Insights on Demonetisation from Rural Tamil Nadu: Understanding Social Networks and Social Protection

Isabelle Guérin, Youna Lanos (lanosyouna@gmail.com), Sébastien Michiels (sebastien.michiels@ifpindia.org), Christophe Nordman and Govindan Venkatasubramanian (venkat@ifpindia.org)
Additional contact information
Youna Lanos: IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sébastien Michiels: IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Govindan Venkatasubramanian: IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Drawing on survey data from rural Tamil Nadu, the effects of demonetisation are documented. Serious concerns arise with regard to the achievement of its stated goals. The rural economy was adversely affected in terms of employment, daily financial practices, and social network use for over three months. People came to rely more strongly on their networks to sustain their economic and social activities. Demonetisation has probably further marginalised those without support networks. In a context such as India, where state social protection is weak and governmental schemes are notoriously subject to patronage and clientelistic networks, dense networks of supportive relatives, friends and patrons remain key for safeguarding daily life. With cashless policies gaining currency in various parts of the world, we believe our findings have major implications, seriously questioning their merit, especially among the most marginalised segments of the population.

Keywords: Demonetisation; Social Networks; Social Protection; India; Tamil Nadu (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12-30
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Economic and political weekly, 2017, 52 (52), pp.44-53

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01824464

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD (hal@ccsd.cnrs.fr).