Distributive Politics of Medical Commodities: An Overview of Transaction Costs and State-Center Relations During India’s Second Wave

Abstract

Using a transaction costs approach, this paper attempts to understand the allocation of medical oxygen during India’s second wave. In this background, it argues for transparency in allocative decision making of health related commodities. Through process tracing methodology, it focuses on the case of the oxygen crisis in Delhi at a time when different governments within India’s federal set-up accused each other of mismanagement of this commodity.