Union Budget and the state of the Indian and Global Economies | Humanities & Social Sciences

Union Budget and the state of the Indian and Global Economies

Tuesday Seminar
Speaker: 
Professors Eri Ikeda and Jayan Jose Thomas
Date and Time: 
Tue, 07/02/2023 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm
Schedule: 
03:30 PM to 05:30 PM
Venue: 
HuSS Committee Room

The Indian and the global economies have now reached a tipping point. Restoring the incomes and livelihoods lost during the Covid-19 pandemic is a priority for governments everywhere, and particularly so in India, which has an overwhelmingly large informal labour force. The Indian economy has been battling a crisis on the employment front: to generate decent jobs for its growing young population. At the global level, the supply-side constraints that arose on account of the hostilities in Europe and elsewhere have added to the prolonged weakness in aggregate demand, which began with the Great Recession of 2007-09. Widening inequality due to wealth transfers to the rich and the limited effectiveness of monetary policy measures, especially in the U.S., Europe and Japan, are the other important reasons for worry. Against such a backdrop, how should governments in India and elsewhere intervene? Should they increase spending, especially on rural areas and small enterprises? Should we worry about inflation and rising government debt that may result from such intervention? How has India’s Union Budget presented on February 1, 2023 addressed these questions?

Speakers: Eri Ikeda and Jayan Jose Thomas
Discussant : Ishan Anand

Eri Ikeda is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi. Her research interest lies in the field of macroeconomics and development, with a particular focus on business cycles. She has also been expanding her scope of work on industrialisation, global trade, and the environment.

Jayan Jose Thomas is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi. His research and teaching focus on economic development and macroeconomic problems of India and other developing countries, with a focus on issues related to labour and industrialization.

Ishan Anand is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi. His research focuses on inequality, caste, agriculture and the political economy of development.