Topic: All Show No Substance? Modinomics and the State of the Indian Economy by Prof Jayati Ghosh
The NDA victory of 2014 was significantly powered by the slowing down of the Indian economy and allegations of policy paralysis, rising unemployment, and massive cronyism and corruption. As we approach the mid point of the Modi govt's 5 year term the question, is simply whether the new govt has managed to overcome any or all of the above problems. This year's Hasan memorial lecture takes on these questions. It will examine the historical/structural constraints that make electrol promises difficult to implement and simultaneously it will take a bottom up view to understand what should legitimately be the priorities for a sturdy Indian economy. Departing from this analytical vein the talk will close on a speculative note; trying to think what the next two and a half years might hold for us.
About Prof Jayati Ghosh: Jayati Ghosh is Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was born in 1955 and educated at Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Cambridge, England where she obtained her Ph.D. in 1983.
She has a wide range of research interests, including globalisation, international trade and finance, employment patterns in developing countries, macroeconomic policy, issues related to gender and development, and the implications of recent growth in China and India. She has authored and/or edited a dozen books and more than 170 scholarly articles. Recent books include the edited volume India and the International Economy, (Oxford University Press 2015), Industrialization of China and India: The impacts on the world economy, (volume co-edited with Nobuharu Yokokawa and Robert E. Rowthorn, Routledge 2013),After Crisis: Adjustment, recovery and fragility in East Asia (co-edited with C. P. Chandrasekhar, Tulika Books, New Delhi 2009), Never done and poorly paid: Women’s work in globalising India (Women Unlimited, New Delhi 2008),Work and well being in the age of finance (Tulika Books, New Delhi), The market that failed: Neoliberal economic reforms in India (Leftword Books, New Delhi). Forthcoming books include the volume co-edited with Erik Reinert and Rainer Kattel,Elgar Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development(Edward Elgar 2016).
Her research output has been recognised through several prizes in India and abroad. She was awarded the International Labour Organisation’s Decent Work Research Prize for 2010 in Geneva, and also received the NordSud Prize for Social Sciences 2010 of the Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, Italy. She was the principal author of the West Bengal Human Development Report 2004 which received the 2005 UNDP Award for excellence in analysis. She has received the Ava Maiti Award and the Satyendranath Sen Prize from the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.She has also received the Malcolm Adisheshaiah Award for distinguished contributions to the social sciences in India in November 2015. Shewas Conference President of the Indian Society for Labour Economics in December 2013 andwas Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the World Social Science Forum held in Durban, South Africa in September 2015.
Since 2002 she has been the Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS), an international network of heterodox development economists (www.networkideas.org). She is Founding Trustee of the Economic Research Foundation (www.macroscan.org).
She has some experience in advising on policy-related issues for state and central governments in India as well as some governments in other countries. She was the Chairperson of the Commission on Farmers’ Welfare in 2004 constituted by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India, and Member of the National Knowledge Commission reporting to the Prime Minister of India (2005-09). She has consulted for a large number of international organisations, including ILO, UNDP, UNCTAD, UN-DESA, UNRISD and UN Women. She is a member of a large number of advisory boards of institutions and academic journals.
In addition to her academic work related to teaching and research, for many years she has been (and remains) a regular columnist for several newspapers and journals in India, including Frontline and Businessline, as well as global online blogs such as Triple Crisis Blog. She also writes occasional articles on economics and current affairs for The Guardian newspaper of London, UK.
Entry Free. All are welcome!