Ashok Kotwal Memorial Lecture: Pranab Bardhan on 'Inequality, Labour & Social Democracy'

We invite you to join us on 30 November, 2023, for the second edition of I4I’s annual Ashok Kotwal Memorial Lecture. This year, the lecture will be delivered by Prof. Pranab K. Bardhan, who will concentrate on the rising inequality arising from declining labour shares of income. He will touch upon the decay of labour organisations globally and explore the reasons for this decay: the pattern of technological change, elements of labour fragmentation particularly in developing countries, and increasing corporate concentration.

The speaker shall delve into policies which can mitigate this inequality including an attempt at rejuvenating social democracy. He will discuss policies to relieve some of the problems of labour fragmentation, improve the voice of labour in corporate governance, and the role of trade unions that goes far beyond their importance in collective wage-bargaining.

This lecture will be a deep-think into how capitalism can be modified without giving up on its dynamism or innovative power – in this way social democracy is different from democratic socialism: labour organisations can play a role in "saving capitalism from the capitalists".

The annual memorial lecture on key issues of development economics has been instituted in memory of our founding Editor-in-Chief, the late Prof Ashok Kotwal.

This is a hybrid event – click here to register to join us in-person at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.

You could also join us virtually - click here to register on Zoom.