Ashoka University is a private university located in Sonipat, Haryana, India, focusing on liberal arts and sciences. It was established in 2014.&nbsp;It is guided by an academic council of academics and scholars from around the world. The council sets the university&#39;s academic standard, advising on matters of curriculum, faculty hiring and research.&nbsp;

Ashoka University offers a full-time 3 (+ 1) year undergraduate programme. The University comprises of&nbsp;2500 plus students, with a mix of both national and international students.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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Ashoka University

India has seen lower inflation by historical standards for the past 6&nbsp;years. This has been attributed to the adoption of inflation targeting by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India in 2016. In particular, it has been asserted that the lower inflation reflects the anchoring of expectations. We evaluate these claims. An econometric investigation indicates that there is no basis to the claim that inflation has been lowered due to the anchoring of expectations. On the other hand, we are able to account for the trajectory of inflation in India after 2016 in terms of an alternative explanation of inflation, namely the structuralist.&nbsp;

Department of Economics

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Indian Economic Review

What lowered inflation in India: monetary policy or commodity prices?

While the response to COVID-19 by the Government of India has been more or less uniform across the country, in that a lockdown was imposed throughout, the death rate has varied across the states. This suggests that region-specific factors are likely to be relevant to the determination of this rate. A significant aspect of this study is the use of three different measures of the death rate in the empirical exercise. This showed all three measures of the death rate to be strongly related to health expenditure as a share of the gross domestic product but hardly at all to public health infrastructure. This can be interpreted as a sign of the role of the public health system-comprising medical personnel, infrastructure and protocols-in the prevention of death, with health expenditure as a key determinant of its effectiveness. It has an implication for public policy beyond the immediate health emergency due to COVID-19.

Economic and Political Weekly

The interstate variation in mortality from COVID-19 in India

The Reserve Bank of India pursues inflation targeting, which is based on the premise that inflation is related to the ‘output gap', defined as the deviation of output from its natural level. We present an alternative model of inflation derived from structuralist macroeconomics, the highlight of which is an agricultural sector prone to fluctuating output. A distinctive feature of the model is that inflation is related to the relative price of agricultural goods, in addition to other determining variables. We then subject both the models to econometric testing that involved alternative measures of inflation, sample periods and data frequencies. The output-gap model is rejected while the structuralist model is statistically validated in the tests. This evidence points strongly to the need to take agricultural prices into account when designing anti-inflationary policy in India.

Journal of Quantitative Economics

Modelling Inflation in India

Mortality due to COVID-19 has varied across the states of India. We exploit this history to investigate the possible role of health policy in the outcome. Using three different measures of the death rate, we find to a varying degree, evidence that the level of public expenditure on health has made a difference to the state-wise mortality rate. Based on this, we proceeded to analyse the expenditure pattern in the states. The average level of expenditure on health is found to be low both of itself and in relation to spending by governments in South and Southeast Asia. In much of the territory of India spending on the police exceeds that of spending on health. Furthermore, richer states spend relatively less on it, implying that spending on health is a matter of choice for states rather than dictated by financial constraints. Two conclusions follow. First, some of the mortality from COVID-19 is policy induced and therefore was avoidable. Second, though the evidence is drawn from the experience with COVID-19, we may assume that assuring health security to the Indian population would require a radical restructuring of the spending priorities of the states.

The importance of investing in a public health system: evidence from COVID-19 mortality

Growth has consistently remained a central topic in economic policy considerations of the government in India. However, there has also been a more scholarly interest in it among social scientists. As a part of the latter tradition, this paper addresses the proper delineation of the phases of growth in India, a matter of some discussion in the literature. Using state-of-the-art statistical methodology, it first establishes the trajectory of growth and then provides a theoretical explanation for that history. With data spanning the period 1950-2020, the procedure adopted is also able to assess the impact on economic growth of the policies of the present government. The results are conclusive. First, it is established that growth in India has accelerated continuously since the 1950s, implying that dynamism in the economy did not have to wait for the liberalising reforms launched in 1991. Next, the performance of India's economy is compared to growth that has taken place in the rest of the world. It is seen that while India's economy has, in recent years, shown a dynamism relative to the rest of the world, it has consistently fallen behind its most dynamic regions, notably in East Asia.

Growth transitions in India myth and reality

The Economy is a worthwhile initiative that seeks to teach students about the economy, as opposed to teaching economics. The macroeconomic aspects of the textbook are critically scrutinised to understand what is being taught and how different the treatment is from extant approaches.

Macroeconomics in the Economy

2016 Growth Slowdown Analysis by Income Thresholds and Annual Update of Competitiveness Analysis for 34 Greater China Economies

Comments on “growth slowdown analysis by income thresholds for greater China economies and India sub-national economies”

2016 Annual Competitiveness and Growth Slowdown Analysis for Sub-national Economies of India

Comments on “competitiveness ranking for sub-national economies and five regions of India”

Since 1991, there has been an acceleration of economic growth accompanied by a widening of the range of consumer goods produced, together with improvement in the quality of services available. Furthermore, the economy has passed through the longest period since 1947 without facing balance-of-payments stress. However, not all sectors of the economy have shown the same dynamism, with the performance of agriculture actually becoming a cause for concern. The unequal distribution of social opportunity has meant that this shortcoming has left a significant section of the population in a low-income trap. What underlies this outcome is examined and what is needed to correct the imbalance is proposed.

Markets, growth and social opportunity: India since 1991

Comments on “growth slowdown analysis by income thresholds for India’s sub-national economies”

A stylised fact of India's economic history since 1950 is that the rate of growth of the economy has accelerated periodically and across policy regimes. In this paper we present a theoretical framework that can generate such a pattern due to cumulative causation through positive feedback. The growth process is then investigated using cointegration analysis. We are able to establish the existence of positive feedback which is at the centre of cumulative causation. We are also able to date the onset of this mechanism which has driven growth in India for close to half a century by now. This leads us to conclude that the internal dynamics are at least as important as the policy regimes to understand growth over the long term in this country.

Journal of Asian Economics

The internal dynamic of Indian economic growth

Budget 2016-17 correctly recognises that the economy is facing a demand slowdown but fails to back this up with necessary expenditure to boost aggregate demand. Guided by its programme of fiscal consolidation, the government has almost frozen public investment in order to achieve the targeted deficit for 2016-17. While its proclamation to improve ordinary lives is welcome, a rearrangement of deep-rooted structures of public expenditure in India is required to achieve this.