In a recent paper, Anagol, Etang and Karlan (2013) consider the income generated by these owning a cow or a buffalo in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The net profit generated ignoring labour costs, gives rise to a small positive rate of return. Once any reasonable estimate of labour costs is added to costs, the rate of return is a large negative number. The authors conclude that households holding this type of assets do not behave according to the tenets of capitalism. A variety of explanations, typically appealing to religious or cultural factors have been invoked for such a puzzling fact.
Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/feature-article/holy-cows-or-cash-cows
[2] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/orazio-attanasio
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/britta-augsburg
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/journal/institute-fiscal-studies
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/livestock
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/farmers
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/buffalo
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/india
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/fodder
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/anantapur-d
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/andhra-pradesh
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/droughts
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/rural-development