Social status and the piety of women and their relationship to good bussiness practise left me with a few questions. Sen and Dreze suggest that education may prove to be a way for women to broaden their horizon and improve their lot in life. If we relate this to Harris's argument concerning the societal satus of women and family position I would assume that there would be an increased push for female education. There was also a disscussion of property right and inheritence that she used to implicate the patiarch and societal structure influencing the survival chances of women. I find this analysis problematic in light of India's lack of a universal civil code.
Laws governing property and inheritance probably involve radical differences across the board.
For example Corbridge and Harris talk about muslim inheritence rights and how under muslim law a divorcee would necessarily come under state patronage and has no rights to alimony payments. Ultimate it seems impossible for one to exist without the other in the current context. The paper quite convincingly outlines the large role that shadow economies, corruption, bribery, etc. However, I felt a more interesting issue was mentioned but not fully explored. In several places, the paper references World Bank documents which say that states looking to become more effective need not be larger or stronger in the traditional sense, but must manage information better and be more efficient.