The GNLU Journal for Law & Economics

• Siddhant Dubey and Shrishti Natani

• Soumya Hariharan, Nandita Sahai, Sakshi Agarwal and Akrathi Shetty

The essay examines the violence that unfurled in Bangladesh in 2024 from the lens of the relativedeprivation theory to explain the role of perceived inequality in political violence, and the prospecttheory to explain the role of prospect losses as a motivation for individuals to participate inpolitical violence. The essay analyses the events that acted as a trigger for the social unrest andfocuses on the contentious quota to explain the decisionmaking process of the players involved,from the viewpoint of the prospect theory. The essay also looks at macroeconomic variables suchas youth unemployment, inflation etc. during both the years that marked a social unrest among thegeneral population and found that in both years, the economy had shown worrying trends. Theessay also looks at the role of costs and benefits as perceived by an individual while making achoice in a risky situation. The conceptual framework is further demonstrated by a game wherethe decisionmaking process of the government, as a player, is discussed. It is found that theequilibrium for both the players is at the first outcome, where the participation is met withsuppression by the government. The most ideal outcome for both the parties is a peaceful approachto the issue at hand. Based on the existing research, and the game theory, policy recommendationshave been formulated emphasizing the need for a stronger penal system, to augment the costs thatare associated with participation in violence, and to make infrastructural developments to addressthe socioeconomic issues at hand. The establishment of transparent communication channelswould also go a long way in mitigating the risks of future unrest.

• Nabeeha Sama and Vansh Gaint

The article examines the intersection of labour issues with antitrust law, highlighting a shift fromtraditional consumerfocused perspectives. Historically, antitrust authorities have approachedissues from the vantage of consumer protection, labour law, and human rights, often overlookingthe antitrust implications of labour practices. Recently, however, there has been increased scrutinyon nonpoach and noncompete agreements, with competition authorities drawing analogiesbetween the labour market and retail markets, where workers are seen as products and companiesas colluding entities.This article advances the discussion by exploring a novel antitrust concern within the labourmarket. By analyzing recent controversies involving Dior and Armani, accused of exploitingworkers through inhumane conditions and low wages, the authors argue that labour costs, anintegral component of production costs, should also be examined under antitrust frameworks.Specifically, they propose that extremely low labour costs, which can significantly reduceproduction costs, should be scrutinized as a form of predatory pricing.The authors suggest that current antitrust laws, which do not typically address such labourpractices, should evolve to incorporate new tools to address these challenges. They drawcomparisons with European antitrust approaches to propose potential solutions for integratinglabour market concerns into traditional antitrust analyses.

• Tejaswini Kaushal and Madhav Tripathi

Child marriage across India has shown a declining tendency, however, the State of Bihar continues to exhibit this harmful practice at a staggering high percentage. It is considered as an economic solution to deal with the financial burden attached with the upbringing of a girlchild. The author has used economic analysis of law to examine the efficacy and efficiency of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, in the state of Bihar. The study is based on secondary data available from National Family Health Survey4 and NFHS5, Census of India and Economic survey of Bihar. The use of descriptive and exploratory studies helped the author in yielding stimulative insights into the relationship between individual behaviour and social practices. Based on scientific and logical understanding, the study proves that a society would always prefer to choose, exercise and continue solemnising child marriage practices if the benefits (economic, social and psychological) of child marriage is higher than the opportunity cost of getting arrested and convicted under the law. The social benefits associated with child marriage for the poor, populous, patriarchal society like Bihar outweighs the social cost linked to the prohibition law.

• Shivani Mohan

The paper presents a novel model of an independent judiciary based on moderate and rationalassumptions within the framework of Social Choice Theory. This model seeks to address afundamental question: Why is the judiciary granted structural and functional independence,greater than constitutionally envisioned, in modern democratic political institutions, despitecertain constitutional authority of other branches of government to curtail such independenceThis model improves upon earlier frameworks, such as the LandesPosner model, which relieson rigid assumptions and when tested to its limitations, the LandesPosner model fails toaccurately reflect judicial institutions. The key finding of this paper is that other branches ofgovernment allow judicial independence as a rational mechanism to resolve issues arising fromcyclical preferences in decisionmaking (preference deadlocks). By providing a stable andimpartial resolution, the judiciary plays a crucial role in maintaining institutional equilibrium.

• Rishi A. Kumar

The fiscal impact of pension schemes has long been a subject of concern for policymakers dueto their significant role in shaping public expenditure and economic stability, with the debateon welfare and efficiency continuing in this aspect as well. In this direction, the newlyintroduced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) was expected to give perfect solutions to theproblems rather than to escalate the problems further. In light of the present circumstances,the study presents an opportunity to evaluate the interplay between fiscal sustainability andindividual financial behaviour through the empirical methods of debt sustainability analysisand crosssectional regression.The findings are intended to advise policymakers for balancing fiscal prudence with broadersocioeconomic goals of pensionary reforms. Concepts of behavioural economics andcomparative analysis comprising the case studies of the US, Sweden and Argentina are alsomade to give valuable insights and recommendations for successful pensionary reform

• Pranay Agarwal

Within the framework of the IndiaASEAN Free Trade Agreement, this study examines the effectsof nontariff trade barriers on trade flows between India and ASEAN. The study assesses the effectof nontariff measures on trade flows between India and ASEAN members using the FrequencyIndex (FI), Coverage Ratio (CR), and Prevalence Ratio (PR). Our findings show that import andexport volumes are negatively impacted by nontariff measures. The paper also emphasizes howthis effect varies in strength across various industries and nations, showing that certain sectorsand nations have more severe repercussions than others. Decisionmakers seeking to strengtheneconomic links between India and ASEAN must consider the implications of these findings,emphasizing the importance of this research.

• Prajakta Arote, Dr. Hastimal Sagara and Dr. Pravin Jadhav

The data available for the promulgation of the ordinances clearly shows that the number ofordinances that have been enacted post the judgement in the Krishna Kumar Case is in nosense less than the ordinances that have been enacted during the years preceding the judgment.This is so despite the negative impact of the Krishna Kumar judgement on the utility that theexecutive ought to derive from the enactment of the ordinances. The authors seek to addressthis anomaly through the microeconomic models and present solutions through the lens of lawand economics. This paper conceptualises the solution to the problem of the misuse and theabuse of ordinancemaking power by proposing the formulation of the rules that shall seek toadd objective grounds to test if the ordinancemaking power has been used in a proper manneror it has been used with the mala fide intentions and illwill on the part of the executive. Thelevel of the delegation to the executive, that is, the scope of the decisionmaking with the,executive, has been analysed by proposing the total cost curve, which seeks to propose theoptimum level of stringency in the rules so as to allow the scope for the legislature to meet theemergency situations as well. This is sought to be achieved by framing of such rules for theexercise of the ordinancemaking power by the president and the governor, in such a way as tohave the objective grounds for the test of the need for the ordinancemaking power and also atthe same time have the scope and leeway to the legislature to decide, if the matter needs theenactment of the ordinance to meet the emergency that has arisen.

• Khyati Maurya and Saransh Sood

Indias handloom industry is the largest cottage industry and has nearly with 27 lakh looms(Handloom Census 201920) and is largely householdbased.

• Sumana Lahiri and Nausheen Nizami