This book uses the state-level panel data to identify some of the important correlates of employment growth/elasticity and indicators of quality-employment. To do so, it considers a wide spectrum of variables including physical, financial and social infrastructure specific indicators and government spending in certain key areas. In addition to the aggregate employment, the book also comprises analysis of different sectors, regions and gender categories. Based on the results, it identifies crucial determinants which bear important policy implications.

The book presents evidence showcasing how the overall investment climate and an effective state, as envisaged in terms of increased social expenditure, are instrumental to improvements in employment elasticity. The findings also reinforce the role of industry-led growth and agglomeration economies in contributing to employment growth. Besides, based on the unit-level data from the periodic labour force surveys, the book tries to answer a wide range of questions such as, what restricts a person from getting absorbed in a high productivity activity; within a given sector why one is in a casual or self-employed job and not in regular wage job; are casual wage jobs in the informal sector different from those in the formal sector; and why the wage variations exist across sectors and activities. The three rounds of periodic labour force surveys reflect on certain individual and household characteristics; in particular, the role of education is seen to be crucial in determining the occupational choice and the wage rate. Finally, the book focuses on the enterprise-level data and identifies the types of units which are vulnerable within the unorganized sector. It assesses the links of the unorganized sector units with their organised sector counterpart and identifies the factors which reduce the economic viability of the units.

This book analyses several aspects of Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), a form of hybrid public-private partnership (PPP) for development of roads sector in India. The book covers contractual, financing, taxation and accounting aspects of the HAM based PPP projects in India and provides a complete multi-dimensional view for readers.

When Murat Sertel asked us whether we would be interested in organizing a special issue of the Review of Economic Design on the formation of networks and groups, we were happy to accept because of the growing research on this important topic. We were also pleasantly surprised at the response to our request for submissions to the special issue, receiving a much larger number of sub­ missions than we had anticipated. In the end we were able to put together two special issues of insightful papers on this topic. Given the growing interest in this topic, we also decided (with encouragement from Murat) to combine the special issues in the form of a book for wider dissemination. However, once we had decided to edit the book, it was natural to move beyond the special issue to include at least some of the papers that have been influential in the literature on the formation of networks. These papers were published in other journals, and we are very grateful to the authors as well as the journals for permission to include these papers in the book.