Reflections on Development Economics
Upcoming events
Past events
Prof. Gautam Bose, School of Economics, University of New South Wales, Sydney delivered a talk on Contest Theory on 3 May, 2023 from 3 PM at the Department. The talk was followed by interactions with the students. Download the banner.
Professor Arindam Mandal, Department of Economics, Siena College, USA delivered an online lecture titled "US financial crisis: Lessons for India" on 21st March, 2023 at 6.30 PM (IST).
Abstract of the talk
The talk focusses on 2008 U.S. financial crisis by exploring the factors that lead to melt down of the U.S. financial market. Primarily focusing on role of the housing sector and the role played by financial institutions in exaggerating effects of the crisis. Finally, a comparison is drawn between the Indian and the U.S. financial sectors focusing on some of the lessons learned from the U.S. crisis.
Professor Krishnendu Ghosh Dastidar, Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University delivered an online talk on "Basic Auction Theory" on 21 October 2022 from 6:30 pm IST via GoogleMeet. Download the banner.
Abstract
This lecture provides a brief and non-technical introduction to “Auction Theory”. First, it is discussed why auctions are important. We provide some real-life examples of auctions. Subsequently, we discuss the evolution of auction theory as a discipline. Then we introduce four basic kinds of auctions and analyze the benchmark model where a single indivisible object is up for sale. Thereafter, we provide a discussion of the revenue equivalence theorem. We also discuss some issues related to the design of optimal auctions. After this we generalize the benchmark model, relax its assumptions, and analyze the interdependent value model with affiliated types. We also focus attention on common value auctions and winner’s curse. Thereafter, we proceed to analyze multi-unit auctions (where more than one unit is up for sale). It may be noted that auctions of many interrelated objects raise issues that do not come up in the analysis of "standard" single unit auction formats. We introduce various new auction formats: (i) Share Auctions (ii) Simultaneous Ascending Auction (iii) Combinatorial Clock Auctions and (iv) Incentive Auctions. We discuss the real-life applications of these auctions and the challenges and complexities of implementing them. Lastly, we provide some concluding remarks.
Professor Rajeshwari Sengupta, Associate Professor of Economics, IGIDR, Mumbai delivered a lecture on "Measuring monetary policy shocks in emerging economies: Evidence from India" at the Department on 17 August, 2022 at 3.30 PM. Download the banner.
Abstract
In this paper we provide a template for constructing monetary policy shocks for emerging economies. Our approach synthesizes high-frequency financial market data with a narrative analysis of central bank communication and related media coverage. In the process we create a publicly available time-series database of policy dates and shocks for The Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In addition to capturing surprise changes to the RBI’s policy rate, our 0shocks suggest that financial markets infer substantial information about the future path of the policy rate from RBI communication. Bond and stock markets react strongly to these monetary shocks but exhibit notable heterogeneity across governor regimes. Finally, we use the monetary shocks as external instruments to identify the impact on macroeconomic variables.
Malabika Koley, PhD candidate of the Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign delivered a talk on "Testing for Spatial Dependence in a Spatial Autoregresive (SAR) Model in the Presence of Endogenous Regressors" at the Department on 5th August 2022 from 3.30 PM.
Abstract
Spatial modeling is one of the growing areas of research in economics in recent years. However, these models are not tested enough. Even if tests are performed, they are done in a piece-wise fashion. Another age-long problem in economic modeling is endogeneity of one or more variables. Endgeneity is caused due to a number of reasons one of which is simultaneous modeling of economic variables. This paper considers specification testing in the context of a spatial autoregresive (SAR) model with an endogenous regressor. First, we construct standard Rao's score (RS) tests for null hypothesis of the absence of spatial autocorrelation and endogeneity. These standard RS tests are invalid in the presence of local misspecification of the models under the alternative hypotheses. Therefore, in our next step, we develop adjusted tests using the technique of \cite{bera1993specification}, that are robust to local misspecification. These adjusted (or robustified) tests are simple to calculate and easy to implement. With a Monte Carlo study we investigate the finite sample performance of all the proposed tests, and the results confirm that the robust tests perform better compared to their non-robust counterparts both in terms of size and power. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of our proposed tests with the help of an urban crime example."
Prof. Gautam Bose, School of Economics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia sopke on "Development, efficiency, and the pursuit of equity " on Thursday 19th May 2022.
Dr. Manan Roy of Appalachian State University gave an online talk via Google Meet on "Partial identification and causal effect in the presence of endogeneity and measurement error" on 18th May 2022 (Wednesday) at 7.00 PM IST
The abstract of her talk is given below:
Identifying a causal relationship between a treatment (policy or program intervention) and outcome is complicated in the absence of a randomized experiment. The complications arise due to endogenous selection and misclassification errors that plague most survey data. To overcome these difficulties, a nonparametric bounds approach is a credible alternative. Utilizing weaker assumptions on the nature of selection bias and degree of misclassification (misreporting) of the treatment variable, this nonparametric approach (following Manski and others) provides tight bounds on the average treatment effect or causal effect. This method is widely applicable in the case of any binary treatment variable and binary outcome variable when selection bias and misreporting are suspected. Due to the weaker (and credible) assumptions, the method provides an upper and lower bound on the average treatment effect, instead of point estimates that require stronger assumptions.
Mausumi Das, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi gave an online talk via Google Meet on "Culture and Market : A Macroeconomic Tale of Two Institutions" (with Priyanka Aurora) on 30 September 2021 (Thursday) at 5.30 PM
The abstract of the talk is given below:
IIn this paper we model endogenous evolution of cultural traits which is mediated through the market, and examine its impact on long run economic growth. Historically culture has played an important role in the process of economic development. Yet, economic development itself impacts upon the pre-existing cultural values and beliefs. We interact culture with market and show that such interaction may generate multiple growth trajectories depending on the initial distribution of cultural traits in the economy. In particular, an economy may end up in a culture-induced low growth trap in the long run. We also show that over time, with economic development, culture takes a back seat but its initial influence continues to impact long run outcomes.