In the News: Devashish Mitra

"The recent set of labour reforms are also an encouraging development. Numerous labour regulations have been consolidated into four codes, eliminating contradictions among them," writes Devashish Mitra, professor and chair of economics. 

"Offshoring barriers, regulatory burden and national welfare," co-authored by Professor of Economics Devashish Mitra, was published in Indian Economic Review.

"Trade liberalization and poverty reduction," authored by Professor of Economics Devashish Mitra, was published in IZA World of Labor.

"Has the export-oriented manufacturing model reached its sell-by date for India?," authored by Professor Devashish Mitra, was published in Ideas for India. 

The eight essays include historical background and trends to explain the legacy of voters' choices in November. Also included in this edition are stories on historian David Bennett's 50-year-plus career, a new scholarship fund geared towards retention, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Attracting GSCs to India is actually very hard work, without having any attractive catchphrase. There is no strategy other than considerable additional investment and effort into infrastructure and skill-building, tackling power bottlenecks, reforms in labour and land regulations and keeping protectionist forces at bay," writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"As reviving the economy is not possible without restarting production, there needs to be a phased exit from the lockdown through extensive testing that identifies people who can go back to work with the confidence that they won’t contract the disease from others," says Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"I sincerely hope...India will soon decide to join RCEP at a future date, when it is also able to obtain better terms," says Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"The economy’s temporary problems can easily become more permanent unless both long-term and short-term measures are taken simultaneously," says Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

According to Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs, "the real challenge now for the prime minister [of India] and his colleagues is job creation and expansion of the manufacturing sector."

The "Modi government should get a lot of credit for its Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code as well as the cleansing of the banking system, an important component being getting rid of non-performing assets," says Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"No economist providing policy prescriptions can ignore the political constraint of the inevitability of redistribution to the bottom 20-30 percent," writes Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs. "Therefore, an important task before any policy economist is to suggest the most efficient form of this redistribution—one that hurts the rest of the society the least. Of course, it also has to be fiscally viable and responsible."

"For those who might totally dismiss such a scheme, by saying that it amounts to socialism, let me remind them that many believers in the power of markets, including myself, have throughout been in support of cash transfers as the least distortionary method of redistribution and fighting poverty," writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"Even though in aggregate, trade leads to economic gains, it almost always creates winners and losers," writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs." He adds that social protection policies "need to be in place for equity reasons as well as to build and sustain support for free trade."