Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and Seema Chishti, Deputy Editor (Express Photo: Prashant Nadkar)
Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo were guests at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Monday. The economist couple shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics with Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.
Kolkata-born Banerjee, 58, and Paris-born Duflo, 46, both professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), were awarded the Nobel for their groundbreaking work in development economics that has provided insights into problems of poverty that governments across the world are engaged with today.
At the first Express Adda of 2020, Banerjee and Duflo were in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and Seema Chishti, Deputy Editor.
Live Blog
Our first Express Adda with Nobel couple Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee has concluded. The Nobel laureates spoke on a variety of matters, including microeconomics, the comparison of India's economic performance with China, violence at JNU, among others.
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Audience question: What do you have to say about India's goal of becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy?
Banerjee: I think we should be less obsessed with growth as the one marker of success. 5 trillion mark can't really be a marker of success.
Here's what economist Ajit Ranade has to say on today's Express Adda with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
On the subject of JNU and the violence ensued there last night, Abhijit Banerjee was asked which side of the intellectual spectrum he finds himself in. "I am a leftist most leftists would disapprove of," he responded.
On yesterday's incident of violence in the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee said the university was a 'safe space for dissent'. 'It is important to have a space for dissent where we can disagree,' he added.
"It is important for all of us to lay claim to that safe place. It is important to have a place where we can disagree and still hold discussions," he said.
The Right to Information is a tool to pin down the government, otherwise the government is famously non-transparent, says Abhijit Banerjee
Anant Goenka, Executive Director: The battle between haves and have nots, the issue of disparity is at least as old as the Industrial Revolution. What are we doing wrong?
Duflo: I think the issue has always been and will always be. Humans tolerate inequality even when they shouldn't.
When asked what he would suggest Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a fellow JNU alumni, on what she shouldn't do, Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said Sitharaman shouldn't have cut corporate tax. "It is not going to save the economy," he said.
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, the economist couple who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics with Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”, are the guests at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Monday. Watch LIVE here
In an op-ed for The Indian Express, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo write: "The real economic challenge is for the middle classes, who worry that this new group of claimants will eventually reach for the prize that they have so far held onto, the ultimate gift of a local government job. But it is a sign of our poor governance that government jobs are as much of a windfall as they are now — the fact that in 2019, 19 million Indians applied for 63,000 low-level jobs in the railways, should tell us we are getting something very wrong." Read here
On why economists are not able to speak up publicly on current issues, Nobel laureate Esther Duflo said it might be because "economists don't have enough confidence that people will listen to their argument."
Citing the "number of rants I read against me," with people calling him an "elite out of touch with reality," Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said the level of trust of experts is currently at a "historical low".
No evidence that low-skilled immigrants are bad for economies: Abhijit Banerjee
Speaking on immigration especially in countries like the United States, where it is often an emotive issue, Nobel laureate and economist Abhijit Banerjee said the problem lies in the understanding of economics as taught in schools. "We should be teaching a more sophisticated economy," he said, explaining how low skilled immigrants at times even help in the growth of the GDP and doesn't depress wages.
Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo are guests at the Express Adda in Mumbai today.
Find the live event link below:
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https://youtu.be/FtMfvU3CeGA
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, the economist couple who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics with Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”, will be guests at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Monday. Watch this space for LIVE updates