Political Economy Of Welfare: The Subsidy And Alcohol Conundrum In Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Through my thesis, I conduct an exploratory research of how the state spending on welfare and alcohol consumption is affecting the household behavior- both social and economic. The indicators would include spending on food, education, health, physical abuse etc. The research has been carried by interviewing participants in a village and the researcher has attempted to understand both the sociological as well as economic dimensions, in effect the ‘social cost’, of alcohol consumption and subsidies on the household. Two groups of households have been interviewed – one group which contains one or more members who consume alcohol regularly whereas the other group consists of households where no member in the family consumes alcohol on a regular basis. The distinction in the household behavior in these two groups is mapped and has built the foundation of further analysis.