.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
.svg)
.svg)
Pulapre Balakrishnan
Pulapre Balakrishnan is an honorary visiting Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanathapuram. He has also held the positions of Professor of Economics at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana and Senior Fellow-elect at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Kerala. His research has been in the areas of inflation, growth and productivity in India. Balakrishnan is a recipient of the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contribution to Development Studies.
.svg)
Growth, well-being and distribution in the last decade – II
In the first part of this two-part series, Balakrishnan and Parameswaran presented an assessment of the performance of the Indian economy on macroeconomic indicators. In this post, they focus on well-being indicators – including those pertaining to health, sanitation and housing, poverty, and food security – followed by a discussion of the likely change that may have occurred in the distribution of income.
Growth, well-being and distribution in India in the last decade – I
As India gets ready to vote in the general election, Balakrishnan and Parameswaran present a comprehensive, evidence-based review of the performance of the Indian economy over the past decade. In the first of a two-part series, they focus on macroeconomic indicators including growth, investment, unemployment, inflation, manufacturing performance, and tax revenues. In part II, they analyse indicators of well-being and investigate how the income distribution may have changed in this time.
Effect of food prices on inflation: Is monetary policy an effective tool?
With rising inflation becoming a global concern, Balakrishnan and Parameswaran discuss some explanations for the high inflation in India. They find that inflation was driven by a domestic rise in food prices rather than by imports. They also dismantle the claim that inflation is being driven by oligopolistic corporate pricing, before evaluating the efficacy of raising repo rates in controlling inflation. They conclude that inflation cannot be managed by monetary policy alone and must include supply-side management of agricultural prices.
Growth in India: Narratives and evidence
There are various narratives on the trajectory of India’s economic growth, and its key determining factors. This article analyses the recently released GDP data series at 2011-12 prices, extending back to 1950, to establish India’s actual growth trajectory. It also provides a theoretical explanation for the growth, and brings perspective to the role of the economic policies pursued at different stages of India’s economic history post-Independence.
Evaluating inflation targeting in India
In March 2021, India will complete five years since the adoption of the inflation targeting framework by the government and RBI. Analysing inflation data since 1996 using alternative models, this article argues that the ‘output gap model’ that underlies the current regime is not the best descriptor of inflation trends in India.
Food deprivation: A thali index reveals what poverty estimates do not
Poverty in India is typically estimated based on a poverty line that identifies the purchasing power needed to satisfy the daily calorific intake deemed necessary. In this post, Balakrishnan and Raj measure the standard of living in terms of a ‘thali meal’. Based on the extent of food deprivation that they find, they argue for a review of poverty measurement in India.
Making sense of the 2024 Economics Nobel
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”. In this post, Pulapre Balakrishnan evaluates the econometric approach and representation of colonialism – as linked to institutions – in some of their prominent works. Balakrishnan contends that any account of economic phenomena must commence with a theoretical model including a clearly specified motive force; in his view, this is lacking in the laureates’ contribution.