Course Offered: B.A. (Honours) Economics
The Department of Economics at LSR is a well knit community of accomplished and highly committed teaching faculty and a very vibrant group of student body. The Department in its continual endeavour towards harmonizing excellence with inclusivity and equity draws strength from a dynamic teaching- learning process, where the faculty feels privileged to collaborate with its enthusiastic young scholars as they embark on an enriching and fulfilling life-long learning experience.
The Economics undergraduate programme provides a strong foundation in economic theory and quantitative tools of economic analysis. It also familiarises students with shifts in development paradigms with particular reference to the state of India’s people in pre and post independence period. The Department has its distinctive ethos where the faculty continually strives to walk as co-learners with the students on the path of knowledge building. The Department’s continuous emphasis on the understanding of the principles of Economics within a multidisciplinary framework has been a great motivator to its students to pursue their dreams and aspirations infused with a people-centric approach. These could involve admissions in prestigious institutions and placements in blue-chip companies. Many of them have also been engaged in diverse fields ranging from civil society to policy making through their education, research, field action and extension.
Economics Association Activities 2023- 2024
The Annual Academic Conference of the Department of Economics, EconVista, took place on the theme of ‘Age of Reckoning: Can India Upgrade itself as the Global Manufacturing Sector Powerhouse?’. The keynote address was given by Dr. Dhruv Sharma, Senior Economist, World Bank. This was followed by a panel discussion with distinguished speakers like Dr. Lekha S. Chakraborty, Dr. Saon Ray, Ms. Neelashi Shukla, and was moderated by Ms. Veenu Singh. The conference sparked meaningful discussions wherein students gained valuable insights, and interacted with one another across 14 vibrant events, held in a hybrid mode.
Several seminars were organised to help students interact with academicians and broaden their horizons of knowledge. In October Ms. R.V. Anuradha conducted a seminar on ‘Dealing With Unilateral Actions In An Interconnected World’. In November, Dr. Poulomi Bhattacharya discussed ‘Demystifying Carbon Pricing Policies: Role of India as a Climate Leader’. Dr. Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister and Secretary to the Government of India, discussed ‘Process Reforms as Public Policy: Big Impact from Small Changes’ in February, and Ms. Seema Chaturvedi explored ‘Purpose and Profit: The New World of Finance and Entrepreneurship’. These seminars were successful in igniting new conversations amongst the students.
The prestigious Dr. Saroj Gupta Memorial Scholarship Program is held annually in memory of Late Saroj Gupta, former faculty member, in which the most meritorious students of each of the three years are awarded. The guest speaker for the session was one of our distinguished alumni, Ms. Sukriti Likhi, Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser to the Ministry of Steel, Govt. of India, who addressed the students about the position and prospects of the Indian steel industry. The scholarships were awarded to Ms. Diya Chugh (1st year), Ms. Aakriti Adhikari (2nd year) and Ms. Yashaswini Awasthy (3rd year). The event was graced by senior faculty members and members of Dr. Saroj Gupta’s family.
The Department conducted a Round Table Conference on ‘Viksit Bharat @2047: Voice of Youth’ in January, 2024, which was a resounding success, with stimulating discussions highlighting the positive impacts, challenges faced, and recommendations for the policies already taken up by the government in the last decade. A seminar was also organised on the same theme, with Dr. Arvind Virmani, Member of NITI Aayog, on the topic ‘India’s Economic Performance And Growth Trends Over The Past Decade’.
The department also organised a research paper competition to analyse the impact of selected government schemes on the lives of destitute women (single women in particular) across Indian states. The competition saw overwhelming participation from the student body who analysed these schemes and came up with policy recommendations to work upon and reach the target audience.
The department organised an essay writing competition to mark India’s historic G20 presidency. It also hosted Eco-Connect, a series of week-long events aimed at providing first-year students with an orientation to the club’s activities and operations. This initiative served as a platform for new students to familiarize themselves with the club’s mission, objectives, and upcoming events.
Finance, Investment, and Crisis Understanding Cell (FISCUL) established an ‘Impact Wing’ to combat financial illiteracy among underprivileged communities and introduced a weekly financial newsletter that issued 16 editions. The Opportunities Cell launched the ‘UPSC E-Newsletter’, and conducted a placement-internship bootcamp for students. They also orchestrated the ‘Boule of Women’ event, advocating for policy change, with participation from 15 interdisciplinary teams. The Books & Documentaries Review Club (BDR) organised several documentary screenings, along with a ‘Book Exchange’ event that was a huge success. The Mentored Research Forum (MRF) convened a reading circle to discuss the economic
ramifications of myopia in elderly Singaporeans, along with a comprehensive three-day research bootcamp. The Econwiz Club (TEC) orchestrated the ‘Case Conundrum’ competition, while the Beyond the Classroom Club (BTC) hosted webinars to facilitate the advanced understanding and practical application of economic principles.
The Editorial Board proudly completed the 20th volume of Ecolloquial, featuring over 20 entries covering diverse topics. The journal includes enlightening interviews with esteemed academicians like Dr. Ashwini Deshpande, Dr. Dhruv Sharma, and Dr. Narges Hajimoladarvish. The Newsletter team successfully released 6 editions under various themes. These editions delved into critical global and Indian economic issues, financial markets, and social and political economy, like the Eurozone debt crisis, trade wars, the economic prowess of the ICC Cricket World Cup, India’s road to 2047, post-Brexit deals, Zee-Sony merger fallout, and electoral bonds, to name a few. The EconVista edition encapsulated the highlights of the EconVista 2024, including the keynote address, panel discussion, and competitions.
The Department of Economics has been proactive in its efforts to engage students actively in plethora of activities to encourage analytical thinking and developing pragmatic approach to development issues. Activities ranging from organising guest lectures, research workshops and publishing department journal to name a few were conducted to motivate students to participate, explore and learn about contemporary topics by active engagement and interaction with experts in concerned areas providing creative environment to enhance their knowledge. With this brief, it gives us immense pleasure to report varied activities conducted by the Economics Association during 2022-2023 in following sections:
GUEST SPEAKERS INVITED TO LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS FROM 1st APRIL2022- 31st MARCH 2023
| NAME | DESIGNATION & AFFILIATION | DATE OF THE EVENT | THEME | NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS (approx) |
| Dr.Devesh Birwal | Assistant Professor at Delhi School of Economics | 29.09.2022 | Crop Diversification and Risk Management Strategies | 75 |
| Ms. Nandita Bakhshi | CEO & President of Bank of West | 20.10.2022 | Women in Leadership | 62 |
| Ms. Anshula Kant | Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank | 09.11.2022 | World Bank supports Sustainable Development | 100 |
| Dr. Sangeeta Verma | Chairperson of the Competition Commission of India | 24.11.2022 | Economics as a toolkit for navigating life | 64 |
| Mr. Siddharth Rathore | Assistant Professor at Gargi College, University of Delhi | 09.02.2023 | Anatomy and Analysis of Budget 2023-24 | 85 |
| Ms. Deepika Srivastava | Deputy Director in the Ministry of Finance | 16.02.2023 | Strategy and Guidance for Cracking IES | 47 |
Econvista 2023:
The offline iteration of the Annual Academic Symposium of the Department of Economics, Econvista 2023, was organised from 31st March-1st April, 2023. The symposium began with a keynote address given by Dr. V Anantha Nageswaran – Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, who stressed on “Medium Term Growth” – and how this term varies from the perspective of every individual. This was followed by an enriching panel discussion; the panellists, Dr Bornali Bhandari, Dr Arpita Mukherjee, Dr Madhu Verma, and Dr Rashmi Barua drew from their experiences in their respective fields; the discussion was moderated by Dr Dolly Menon, Retired Assistant Professor at LSR and was attended by LSR students, participants as well as faculty members.
Econvista ’23 Events: The events in the symposium were organised across different platforms and judged by esteemed judges including Vivek Agarwal, Country Director at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Prateek Kanwal, Director, Policy and Advocacy at NewGlobe, Sandesh Dholakia, Analyst at Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. Carrying on the department’s prestigious flagship events were the Dr. Saroj Gupta Paper Presentation, Policy Dilemma and Eco prayog. Each of these events saw innovative solutions towards contemporary economic issues being put forth by the participants and had a cash pool of ~15,000 INR each. In addition to these, 6 new and innovative events were also introduced this year- Social Synergy, Sawaal Jawaab, Dare to Venture, MUN Simulation, Stakeholm Syndrome and Merger Mania. The symposium ended with the closing ceremony, wherein winners of each event were felicitated by the judges and the faculty members of the Department of Economics. The best contingent prize was won by Shaheed Sukhdev College for Business Studies.
Ecolloquial- the Annual Academic Journal of the Department of Economics:
The Editorial Board, with an expanded team of 15 members took upon a series of initiatives along with compiling the Ecolloquial Edition 2022-23.
- Organised & conducted 4 interviews with- Dr. Shamika Ravi – a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM & former director of Research at Brookings India; Mr. Vatsal Nahata – Research Analyst, IMF & ex-consultant at the World Bank; Ms. Nandita Bakshi – CEO, Bank of West & Dr. Devesh Birwal, Assistant Professor, Delhi School of Economics.
- Built a research repository mobile application, conducted 2 reading circles to encourage academic discussions on economic research literature.
- Collaborated with Centre for Social & Behavioural Change (CSBC), Ashoka University to organize a session on “Behavioural Science Research and Experiment Design in the Indian context” which was attended by 100+ students from pan India
- Pioneered 10 one-on-one research mentoring sessions to provide personal guidance & resources to novice researchers.
- Organised the Dr. Saroj Gupta Memorial Paper Presentation Competition at Econvista 2023
- Compiled Ecolloquial 2022-23 which features 20+ research papers and articles spanning across a plethora of domains like public welfare, international economy, finance, macroeconomics, green energy, political economy and more, written by undergraduate students from across India.
Some More Highlights:
Opportunities Cell: The Opportunities Cell, a newly incorporated club, aims to make careers accessible to students and works with a membership of 21 members across three wings – UPSC wing, Policy and Research wing, and the Corporate wing. Opportunities Cell conducted offline session on ‘Cracking Case Competition’ by Aakarshi Aggarwal, guest lecture on ‘Anatomy and Analysis of Budget 2023-24’ by Prof Siddharth Rathore and a session on ‘Strategy and guidance for cracking IES’ by Ms. Deepika Srivastava, Deputy Director, Ministry of finance, GOI. The cell also conducted online session on ‘Cracking off campus internships’ by Sidika Sahai and guest lecture on ‘A to Z of Masters Abroad’ by Aastha Mohapatra. UPSC wing conducted an offline study circle on ‘How successful major Central Banks were in containing global inflation’ and online study discussion on ‘How Myanmar’s Civil War destabilize India’s North East’, shared daily news articles and Current Affairs on the UPSC community LSR of 100+ LSR students.
MRF: The Mentored Research Forum aims at making academia accessible to all and catapulting the research skills of students. The headline event of the club was the Research Week, an extensive combination of sessions and guest lectures to expose students to the depth and width of academic research and paper writing. It incorporated a session on Research and Postgraduate Studies Abroad by Shivani Pandey, guest lecture on R programming and Data Analysis by Dr. Deepika Kandpal, Research Bootcamp conducted by the MRF coordinators and a Reading Circle with Aravika on the research paper- “You Think Failure is Hard? So is Learning from it!”
BTC: Beyond the Classroom made significant strides this year in providing students with opportunities beyond the traditional classroom setting. It organized a range of events, engaging students with diverse interests and providing them with valuable experiences. One of the highlights of the year was the campus-wide treasure hunt organized for economics students with an aim at promoting teamwork and problem-solving skills. It also initiated a research project that involved primary research and field work in Lajpat Nagar. This project provided students with hands-on experience in conducting research and analyzing data. Beyond the Classroom also organized a speaker session with Naman Pushp, founder of Airbound, an aerospace company that delivers life-saving drugs and medicines to communities in need across the world. Beyond the Classroom also released four episodes of Econcast, a podcast series featuring interviews with NSS projects or talking about various economic concepts.
BDR: The Books and Documentaries Club, working with a membership of 15 members conducted 2 offline documentary screenings. The movie and documentary were- ‘Bitcoin: The End of Money As We Know It’ and ‘The Perfect Storm’. The second documentary screening event was conducted in collaboration with BDR, Political Science Department. The club also conducted a ‘Book Swap’ event for its members in the month of February. The club reviewed the Book and Economist of the Month series on Instagram, where the members worked on co-writing and co-designing reports for the same.
Economics Association Activities 2020- 2021
The Association of the Department of Economics has been proactive in its efforts to engage students actively in plethora of activities to encourage analytical thinking and developing pragmatic approach to development issues. Activities ranging from organising guest lectures, research workshops and publishing department newsletters to name a few were conducted to motivate students to participate, explore and learn about contemporary topics by active engagement and interaction with experts in concerned areas providing creative environment to enhance their knowledge. With this brief, it gives us immense pleasure to report varied activities conducted by the Economics Association from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 in following sections:
I. GUEST SPEAKERS INVITED TO LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS FROM 1ST APRIL2020-31ST MARCH 2021
| NAME | DESIGNATION & AFFILIATION | DATE OF THE EVENT | THEME | NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS (approx) |
| Ms. Nikita Jain | IES Officer | 10.03.2021 | Careers in Indian Economic Services & Other Related Activities | 110 |
| Ms. Simran Massey | Member of Harvard Business Review’s Ascend Select, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Intersectional Analysis | 11.03.2021 | Care Economics: From a Gender Perspective | 87 |
| Ms. Ann Mason | Trade & Technology Chief at the Economic, Environment, Science & Technology section of U.S. Embassy in New Delhi | 18.03.2021 | U.S.- India Relationship | 93 |
| Dr. Nata Duvvury | Development expert with research interests in gender | 31.03.2021 | Feminist Economics Perspectives to COVID-19 | 103 |
II. ANNUAL JOURNAL- ECOLLOQUIAL
The Annual Research Journal of the Department of Economics – Ecolloquial, was released on the
10th of June, 2020. The editorial team of journal was guided by Ms. Neha Grover and Ms. Vaishali Verma.
Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Premansh Sahni, the team received 35 entries from colleges across India (St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, St. Xavier’s College Mumbai, Gargi College, St. Stephens College to name a few) comprising research papers, articles and book reviews. A monthly article writing competition ‘Schools of thought’ was also initiated.
The topics included slowdown in the economy, trade-off between efficiency and equity in theoretical economics, employment crisis and aspirations for a $5 trillion economy. 6 research papers, 3 book reviews and 12 articles were published in this year’s edition in totality. In addition to this, interviews of Ms. Jayashree Sahoo (Teacher-in-charge, Department of Economics, 2019-20) and Dr. Jayan Jose Thomas (Professor, IIT Delhi) were also published. With a readership of over 350, this year’s journal has carved a niche for itself and has set a new bar.
III. DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER- ECOLLECTUAL
Activities Undertaken
The first issue of Ecollectual titled ‘Understanding our behavior: Are all our decisions rational?’ was released in March 2021. The newsletter talked about numerous issues where economics and psychology cross paths, and influence various decisions pertinent to rational consumer behavior. From talking about how the financial world uses confidence to create illusions in the market, to exploring how pop culture influences consumer choice, this issue was a great read for everyone and received a wide readership.
Along with this, the Ecollectual team also focused on its Instagram page where we started 3 new series: –
- Decoding the Economist: Talked about the lives and contributions of various renowned economists from around the world.
- ECOSCOOPS: The Current Affairs Series- This was based on major recent developments in economics, finance and related fields.
- ECOBYTES: The Economic School of Thought Series- This covered the thought schools of various economists and religions and tried to link them to applications in daily-life.
In the month of April, the Ecollectual team was involved in covering the different events of the Annual departmental fest “Econvista 2021”, which was successfully conducted on 16th and 17th April 2021. Owing to the second wave of COVID that issue could not be realised. However, the works on the Econvista issue and another issue/session(s) is underway. We look forward to the continuous growth of Ecollectual in the batches to come.
IV. MENTORED RESEARCH FORUM
The Mentored Research Forum aims to inculcate and nourish a passion for research among students of the Economics Department, LSR. It focuses on assisting its members throughout their academic writing journey by providing them with resources and guidance to get started as well as a supportive platform to get feedback on their work. It aims to provide a space for the members to hold discussions and eventually collaborate to work on research ideas that can add value to their learning. The club organised a number of events in the academic year 2020-21 and witnessed zealous participation from the members in all its activities and workshops.
Introductory Research Paper Writing Workshop (12-03-2021)
This workshop was conducted by Ananya Kalra, one of the club heads herself. It primarily involved acquainting members with the research process. Crucial aspects of an academic research paper were introduced in the session, including types of paper, selecting a topic and finding reliable resources of information.
The cataclysmic change to the forum came when it flagged off its blog page on Medium under the name, ‘Renting Rationality.’ There were a substantial number of blogs posted on ‘Renting Rationality’ like Decoding Identity Economics, Understanding Blue Economy, Role of Corporates in Rural Women Employment, Green Nudges and Environmental Policy Making, Sneak- Peek into the mind of an Economics Student on the first day of college and many more. The blog has published over 12 posts since its inception, successfully showcasing the works of the core team.
MRF saw a significant increase in sign-ups for research paper writing this year and around 30 submissions of abstracts from topics ranging from ‘The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Indian Stock Market’ to ‘Menstrual health does not require wealth: Analyzing the Economic Viability of Sustainable Menstrual Products in the Long Run’. Around fifteen teams finished their papers under the club and were provided with extensive feedback on their work as well as advice on getting it published.
V. BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Beyond the Classroom is a platform that aims to provide rich experience to students to augment their skills by giving exposure to combine classroom study with outside learning gained through these visits. Club conducted various events in the academic year 2020-21 and witnessed quite a good number of participants from the department of economics.
Session on Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management with Ms. Falshai Poonia (08-03-2021)
The session was exclusively open for core team members of the club. It dealt with the basics of stock markets and technical jargons related to financial, money, and commodity markets. Career avenues related to finance along with way to get into various top – notch finance companies were covered. Economics Department Union and coordinators had a fruitful dialogue with the officials of Reserve Bank of India and look forward to holding enlightened sessions with them in the future.
New Initiatives:
The club actively worked to establish a strong social media presence. The account reach increased drastically. A pattern was followed and informative posts and video content were posted on a regular basis.
Volunteers were asked to make Instagram reels following the then recent reels trend with an economic aspect attached to them so as to make the page more engaging. Since the essence of BTC lies with the institutions, a thread was formed wherein we posted information about various institutions like SEBI, Institute of Economic Growth, NITI AAYOG, National Stock Exchange and FICCI. Information was posted regarding their functioning, members, internship opportunities with them etc.
The club divided core-team members into three sub-teams in order to achieve smooth functioning. Initially, the club was responsible for conducting tours to various organizations, considering the scenario, BTC redefined its responsibilities and focused largely towards spreading knowledge on unconventional topics related to economics and finance.
VI. BOOKS AND DOCUMENTARIES REVIEW CLUB
Art vs. Artist Event (11-03-2021)
Based on the discussions during the orientation session, the team members formulated an informative brochure/presentation for the attendees related to the discussion on the Role of Artists in our society today taking up examples of writers, artists, singer and song-writers, etc. At our end, the students ensured that an active discussion continued amongst the team members, forwarding the brochure onto the main group and encouraging an open conversation, garnering views about the same.
Book and Economist of the Month posts
The BDR tradition of analyzing pieces of literature and published books was continued. Members of the club engaged in co-writing and co-designing social media posts around Economist of the Month and Book of the Month for February and March.
Collaboration with REACH LSR
The students curated 4 write-up posts on member-chosen topics related to disability and experience of people with disabilities in India and around the world, including the efforts of designers and writers together. Topics ranged from the Accessible India Movement to economic security for people with disabilities.
VII. THE ECONWHIZ CLUB
The club is responsible for researching and finding out about various national and international economics fests and disseminating information for the same to the entire department. The club not only forms contingents for these fests, but also prepares and trains them for the competitions. Another function of the club is to conduct in-house events every month in the form of case study competitions, mock stocks, trading events, CV building workshops and foreign universities’ admissions guidance. Along with hosting events like simulations, guest lectures, quizzes and debates the club also maintains a blog and an informative social media page.
TEC Blog
A blog was launched to publish articles on various topics in Economics. The blog saw submissions from the core team members like “Climate Change Through the Lens of Game Theory”, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” and “Auction Theory”.
Brown Bag Session on ‘Silver Economy’ (09-03-2021)
The session was conducted on 9th March 2021 by Khushi Jain of first year and witnessed a turnout of 24 attendees. It centred around on how the system of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services aimed at using the purchasing potential of an older and ageing population. A discussion on the schemes: National Old Age Pension Scheme took place and proposed “The Continuing Education and Adult Education” scheme and “The National Policy for Senior Citizens.”
Participation
The online academic year saw participation by members of the department in various competitions conducted around the country. Contingents were sent for Arthashastra, conducted by NMIMS, Episteme conducted by F&IC SRCC, and Shri Ram Economic Summit conducted by SRCC. In addition, themed posts were curated by the core team members for the Instagram handle of the club each week.
| Name | Areas of interest |
| Ms. Shashi Bala Garg Associate Professorsbg60lsr@gmail.com | Microeconomics, Mathematical Methods in Economics and Game Theory |
| Dr. Kakali Barua Associate Professor kakali26@gmail.com | Political Economy of Development, Agrarian Economics, Informal Sector , Labour Economics Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Reshmi Ganguly Associate Professor (Teacher-in-charge)reshmiganguly4@gmail.com | Econometrics, Statistics, Law and Economics, Political Economy Publications and other works click here |
| Dr. Anjana Singh Assistant Professorsinghanjana91@yahoo.in | Macroeconomics and International Trade Publications and other works click here |
| Dr. Pooja Verma Assistant Professorpooja16eco@gmail.com | Macroeconomics and Indian economy. |
| Dr. Har Simrat Kaur Assistant Professor harsimratk.11@gmail.com | Economics of Health & Education, Public Economics , Microeconomics, Financial Economics & Data Analysis. Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Himani Choudhary Assistant Professorhimanichoudhary67@gmail.com | Macroeconomics and Economic Development. |
| Ms. Shubhi Singh Assistant Professor shubhisingh@lsr.du.ac.in | Econometrics, Statistics, Macroeconomics, Development Economics, Environmental Economics. Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Surbhi Gupta Assistant Professorsurabhigupta@lsr.du.ac.in | Game theory, Microeconomics, Mathematical Methods for Economics, Financial Economics, Statistical methods for Economics. Publications and other works click here |
| Dr. Kavita kavitavats112@gmail.com | International Migration, Development Economics Publications and other works click here |
| Dr. Kalpna Negi Assistant Professorkalpna.negi@lsr.du.ac.in | Indian Economy, Economic Development and Policy, Microeconomics, Data Analysis |
| Ms. Anupama Shashni Assistant Professor anupama.shashni@gmail.com | Agricultural Economics, Public Policy, International Trade, Indian Economy, Microeconomics Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Sangeeta Assistant Professor sangbutolia@gmail.com | Development Economics, Microeconomics, International Trade, Gender and Health Economics Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Akanksha Assistant Professor akanksha.mann14@gmail.com | Public Economics, Microeconomics, Mathematical Methods for Economics, Optimization Methods for Economic Analysis, Economic History of India Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Monika Narayan monikanrn@gmail.com | Microeconomics, Development Economics, Indian Economy, Public Economics, Environmental Economics Publications and other works click here |
| Ms. Amrisha Bhardwaj amrisha@lsr.du.ac.in amrisha.bhardwaj2@gmail.com | Econometrics, Climate change and Sustainability, Macroeconomics and Public Policy |
President – Malvaika Krishna
Secretary – Ananya Rana
Treasurer – Sneha Mittal