society, Delhi India, pp. 1-16.

Lancaster, G., Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2006, Endogenous intra-household balance of power and its impact on expenditure patterns: Evidence from India, Economica, vol 73, issue 291, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 435-460.

Lancaster, G., Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2006, Gender bias in nutrient intake: evidence from selected Indian states, South Asia Economic Journal, vol 7, issue 2, Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi India, pp. 255-298.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2006, Household expenditure patterns and resource pooling: evidence of changes in post-apartheid South Africa, Review of Economics of the Household, vol 4, issue 4, Springer New York LLC, USA, pp. 325-347.

Ray, R., Lancaster, G., 2005, On setting the poverty line based on estimated nutrient prices: Condition of socially disadvantaged groups during the reform period, Economic and Political Weekly, vol 40, issue 1, The Economic and Political Weekly, India, pp. 46-56.

Ray, R., Lancaster, G., 2005, The impact of children's work on schooling: Multi-country evidence, International Labour Review, vol 144, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Limited, UK, pp. 189-210.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2005, The impact of intra household balance of power on expenditure pattern: the Australian evidence, Australian Economic Papers, vol 44, issue 1, Blackwell Publishing Asia, Australia, pp. 15-29.

Coondoo, D., Majumder, A., Ray, R., 2004, A method of calculating regional consumer price differentials with illustrative evidence from India, Review of Income and Wealth, vol 50, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Limited, UK, pp. 51-68.

Ray, R., 2004, Child labour: A survey of selected Asian countries, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, vol 18, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 1-18.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2004, The impact of resource inflows on child health: evidence from Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, 1993-98, The Journal of Development Studies, vol 40, issue 4, Frank Cass Publishers, UK, pp. 78-114.

Blacklow, P., Ray, R., 2003, Intra-household resource allocation, consumer preferences and commodity tax reforms: Australian evidence, The Economic Record, vol 79, issue 247, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 425-433.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2003, Resource inflows and household composition: evidence from South African panel data, Journal of International Development, vol 15, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, UK, pp. 1037-1047.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2003, The effect of transfers on household expenditure patterns and poverty in South Africa, Journal of Development Economics, vol 71, issue 1, Elsevier, Amsterdam The Netherlands, pp. 23-49.

Meenakshi, J.V., Ray, R., 2002, Impact of household size and family composition on poverty in rural India, Journal of Policy Modeling, vol 24, issue 6, Elsevier Inc., New York USA, pp. 539-559.

Lancaster, G., Ray, R., 2002, International poverty comparisons on unit record data of developing and developed countries, Australian Economic Papers, vol 41, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 129-139.

Lancaster, G., Ray, R., 2002, Tests of income pooling on household budget data: The Australian evidence, Australian Economic Papers, vol 41, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Richmond Vic Australia, pp. 99-114.

Ray, R., 2002, The determinants of child labour and child schooling in Ghana, Journal of African Economies, vol 11, issue 4, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 561-590.

Maitra, P., Ray, R., 2002, The joint estimation of child participation in schooling and employment: comparative evidence from three continents, Oxford Development Studies, vol 30, issue 1, Carfax Publishing, Oxford UK, pp. 41-62.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Completed Supervision

Student:
Ahmed, S.
Program of Study:
Essays in economic development: education, child labour, and wage inequality. (PHD) 2012.
Supervisors:
Ray, R (Main), Maitra, P (Associate), Wang, L (Associate).
Student:
Subasinghe, S.
Program of Study:
Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic performance: a comparative study of Malaysia and Sri Lanka. (PHD) 2010.
Supervisors:
Fausten, D (Main), Ray, R (Associate), Ang, B (Associate).