Jindal School of Government and Public Policy (JSGP) of O.P. Jindal Global University held its first Annual Conference on Economics and Public Policy virtually during December 20- 21, 2021.

The conference saw three distinguished speaker addresses and close to 50 paper presentations spread over 15 thematic sessions, including those on Covid-19 and the Indian Economy, Public Health, Poverty and Inequality, Gender and Labour, and Complexity Economics.

The two-day event brought together Ph.D. scholars, leading academicians and independent researchers from across the world to engage in academic and policy conversations in the field of economics and allied social sciences. While the distinguished speaker address by Mr. Bezwada Wilson (Safai Karamchari Andolan) offered a first-hand view of grassroots activism as he narrated his experiences in the fight against manual scavenging in India, the distinguished speaker addresses by noted academicians, Prof. Bhramar Mukherjee (University of Michigan) and Prof. E. Somanathan (Indian Statistical Institute Delhi), emphasised the urgent need to integrate academic research with policy decision-making.

The programme featured international speakers from organisations including the World Bank, London School of Economics (UK), Tokyo International University (Japan), Memorial University (UK), Stony Brook University (USA), Leeds University (UK), Monash University (Australia), University of Murcia (Spain), Imam Reza University (Iran), Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). Joining them were academicians and researchers from prestigious institutions in India, including IIT Guwahati, IIM Tiruchirapalli, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Madras School of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for Development Studies, BITS Pilani, and KPMG Global Services.

A special mention goes to the session on Complexity Economics, where Prof. Wolfram Elsner (University of Bremen, Germany) and Prof. Victor Beker (University of Belgrano and University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) joined Prof. Milindo Chakrabarti (JSGP), Prof. Naresh Singh (JSGP) and others to discuss the history and future of complexity economics.

For more information on the conference, please visit: https://jgu.edu.in/jsgp/annual-conference-on-economics-and-public-policy-2021/

Annual Conference on Economics and Public Policy (JSGP)