Events of CEPPF Patna
Speaker : Nobel laureate Professor Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1st Dr Shaibal Gupta Memorial Lecture
Organised by Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) Patna
Under the thumb of history
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee
Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
June 21, 2021, Monday/ 05.30 PM (IST)
Zoom Link- Click Here
Shaibal Gupta
Dr Shaibal Gupta was the Founder Member-Secretary of the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) in Patna, Bihar. He was also the Founding Director of the Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF), which has been set-up in ADRI by the Government of Bihar as a dedicated centre for research on public finance and economic policy. He was one of the best-known experts on the politics and economics of Bihar. His research focused on the structure of the Bihar economy, as well as on various development issues in Bihar with a political economy perspective. Dr Gupta worked on various research projects with the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex; International Labour Organisation, World Bank and London School of Economics. He held advisory positions in various committees’ setup by the Government of India and Government of Bihar.
Professor Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee
Professor Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a co-recipient of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his ground-breaking work in development economics research. He was educated at the Presidency College, Kolkata, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Harvard University, where he received his PhD in 1988. In 2003, he co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) with Esther Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan and remains one of the lab’s directors. He is a past president of the Bureau for the Research in the Economic Analysis of Development, a Research Associate of the NBER, a CEPR Research Fellow, International Research Fellow of the Kiel Institute, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society and has been a Guggenheim Fellow and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and a winner of the Infosys Prize. His areas of research are development economics and economic theory. He has authored two books as well as a large number of articles and is the editor of a third book. He finished his first documentary film, ‘The name of the disease’ in 2006.
CEPPF
The Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) was set up in 2008 in collaboration with the Government of Bihar to analyse present economic trends and feed into long term tasks of the State Government. The proximity of the Centre to the State Government, together with its and organisational autonomy, facilitates objectivity and academic freedom in the Centre, which is essential for such an institution. Dr S Siddhartha, IAS, is the current Chairman and Director of the CEPPF.
Patna, 21 June. The Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) and Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) organised the First Shaibal Gupta Memorial Lecture, – ‘Under the thumb of history?’, was delivered by Professor Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-recipient of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Dr Harish Khare (Chairperson - ADRI) welcomed the panellists and set the context of the event. He remembered the contributions of Shaibal Gupta who always tried to understand the state with the most untapped growth potential in the country — rich in water, human resources, agricultural possibilities and several prospects of diversifying its economy. Shaibal was an institution builder. He was among the first to realise that Bihar needed an academic institution of high quality. As the founder and member-secretary of the ADRI in Patna, he sought to bridge this gap.
Dr S Siddharth (Director, CEPPF and Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Bihar) introduced Prof. Abhijit Banerjee and his ground-breaking work in development economics research.
Prof Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee delivered the lecture titled, Under the thumb of history?. Here he elaborates on the two views of how history and political institutions are seen as mostly a choice between one view of historical logic and the other view of accidents, leaders, and decisions. He posits the role of social scientist through this paper and how it can act in improving policy making if history is a determinant factor, where historical events have shaped institutions and political and economic phenomena. As social scientists, we should inform policy making by not only drawing analysis from macro indicators but also it is useful to know about specific capabilities of specific institutions or groups of people or a particular bureaucracy within a country in the context of knowing whether it is corrupt or inept or resistance to outsider’s analysis of reform or being open minded. He shared some facts on the long reach of history, stating that it is the institutional framework that persists such as the persistence of extractive institutions set-up during the colonial period and cited the impacts of zamindari systems even 150 years after its abolishment. Marx believed historical laws predict the necessary transition from feudalism to capitalism, and from capitalism to socialism; while the modern view is more pessimistic, there is no necessity to transition due to the inherent belief that oligarchy holds on to power. He further shared that there is no logical reason behind why persistence would mean determination. Sometimes change is purely due to inertia and sometimes change is due to persistence. He emphasized formal rules matter to bring about change, citing the example of mandatory representation of women affects political decisions, short-medium term outcomes and impact. He also shared that beyond policies even small accidents have long term impacts. He concluded by saying that in the end, the choice facing the field of political economy is very simple. It can embrace grand theories that will offer us the satisfaction of strong and simple answers. We need to be eclectic in choosing indicators in what the political constraints may be and make the best economic analysis and use the best data possible to improve the efficiency of government programs and for the welfare of the people.
Shri Tripurari Sharan (Chief Secretary - Government of Bihar) delivered the Special Address. He shared the story of cooperative societies and the institutional history that impacts the behaviour of individuals and systems. He emphasized the relatability of Prof. Abhijit Banerjee's lecture being relevant even today. As policy makers, we require inputs from people like Prof Banerjee to improve the outcome.
Prof Prabhat P Ghosh concluded the Panel and gave the Vote of Thanks.