Economic Challenges for the Contemporary World
Essays in Honour of Prabhat Patnaik
- Mausumi Das - Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
- Sabyasachi Kar - Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, India
- Nandan Nawn - Associate Professor, Department of Policy Studies, TERI University, New Delhi
In view of Prabhat Patnaik’s role in advocating progressive reforms and ideas in the global economy, this volume, in his honour, questions conventional thinking in mainstream economics and policy.
This book brings together diverse scholarship on various aspects of economic development that underscore the importance of tackling dominant and contemporary issues concerning the national and global economy. Divided into five distinct themes—economic growth, engaging with globalisation, poverty and inequality, macroeconomic issues, political economy and developmental aspects—the essays outline significantly contrasting methodologies that are used to deal with issues of vital importance.
Topical and up-to-date, the volume challenges the laissez faire philosophy and highlights the weaknesses of a free market as well as its inability to deal with the current issues.
“The volume that covers three major themes: the internal contradictions of capitalism, the growth of the Indian economy and the feasibility of socialism… contains essays contributed entirely by Patnaik’s former students, especially those whom he guided in their doctoral work. It is a fitting tribute to a teacher who inspired them by his commitment to scholarship and involvement in public affairs.”
[The book] is a tribute to Patnaik. It reflects the wide range of interests that he had and allowed his students to pursue – from macroeconomics to dynamic optimization, to stimulation techniques, to monetary economics, and Marxism. If only one thing could bind all the essays together then that would be the fact that each contributor addresses a problem of the market economy, and tries to probe it to seek implications for long-term development of society.